His first thought as he sets eyes on Goro Akechi is that he's so small. A bandage covers his soft cheeks, while his eyes are narrowed in concentration as he reads through a middle school textbook.

For a moment, Akira is paralysed.

He's here. His rival. His counterpart. Not the only person he ever loved, no, but the only one who completed him.

Akira had given up a lot to come back to this moment, years before the first god he slew started his rigged game. He'd found a happy ending - Akira had friends who loved him, a family, and a world that hadn't ended despite the efforts of 2.5 gods and a slightly batty therapist.

But, well, that's the problem. His first-ever victory against the divine - the only one that had left him with any regrets - was all sorts of bullshit, really. And Akechi deserves to live, just as much as Akira technically deserves a rematch considering the cosmic scale level of cheating going on there.

(A clean slate, and one that will never be stained.)

Thankfully, Igor had agreed with him after some bartering, granting his plea with a strange chuckle.

(And some ominous foreshadowing that in hindsight, Akira was going to wish he hadn't tuned out.)

Considering all of his cash had somehow joined him when Akira was shunted back in time, tracking Akechi down hadn't been too hard. Then, despite barely being in his double-digits - and oh god, he's gonna have to go through puberty again - his time-honed charm had been enough to convince his parents to basically let him do whatever the fuck he wanted, as long as it wasn't too illegal. All in all, ending up in this playground on this day was easy.

Now that he's actually found Akechi, however, Akira doesn't know what to do.

Stick to the plan. He takes a deep breath in, chess set still tucked under his arm as he approaches the boy. The second Akira's shadow falls over him, Akechi shoots him an irritated glare, but Akira sticks to his guns.

"Wanna play a round?" He shakes the board. Glancing over to where some boys are wrestling in the mud, which looks fun, but also like something Akechi would hate, Akira plays to his rival's ego. Akechi always loved a compliment, along with some casual cruelty. "I don't think anyone else around here has enough brain cells left."

Akechi closes his book, lips thinned, though Akira internally cheers at the glimmer of interest in his eyes. "Fine."

It's the start of something beautiful.

...

"What the FUCK do you mean, you got arrested?!" Akira can barely restrain a chuckle as a livid Goro howls at him over the phone.

Years have passed since that meeting in the playground, and despite everything - childhood curfews, Goro getting bounced from city to city, and some unanticipated changes in phone numbers - their friendship has remained strong. Goro is a lifeline Akira clings to - a reminder of the glorious future that awaits him - and Akira likes to think Goro sees him the same way. A light that shines no matter how bleak everything else seems. Someone who is there for him, unconditionally, no matter what the rest of the world says about him.

And now, finally, it happened. Shido threatened a woman in front of him, and a far more confidant Akira had intervened.

Suffice to say, Goro is rather quiet once Akira finishes his tale.

"... You know, with my grades, I could probably get a scholarship somewhere in Tokyo." As the former detective muses, Akira's heart skips a beat. "It would look wonderful on my university applications, plus it's clear you need someone to keep an eye on you."

Ah. If he was the sort of person to get teary, Akira's eyes would be welling up right now. "... Thank you."

"Oh, please, this is nothing." He can vividly picture Goro waving a hand dismissively. "In fact, it's rather trivial in comparison to all the times you've chased me down."

(Goro's scholarship is to Kosei, not Shujin, but it's more than enough.)

...

Suffice to say, Akira tells Goro about Kamoshida's castle as soon as he can. The brunet is sceptical, and Ryuji is wary of him in turn, but, well, it would be hard for anyone not to hate Kamoshida after several minutes in his Palace, and Ryuji and Goro awakening almost in rapid succession is enough to melt the ice between his friends.

Goro's outfit is Robin Hood's. It feels weird, but not bad, per se.

Akira doesn't yet realise it's a sign.

...

It's about a week later that Akira's Totally Brilliant Plan, Trust Me On This, completely falls to shit.

There's electricity in the air of Leblanc's attic as Goro laughs, a joyous, free sound that would have brought forth an involuntary grin on Akira's face if he wasn't already smiling.

"You know..." Goro tilts his head, glossy brown hair framing his deceptively angelic features. "I don't believe I've said this before - and if you mention this to Sakamoto, I'll gut you - but... you truly changed my life, Akira."

"Oh?" Leaning forward, Akira's heart begins to race as he draws closer to Goro's plump lips.

"Yes." Goro leans back, shattering the moment with a truly beatific grin. "You're like the brother I never had."

"Oh?!" Akira wheezes, choking on his own spit as his rival's words pierce him as surely as any bullet.

Hold on, what?

"There's no need to act so stupefied - I'm not entirely above being sentimental." Goro rolls his eyes before patting Akira's shoulder in a completely, painfully, platonic manner. There's warmth in his eyes, but literally no sparks. "My blood relatives might either be worthless or... gone, but I have no void in my heart - not while I have you."

Akira swallows, mouth dry as a sense of dread overtakes him.

Relatives.

Family.

Like a brother.

He... he was meant to be giving Goro a second chance, resurrecting the rivalry tragically torn away from him while stopping the detective from becoming yet another casualty in Yaldabaoth's twisted game. And, sure, Akira knew things would be different because of that - that was the whole point of coming back to begin with - but what the fuck?

What the actual fuck?

Forcing a grin, he really, really hopes his glasses hide the despair in his eyes. "That... means a lot to me, Goro. I care for you deeply too."

Goro's only response is a slight nod, the lack of tension in his shoulder entirely unlike his former self. A mischievous glint soon enters his eyes, however, as he leans forward. "Anyway, while we're both here and being atrociously sappy, what on earth is the deal between you and Sakamoto anyway? He looks at you like the sun shines out of your ass."

Oh god, what?

...

As Akira stumbles straight out of Leblanc almost the second after Goro departs for the Kosei doors, oblivious to Sojiro's disapproving cry, he can only describe his emotional state as a hazy fugue. He barely registers hopping onto the train, the city a distant blur as he takes a trip to who knows where.

(If it's the Kosei dorms, he's going to fucking kill himself.)

It's not, however. By the time Akira comes to his senses, he's standing right outside Crossroads.

Oh, fuck yeah.

The thought of getting wasted has never been quite so appealing.

Striding into the bar with confidence, he gives a narrowed-eyed Lala a nod before marching straight to Ohya, extremely grateful the bartender is currently occupied with half a dozen other customers. He's even more grateful for the fact that the journalist's still got several shots lined up that she clearly hasn't touched yet.

"Can I have one of those?"

"Hell no - get your own drinks!" Ohya automatically snaps, before eying him sceptically. "Aren't you a bit too young to get flat-out wasted anyway?" Something appraising then enters her gaze. "Admittedly, you do kinda look like the whole world's ending."

It's invitation enough, so Akira takes a seat. "It's pretty ridiculous." He warns.

"Try me."

"Okay, so, I'm from the future."

"Sure, kiddo." Ohya scoffs.

"At the end of the year, Shido's going to be elected prime minister, will have a crisis of conscience and confess to mass murder, and it's gonna take a solid two weeks for anyone to actually care about it." Plausible, yet not predictable - hopefully it'll do. "I could also recite your life story to you, but that's a bit weird and invasive for a first meeting."

She hasn't quite been brought over yet, but a kernel of interest enters Ohya's eyes the second he mentions Shido, as anticipated. "So, Mr Future Boy, if your tale's true, then why are you here?"

"You're the only adult I know who might enable me in my quest to get fucking wasted."

"No, I meant why are you here in the past? I am happy you think I'm a bad influence though!" She perks up. "Are you here to save us from the end of the wooorld or somethin'?" Ohya puts extra effort into turning that word into a mocking drawl.

(He instantly thinks Goro would love the cattiness, and then instantly tries to think about literally anything else.)

"Nah, nothing like that." Akira waves a hand dismissively. The world simply almost ended (thrice), which is a different thing from actually ending. "But, well... I had a rival." He sighs, heart throbbing at the reminder of what he's lost. "He... he was up to his neck in a lot of shady shit, and by the time we met, it was too late for me to actually save him. So, I gave it all up - my future, my friends, everything - to get the chance to meet him earlier. To save him before I simply couldn't. Because, well, I loved him, right?"

The grief in his voice must ring true, since Ohya pats his shoulder sympathetically. "Shit. You didn't get him killed a second time or somethin', buddy?"

"No, actually - I'm pretty sure my plan worked. But..." His face wrinkles. "He... god." Clenching his head in his hands, Akira lets out a muffled scream. "After everything I've been through, all the really bloody boring years I've lived through twice, he hits me with a 'you're like a brother to me'! What the fuck?!"

Ohya passes him a shot. Akira downs it instantly. While Lala is deep in conversation with a balding man and not even looking their way, he instantly feels her disapproval on a cosmic level.

"I can't believe it." He gasps, throat still burning. "I went through puberty - again! - for him, only to get brotherzoned!?"

Patting his back, Ohya passes him another shot which disappears as quickly as the first. "Damn, you must be down bad for this dude."

"Oi." Lala's gravelly voice cuts them off, finally free from the other customer. "No underage drinking in my bar."

Akira waves his hand. "I'm technically almost 25 if you count wibbly-wobbly timey stuff."

She arches a perfectly manicured brow. "Then it's a bit weird you're pining after a teenager, isn't it?"

Fuck. Akira curses. She really got him there, huh?

Ohya's face wrinkles. "... Second puberty. Second puberty! And he's not even gonna fuck you!"

"And he's not even gonna fuck me." Akira concludes glumly.

This time, as Ohya slides him another shot, Lala only shakes her head with a tut.