A/N: Some warnings: Unhealthy relationship (though maybe not in the way you'd expect from an Adachi fic) and vague mention of suicide in the second and third/final chapters. And surprisingly consensual smut!

...I don't think this fic is what people come to the Adachi tag for but here we are.

Yu and Yuko arrived in Inaba at the same time. They met their uncle and their little cousin, shook hands with the gas station attendant, experienced the same dizziness and the same anxious lucid dream that night. They attended the same school, and there their paths ceased to run parallel to one another.

Yu Narukami made instant friends and was the life of the party. He hung out with Yosuke and Chie and Yukiko, and the four would walk home together, stop off at Junes, and all play with Nanako together.

Yuko Narukami…didn't.

Yuko shied away from her classmates. She had no interest in making new friends- she just wanted to get this school year over with with as little trouble as possible. That night when she was staring at a blank TV screen and the figure appeared, she reached out a hand and watched it disappear into the screen. She wrenched it back into reality and panicked, asking herself what the hell just happened- then she asked herself, did it matter? What good could possibly come of sticking body parts into alternate dimensions? She had learned all about the TV world from Yu- running around in psychedelic otherworlds, fighting subconscious shadow-monsters, summoning mythological creatures…? Sounded like work for someone with friends to back them up. She wanted no part of it. She wanted to keep her head down and get through this year in peace.

Yu went on adventures in the TV with all his new friends; Yuko didn't.

Their paths may have truly diverged at the point where each of them met the young detective. Dojima took pity on him, living all alone out in the boonies, and invited him home for dinner one night. Then another, and another, until Adachi became a regular fixture of an evening.

"You don't have to leave just because Uncle Dojima's gone to bed, y'know," Yuko pointed out one night. Nanako had gone to bed long ago, and Dojima had followed her, leaving just her and Adachi.

He looked at her for a moment like she'd called him out "A-alright, then." He settled back down, seeming somewhat relieved. This, too, became a regular event- the two of them staying up as late as a high school student and a police detective reasonably could, talking about nothing at all.

"So, I've been wondering about something," Adachi put forth tentatively one evening after the Dojimas had retired for the night, in between nursing the last of his beer, "How come I never see you out with any friends?"

Yuko raised her eyebrows condescendingly and said nothing.

"Well, I mean-" he hurriedly babbled on unprompted, "You're always standing around chatting me up in Junes, and whenever I've passed you walking home you're always on your own, so…"

"Are you implying I don't have any friends?"

"No!" There was a pause. "…Do you?"

"Nope." She then sipped her tea instead of elaborating.

"Dojima-san's pretty worried, y'know. You should be out there enjoying the springtime of your youth or whatever."

Yuko snorted. "The what of my youth?" she grinned.

"Or whatever. My question is, just…why?"

"Why don't I have any friends? Hm." She set her cup down and rested her elbows on the table in thought. "I guess I just don't have anything in common with my classmates. I listen to them and watch them go on with their stupid little lives, and…eh. I'm not interested in any of them. I keep my head down and don't bother anyone, and they don't bother me. I just…don't care." She frowned. "That…probably is weird, isn't it? What about you? Were you the life and soul of the party at my age?"

"Ouch. No, but I sure wish I'd had your conviction back then. I probably would've done anything to get people to like me, if anyone had so much as looked my way."

"Oh," she murmured, feeling guilty for having prompted his candid answer.

"But hey, that was me. You'd probably be really popular if you made the effort. What about at your old school? You must've had friends there, right? A boyfriend, maybe?"

"Not really," she muttered vaguely. In truth, she didn't really remember anything clearly from her old school, but that was another matter entirely. It was gnawing at the edge of her worries- but if she could talk to anyone about it, it'd be Yu, and certainly not her uncle's awkward work buddy with a social boundary bypass.

"Huh. A pretty girl like you should be fighting off guys."

"Nope." She blushed, but tried to pass it off as smugness. "You think I'm pretty?"

"D-don't change the subject. Or tell your uncle I said that."

She sighed. "Fine. Besides, I told you- I'm just not interested in guys my own age."

"What, so an older guy would be fine, then?" He laughed and went to take a swig of his neglected beer.

"Why, are you free?"

She couldn't contain her laughter as she watched Adachi fight a spit-take and almost choke on his beer.

"I'm home!" Yuko called out as she stepped into the house with Adachi in tow, having picked him up off the street on his way home with the promise of dinner.

"Big sis! Welcome home! Oh, what did you buy from Junes?" Nanakos attention was immediately drawn to the Junes shopping bag Yuko was carrying.

"Da-nananaaaa!" Yuko pulled a plastic container of sushi from the bag and presented it under Nanakos nose.

"Ooooh! Fancy sushi!"

"Heh, yeah, real fancy, store-bought Junes-brand sushi!"

"Tonight we dine in budget style!" Adachi joined in. "Y'know, Yuko-chan, when you promised me dinner, I kind of thought you were going to cook."

"You're wrong about lots of things," she dismissed, removing the transparent cover from the sushi platter and setting it on the table. "Go get the plates."

Adachi muttered to himself and went about fetching the plates from the cupboard. "Fine, but you realize now you've fed me, I can never return to the wild, right? You're stuck with me now."

"I can deal with that."

"Hey, Big Sis, guess what!" Nanako chimed.

"Go on, what?"

"You know how Miyu-chan and the others were making fun of me 'cuz I couldn't do a cartwheel the other day? Watch!" Nanako made a serious expression, then did a running cartwheel across the tatami, ending with her arms in the air triumphantly. Yuko and Adachi both applauded with mild enthusiasm as Nanako babbled on excitedly. "I told them they hurt my feelings, then they said they didn't mean to, and then Miyu-chan taught me how!"

"Hey, good for you, you little acrobat! I sure can't cartwheel."

"Really? I thought you could do everything, Big Sis!"

Adachi laughed a little too hard at that. "Everything except cook, maybe."

Yuko shot him a look, then turned her attention back to Nanako. "Well, I can't do a cartwheel, but I bet even you can't do this, Nanako!" She stood up and tied her long skirt tight around her knees to prevent it from riding up, put her hands firmly on the floor, then kicked off and balanced there, perfectly still with her feet straight up in the air. Nanako clapped furiously, in slackjawed awe.

Adachi froze, slackjawed for a totally different reason, with his chopsticks hovering midair en-route to the sushi platter. Her skirt hadn't ridden up far enough to show her panties, but it certainly didn't leave much of her legs to the imagination. And her shirt had come untucked from her waistband and was gradually making its way up her midriff, to the point where the very edge of the underwire of her bra, all mustard-coloured lace with pink highlights, was visible. He shook his head to bring himself back to reality and fixed his gaze firmly onto the table in front of him. "I'm taking all the sea urchin, by the way."

"Don't you dare!" Yuko chastised in a strained voice.

"Can you walk like that on your hands, Big Sis?" Nanako piped up, ignoring Adachi.

"Hm. Never tried." She shifted her weight and her expression settled into one of concentration.

"Maybe don't-" But before Adachi could interject, Yuko lifted one hand off the tatami and instantly toppled sideways with a yelp. Adachi lunged forward on one knee, her sideways trajectory landing Yuko neatly in his arms.

Nanako gasped. "Big Sis! Are you okay?"

"I think so. Thank you, Adachi-san."

"That's what you get for showing off for Nanako-chan," he said, standing up.

"You can put me down now."

He ignored her and winked at Nanako. "Y'know, it'd be a shame if I were to just…" he abruptly let her go for a fraction of a second, causing her to squeak and cling to him, "drop you!"

Nanako was giggling uncontrollably while Yuko kicked her feet and threw her arms tightly around Adachis neck. "Don't you dare! Put me down!"

"Whaddaya think, Nanako? Should I put her down?"

"Noooooooo!", Yuko whined, kicking her feet again and clinging to him harder in anticipation of the laws of gravity.

"Alright, I won't!" He then knelt at the table again, with Yuko on his lap. She folded her arms and huffed, trying not to laugh herself, and rested her head on his shoulder in resignation.

"Hey Nanako?" Yuko called out, an idea in her head. "Wanna see how we deal with rotten boys?" Before Adachi could react, she planted a firm kiss on his cheek, and while he was dazed, she grabbed the sea urchin off his plate, stuffed it in her mouth, and bounded over to where Nanako was sitting with her arms up in the V for victory pose, then plopped on the floor next to her and the two girls double-high-fived, Nanako in hysterics the whole time.

Adachi would take days to mentally recover.

"So, what's the special occassion? Did you have a date today?" Adachi teased one evening.

Yuko furrowed her brow. "What do you mean?"

"That outfit. I've never seen you wear those clothes before."

"You don't know all my clothes."

"I know you're always wearing the same, like, four outfits. And one of those is your school uniform."

Crap. He'd called her out. It was true that she hadn't worn the outfit she was wearing in a while- a flowing powder blue skirt with lace around the hem, a yellow deep-V-neck sleeveless top, and a lilac light cardigan with lace around the cuffs to match the skirt, along with a tiny leaf-shaped pendant that subtly drew attention to her cleavage. It was the cutest ensemble she owned and she was killing it and she knew it. And wearing it may or may not have been her way of breaking out the big guns in catching someones eye.

"So?" she huffed, folding her arms. "It is summer. It's wardrobe change season."

"Alright, I believe you. No need to get defensive," he said smugly.

"Anyway, what about you? Telling me I wear the same clothes all the time… Pot calling the kettle black, much?"

"Hey, I have to wear suits all the time for work! Speaking of which," he stood up and stretched, "I should really get going if I wanna get up on time for work tomorrow."

"Yeah, right! You're just mad I called you out on wearing the same suits all the time. You don't even wear them properly!"

"Uh, how do you wear something 'properly'?"

"Well, not like a scruffy trainwreck, for a start. A police detective should look like someone the public can rely on." She scooted into his personal space before he could object and started straightening his tie.

Adachi was momentarily silenced. "H-hey, c'mon, I'm only walking home…Who's even gonna see me at this time of night?"

"Not the point," she hummed. After realising the tie was a lost cause, she undid it completely and starting tying it from scratch.

A heavy silence descended as she worked, and she was sure to take her time, savouring their proximity. Afraid of the heat she could feel rising in her cheeks, she didn't look up at him until she finally finished. She ran her hands down the tie to smooth it out and prolong their closeness for a few extra seconds, and finally looked up. At this point she realised several things in quick succession:

At some point Adachis hands had come to rest on her waist.

His breathing had become slightly heavy.

So had hers.

Their faces were inching closer.

She had always imagined her first kiss would be dynamic and turbulent, with her heart pounding in her chest and butterflies exploding in her guts. In reality, the calmness that came over her when their lips met was overwhelming- instead of the world bursting into colour and sound there was a silence unlike she'd known. The only movement in the world right now was their lips against one another.

Then they separated reluctantly, and reality came rushing back in.

"...Oh god." She looked down, unable to face him with the searing redness rising in her cheeks. Her hands flew up to her mouth, touching her lips where they were connected seconds ago. "What did we just…?"

He placed a hand on her head to calm her. "We…really shouldn't talk about this here." She nodded. "Look, come to my place tomorrow. You know which one's mine, right? I get off work around 6." Another nod. "You're…not crying, are you…?"

She shook her head but her voice was shaking when she spoke. "Sorry, I'm just…really happy…"

He suddenly pulled her close, his arms wrapped tight around her shoulders. "I'll…see you tomorrow, okay?"

He let her go and made for the door, and with that awkward goodbye, he was gone, leaving her alone with her anxiety.

Needless to say, she couldn't focus the whole day. The minutes ticked by agonisingly slowly, and she found herself out the classroom door before the end-of-day bell had finished ringing. Even the walk home felt like miles, and she still had to keep her heart from collapsing on itself until 6pm.

What was waiting for her at home was the last thing she needed.

"Hey, you're back." Dojima sat at the kitchen table and gave her a forced-casual greeting the moment she opened the door. He'd clearly been waiting.

"You're home early."

"Ah, not for long. I'm working late again tonight. I'm just on a break, I have to get back to the station after this."

"After…what?"

"Sit down," he said, forcing that casual tone again. He pushed the chair opposite out with his foot. "We need to have a talk. You're not in trouble, don't worry. Just a chat, is all."

She sat at the chair diagonally opposite instead, heart in her mouth. "Where's Nanako?"

"She's at a friends house." So he'd been waiting until Nanako was out of the way, hence the impromptu 'break'. "Now, I don't know the first thing about…about high school girls and their hormones, but…" He looked around the room awkwardly as if looking for inspiration. "…Yuko, is there anyone at school you…like?"

"I already know all about the birds and the bees. There was a whole demonstration thing at my old school."

He chuckled awkwardly. "No, it's not that talk. Just answer the question."

"Um. No…?"

"How about outside of school?"

"No, not really." She tried to say it nonchalantly, but she'd denied it too quickly and found herself unable to resist averting her eyes, the heat in her cheeks giving her away.

"So there is someone, and it's not someone at school." He was using his detective interrogation skills on her. That couldn't be considered fair. "You know, Nanako said something interesting the other day. I went to pick her up from school, and a boy in her class was picking on her. Before I could step in, she ran up to him and just…kissed him right on the cheek." He laughed, a genuine one this time. "You shoulda seen the look on the kids face! She sure showed him who's boss. I gotta admit, I was kinda proud right there."

She knew where this was going, but forced a laugh anyway. "Well, no-one messes with a Dojima, huh?"

"Well, actually, I'm sure you already know this, but she said she learned it from you."

Yuko put her hands up, hoping she didn't sound too desperate. "Guilty! Us girls have to look out for-"

"She said you used it on Adachi."

"Y-yeah…I mean, it was…I was just trying to make Nanako laugh…"

"Look, I know, okay? I've noticed how close you two are now."

She kept her gaze firmly locked onto her hands in her lap, clutching at her skirt to stop them shaking. Oh god he knew oh god he knew oh god he knew-

"Now, it's not…" He rubbed his face with both hands and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I mean, it's…it's perfectly normal for a kid your age to have…feelings toward someone older. Why that layabout I'll never understand, but high school's a weird time, I guess. Hell, what teenager hasn't had a crush on a teacher or whoever? Heh, when I was in school I had the biggest crush on my English teacher. I'm pretty sure she was married, but 15-year-old me was sure I had a shot, haha…"

So…he didn't know…? She mentally breathed a sigh of relief, but her relief was short-lived when she realised that this conversation had become a hundred percent more awkward. He thought it was one-sided…! Now her uncle saw her as some hormonal teen crushing on his coworker…! She pictured the wood flooring sliding open enough for her to sink into the ground and closing up over her head, willing it to really happen.

"But, well," he continued once he noticed she wasn't laughing, "you've got to understand how someone in his position would feel. The two of you get along great, and I'm glad, really- but there's no doubt he sees you as, well, a little sister, maybe?" A sister. Her stomach dropped through the floor. "After all, we're kind of the only family he's got."

She finally looked up. "What?"

"Adachi doesn't really have much of a family. Not one worth a damn, anyway. That's why I brought him in, really. Felt sorry for the guy." He looked lost in thought for a moment, then came back to himself. "Oh, but that's not your problem. If it's too weird, I can still stop inviting him over for a while…"

"No! No… It's alright, really."

"Right. Well…you're being awful brave about this." His forced words of encouragement fell on deaf ears.

"Has…has he said anything to you…?"

"No, no, he hasn't. Honest. This is just my take on the matter. I'd put money on him being none the wiser." I wouldn't be too sure, she thought. "Just…try not to be too obvious, okay? It'll pass, believe me." He stood and patted her shoulder on the way past. "I'd better get back to the station. I'll see you later, alright?"

"See you later." She listened for the door before finally letting her shoulders drop.

"After all, we're kind of the only family he's got."

"You've got to understand how someone in his position would feel."

She set out a few minutes after six, to allow Adachi to get home before she arrived. Dojimas words were still bouncing around in her head. Was she the one that misconstrued the situation? Looking back, he was awfully non-committal. He'd just promised they'd talk about it later and left. Maybe she'd read the kiss wrong- she thought he'd kissed her back, but what if it was really her doing all the work…? But, no…when she kissed him, his hands were already on her waist. …But what if it was just…reflexive? Maybe he used to have a girlfriend that fixed his tie for him like that, and he acted unconsciously on muscle memory.

"We're kind of the only family he's got."

She winced remembering those words. Now she might've blown it by making things eternally awkward between them. Adachi had practically no-one, then Dojima invited him into his home, his family, and now she'd gone and…

She felt tears prick the corners of her eyes and blinked them back. She was here, at his door. She rang the doorbell abruptly without giving herself time to think in case she lost her nerve. She didn't have to fret for long as he pulled the door open almost immediately. She was somewhat relieved that he at least looked genuinely pleased to see her.

"You really came."

"Of course I did," she smiled weakly.

He stepped aside for her to come in. She examined the room- a spartan kitchen with the bare necessities, no personal effects or knick-knacks lining the surfaces- with her apologies and explanations swirling around in her head. She turned to face him and-

Her doubts melted away seeming insignificant as he pressed her to the wall, his lips on hers once again. This time their kiss was deep and passionate- this was the turbulent, rushing feeling she'd expected, like being thrown around in a breaking ten-foot wave, her heart roaring in her ears. She snaked her arms around his neck and deepened the kiss, before they finally pulled away.

"You're…okay with this?", he breathed. "You're not going to push me away, or…?"

She gently placed her hand on his cheek. "Of course not. I'm…" She felt the tears rising again. "I'm really happy…Adachi-san. I've r-really liked you…for a long time now…"

He looked at her in a way she'd never seen before. It was a look of utter disbelief, as though he didn't even know those words could go together in a sentence like that, and for a moment she was sure he was either going to cry or yell at her. Instead, he kissed her again with full force, pulling her flush against him so tightly she was almost lifted off her feet.

At some point they had moved into the next room to the bed, although Yuko couldn't quite pinpoint when, too caught up in their passion. She lay with her head rested on his chest, both hands interlaced with his.

"Dojima-san can never find out about this, you know," Adachis voice broke the silence.

"Oh, it's alright. He already knows, he's cool with it." She slid off of him abruptly as he sat up to glare at her. "What? Come on, how stupid do you think I am? Of course he can't find out."

"Don't even joke about that. If he did, I'd be the one in trouble."

"I know. I do care. I wouldn't get off all that lightly either. I have way worse relatives my folks could send me to live with. He won't find out. I promise. Speaking of which…" She stood up and started for the door. "I really need to get going already."

"Whoa, wait-" he started, pulling her back by the hand. "It feels like you just got here. I was kind of hoping we could…do more." He lowered his voice seductively, and was stroking the back of her hand with his thumb.

"Hey, no. I don't have a good enough cover story for coming home this late as it is. Unless you want to explain to my uncle where I was?"

He sighed. "Yeah, yeah, point taken."

"Besides…" she continued, flushing red and looking down at both their hands, "you know I've never…"

"Yeah," he said softly, "I know. Forget I said anything. Take as long as you need…I can wait. But when can I see you like this again?"

She shrugged. "You're the one with the crazy work schedule. You tell me."

He frowned. "My next day off is Wednesday. I never get weekends off, you know."

"So I'll skip school."

"I don't think-"

She put a finger to his lips to shush him. "I'm way ahead in school. I'll ace all the homework, and the tests, and no-one will even notice. It'll be fine. I promise."

He saw her off with another kiss, then slumped against the door even as it closed. He'd meant it. He could wait- someone like Yuko came along maybe once in a lifetime, and he wasn't going to lose her by getting too greedy too soon.

At first he'd panicked about having left so suddenly yesterday, leaving a whole day for Dojima to potentially find out what had happened between them. He maybe could've twisted it so that she had come onto him, but he didn't have that much faith that Dojima would believe him. And he couldn't really be sure how she felt about him at the time. No, he'd made the right choice to finish their encounter at his place- his TV was just about big enough to fit her through if things hadn't worked out the way he thought.

He couldn't believe he'd been considering it up until less than an hour ago. That was before she'd told him how she felt. Out of everyone, she'd picked him- she hadn't even wasted her time on the little boys that undoubtedly sniffed around her at school. If one of them got with her, they wouldn't know what they had, and would throw her aside in no time without a second thought. She deserved better and she knew it. She deserved him, and no-one else. And now he had all the time in the world with her, and he was going to make sure to savour every moment of it.

…So long as his boss never found out.