Work Text:
He's half-moved in by the time he makes the unfortunate discovery, Goro delegating a couple of movers before grabbing his own small box to carry inside.
He's made it to his doorway when an all-too-familiar voice cuts through the haze of his thoughts.
"Goro Akechi?"
He resists the urge to whirl around on his heels, instead turning in a way he hopes to be graceful. "... ah. Kurusu-kun. What a pleasant surprise."
It's not. Not by a long shot.
He owes more to Akira Kurusu than he cares to admit. Rescuing him, comatose, from the palace after he attempted to go down with it, getting him to a hospital--
Goro didn't awaken until after everything had been settled to the ridiculous news that Kurusu had taken responsibility for everything and gotten himself incarcerated with the intention of sparing his friends and allowing someone like Goro the chance at a new start, the last thing he deserves.
Disappearing for a few years went without saying, as was the decision to ultimately apply to and attend Todai. From what he'd heard, Kurusu had returned to wherever he'd come from, and that had been for the best. Needless to say, making sure that he wouldn't end up in the same apartment building as Kurusu hadn't even occurred to him.
But, of course, of all the apartment buildings in the world...
Granted, his luck has always been notorious. Here he was, thinking he was lucking out in finding an affordable apartment near his university with its very own washer. Naturally, the world would see fit to throw his old nemesis into the mix.
He somehow resists heaving a long-suffering sigh, but only barely.
"Are you moving into this place?" Kurusu asks him, gesturing at the blatantly open door, Goro feeling himself quirk a smile.
"Oh no, since I last saw you, I've taken the whole Robin Hood thing entirely too literally. I now move my things into other people's homes."
As if impervious to the barbs that come with his words, Kurusu grins from one ear to the next, gesturing at the door adjacent to his.
"I live right there."
And the hits just keep coming.
"Ah," Goro says, forcing a smile as he makes a show of adjusting the small box in his arms. "I see."
"Oh-- do you need help moving in? Yusuke's coming over in a little while; I'm sure he wouldn't mind lending a hand."
If he hadn't planned on saying no already, the mention of another member of Kurusu's group of friends would have more or less made the decision for him regardless, Goro's smile widening somewhat. "Thank you, Kurusu-kun, but it would be a shame if the movers I hired didn't get the chance to do their jobs. As desperate as I am to see you shirtless and sweaty, I must respectfully decline."
Kurusu's smile passes right by Goro's sarcasm, his expression almost painfully warm. "It's... really good to see you again. Just let me know if you change your mind or you need-- anything. It won't be a problem."
"Certainly," Goro tells him, and doesn't mean it in the slightest.
&
The movers finish a little after five, and Goro settles in to start unpacking and organizing shortly after. He doesn't have a lot of things to sort out, but there are some things that are unavoidable: dishware, for one thing; clothes, for another.
He's folding his sweater vests when the noise starts. There's no grunting or groaning-- just the steady pound of... something against his bedroom wall.
"Goodness," he hears himself mutter aloud, as though there were someone else to hear him.
It... can't be.
Kurusu wouldn't.
Surely, surely he would have the necessary decorum not to--
-- and up against their shared wall, no less--
Then... again... he had said that Kitagawa would be coming over later.
Goro can practically feel his mind reel.
Is that what this is? Is he... listening to Kurusu fucking his boyfriend up against their shared bedroom wall?
More striking, perhaps-- is Kurusu gay?
He supposes the possibility exists that he is bisexual, but that does little to take away from the fact that he is evidently interested in men. Most likely.
Still, regardless of relationship status or sexuality-- he is fucking someone, isn't he?
He does his best to quell the sick feeling curdling in his stomach-- which has no business being there in the first place-- and think logically. It does make a certain amount of sense, he supposes. Kurusu and Kitagawa always did seem close, and of all of Kurusu's friends, Kitagawa is arguably the most attractive. Even considering his rather... unique personality, Goro can't really fault Kurusu for wanting to enter a relationship with him.
For a moment he considers the possibility of Kitagawa as the top between the two of them, and swiftly scraps it again.
Absolutely not. Such deep, rhythmic thrusting could only come from Kurusu, not a beanpole like Kitagawa.
It occurs to Goro then, his cheeks aflame with color, that it's still going on. The pounding is sexual enough in nature that it reawakens thoughts Goro had thought dead and buried for years, the stirring in his groin entirely too familiar for comfort.
The sweater vests can wait. For now, he needs to... remove himself from anything that might elicit seeing Kurusu in a sexual light once more.
&
Goro is face-to-face with Kurusu by the time he realizes that, despite having made himself available to help with anything Goro might need, Kurusu very much intended on this being a two-way street.
He's holding an empty egg carton, Goro left to wonder why he didn't just dispose of it instead of bringing it over here as though he expected Goro to request proof.
"Eggs?" Kurusu asks, Goro left blinking.
"I assume you're asking, not offering?"
For a moment, Goro could have sworn he saw realization cross his features, Kurusu's gaze falling to the carton as he frowns-- but then he looks back up to slowly nod.
"... yes. Making… uh… pancakes." The last word is punctuated by a curious half-wince.
"Ah. In that case, I almost wish I was invited. I used to be quite fond of pancakes."
"I know." The words leave Kurusu fast enough that he almost trips over them. How on earth could he possibly know?
"Oh? Have you been spying on me, Kurusu-kun? Should I be concerned?"
At least Kurusu has the decency to look sheepish.
"No, um-- it's... how we met."
Ah. Goro can't say that's a time in his life that he cares to remember, his gaze dropping as he offers a somewhat strained smile. "Eggs, was it?"
He doesn't bother inviting Kurusu into his apartment. Instead, he goes to fetch his carton of eggs, not looking up at his guest of sorts until he's back in the doorway. "How many did you need?"
"Uh-- just... one is fine."
Goro watches as Kurusu ends up walking back to his own apartment as if in a trance, staring in confusion at the one egg nestled in his palm. It's not really any of his business, he decides. He's got plenty of questions to work through on his end as it is.
For one, was he flirting with Kurusu back then? Would he actually have accepted an invitation for eggs or pancakes?
He decides that no, he wouldn't have, if only for his own peace of mind.
It's just so much easier that way.
&
It doesn't last long. Then again, considering how well-acquainted Goro is with the inner machinations of his own mind and the myriad anxieties running through it at any given time, he can't say he's entirely surprised, either.
(Admittedly, he had rather hoped for Kurusu's tryst with Kitagawa to be a singular event, if only for the sake of his own sanity.)
He's in the middle of one of his readings for class when the rhythmic thrusts start up all over again.
Has Kurusu invited Kitagawa over today, too?
The thought is an immediately unsettling one, and not only on account of Kurusu's sexual exploits turning his stomach-- if anything, why does he care? What does it matter to him whom Kurusu just so happens to be sleeping with?
It really isn't any of his business in the first place.
Still, it is rather rude, isn't it? Up against their connecting wall, in the middle of the day, when normal, decent people work on homework instead of distracting others with their egregiously loud fucking…
He should say something. He ought to say something-- if only for the sake of whoever else might be affected. After all, for all he knows, he's not the only one being disturbed here. It's practically his civic duty to say something. He'll go over there, interrupt Kurusu's shameful dalliance, and march away with his dignity intact and his concentration restored.
The only problem with this airtight plan of his is that it is almost painfully obvious that he has an erection.
Of course, it has been some time since he last… attended to himself. Not that that realization is particularly helpful in the least-- the knowledge that he's sexually aroused by the thought of Kurusu at all is a demon he had thought long-buried.
Then again…
It's equally likely that someone as sexually reserved as he is would eventually suffer these... inconvenient consequences when exposed to the makings of a veritable pornographic feature through his bedroom wall.
Right. He just needs to… tend to himself and he'll be able to stop from picturing Kurusu fucking him anyone into his mattress.
Hurriedly tugging off his sweater vest with an urgency belying his desperation, Goro for once doesn't bother folding his clothes as he continues shedding them, instead laying them across the back of his chair before making his way to the bathroom in nothing but his underwear and his shame.
He wonders from whom he's trying to hide his erection-- from some higher deity he doesn't believe in or himself-- though he supposes that it doesn't make much of a difference either way, not when the unique acoustics of the bathroom seem to only make the impact of Kurusu's thrusts reverberate further.
Perhaps his disgust over Kurusu's shamelessness will make his erection wilt… at some point. Either way, he can't risk getting off like this. He's not dumb enough to think that his thoughts won't inevitably drift back to the object of his considerable annoyance under the present circumstances.
So he resolves to take a shame-filled shower and to settle for a later masturbation session, instead.
That is, until he's halfway through washing his hair when the thrusting suddenly stops.
Logic-- as well as his knowledge and understanding of Kurusu as a person-- dictate that the individual who has just been so thoroughly fucked must be Kitagawa. But… having not actually seen him, Goro cannot be entirely certain that it is him.
The thought festers in his mind until he's rushing to rinse himself off in a mad scramble to the door, still slightly sudsy and dripping water onto cool laminate.
Like a damn stalker hoping to catch his lover cheating.
Except that he and Kurusu were never lovers, and it's really none of his business into whom he happens to put his dick, shared wall or not.
He's going insane, he realizes as a slow puddle begins to form beneath him on the floor, the chill of damp skin outside of his steam-filled bathroom catching up with him slowly but surely. It's only been a couple of days of being Kurusu's neighbor, and already he's going insane. He doesn't even know how long Kurusu's hookups generally stay over after the act. Is he the sort to cuddle? The sort to chase them out of his apartment as soon as he's finished coming?
Surely not. Which means that Goro is in for quite the wait depending on just how affectionate Kurusu is feeling.
On the bright side, he is no longer hard, the cold more than taking care of that particular problem.
Small victories.
He takes the liberty of grabbing himself a robe and a book, ready to stake out the entrance for as long as necessary when he hears Kurusu's door open.
He's on his feet in an instant, eye pressed to the peephole long before he can question the ethics of his actions.
Not that anything could have honestly prepared him for Sakamoto, of all people, to walk by his door as though he didn't just get… well.
It doesn't make any sense. Kurusu can do so much better, of that much he is certain. Not to mention that his sleeping with more than one person raises a whole slew of new questions in Goro's mind. Either Kurusu is cheating in broad daylight, which is admittedly unlikely, or he actually has an arrangement with all the men in question where they are not only aware of each other's roles in Kurusu's life, but even go so far as to openly endorse it.
If so, Goro has to wonder if they are the full extent of Kurusu's hedonism, or if there are any others allowing Kurusu to so flagrantly take advantage. Certainly, an equally-weighted poly-triad relationship seems unlikely, not with both of them visiting Kurusu on separate occasions.
All of which leads him to what is arguably the most important question in all of this-- why isn't Kurusu propositioning him? Was it a friends-only agreement that he wasn't invited to (and now isn't worth being added to)? What on earth is so dreadfully wrong with him?
More importantly still, he supposes-- what on earth would his answer even be?
He doesn't get much sleep that night, not until he finally goes to finish the shower he had started earlier that day.
&
When Kurusu knocks on his door the following evening, Goro is almost entirely convinced that he's changed his mind and is finally ready to ask him to join his little threeway friends-with-benefits agreement.
Obviously-- and he wishes he were certain about this-- his answer would undoubtedly be a prideful no. So when Kurusu is instead standing in front of his door with nothing to offer him but an empty carton of eggs and a smile, he doesn't know whether to be disappointed or relieved.
"Eggs?" he asks, Goro only barely resisting the urge to sigh and roll his eyes in exasperation that Kurusu doesn't presently deserve.
"... I do take it you're asking again?"
"Yeah, sorry."
"What are you making this time?" Goro asks, walking into the apartment to head to the fridge, his attention only barely focused on the answer instead of his mounting jealousy.
"Huh?"
Poking his head back out of the fridge, eggs in hand, Goro blinks. "With the eggs?"
"Oh, yeah. Uh-- omelettes. Cheesy omelettes."
"Sounds delicious." What a shame that he, once again, isn't invited to partake. "How many?"
"Just, um… two?"
Why on earth would he sound unsure about that?
"You do know you can buy eggs at the store, right?"
"I'll have to remember that next time," Kurusu tells him, and accepts the eggs without shame. To eat them off of someone's naked body, no doubt.
&
It's two more blissfully peaceful days before Goro runs into another one of Kurusu's paramours.
The guy-- whom Goro is sure he's never met before in his life and who definitely isn't part of Kurusu's old group of friends-- is slipping out of Kurusu's apartment, a brief forgot something in my car thrown over his shoulder to a presumably anticipatory Kurusu before he promptly proceeds to almost bump into Goro, who gracefully side-steps the near-collision.
"Oh, sorry!" He lets out a painfully awkward laugh before thrusting his hand out, Goro suddenly yearning for his gloves back. "Akechi, right?"
"... excuse me?"
"Oh, you don't know me, sorry-- Akira told me about you."
For a moment, Goro just stares at him.
"Kurusu-kun?"
"Yeah! Anyway, I'm Mishima. It's nice to finally meet you!"
Goro isn't sure what could possibly be finally about it. Has Kurusu really been talking about him that much? His first instinct is to assume that it certainly can't have been anything good, but considering this purported Mishima's cheery demeanor opposite him… he can't be so sure.
Unlocking his door, Goro hurriedly slips inside, his mind still reeling from the interaction with the absolute nobody.
He supposes that he could be just a friend, but only time will tell at this point.
Kurusu has been talking a lot about him.
He puts his groceries away as if in a trance, trying to make sense of it all. It evidently has been happening frequently enough for this Mishima fellow to remember his name-- information he could have gleaned from television, granted, but he did go out of his way to make it sound as though only Kurusu was responsible for Mishima's knowledge of him.
At the same time… it could have been something as simple as Kurusu remarking on his neighbor-- the one that keeps lending him eggs time after time like an absolute sucker.
As if on cue, the fucking starts.
Goro almost can't believe that he bought an entire additional carton of eggs just for him. The man-whore.
He really is a sucker, isn't he?
&
Goro catches on to the fact that Kurusu seems to have them on a rotation fairly quickly.
With few exceptions-- most of them being Ryuji, who is perpetually late or simply deviates from the schedule entirely-- they tend to come on the same days. On occasion, Ryuji and Yusuke come over together, but the fucking never starts when it's both of them.
Is Kurusu keeping his clandestine hook-ups compartmentalized? Do none of the men he's sleeping with know that he's fucking the others?
As impressive as that idea is, it disgusts him in equal measure. To think that he'd be stringing so many of them along, all operating under the notion that they singularly were exclusive with him...
Does everyone just allow Kurusu to pull the wool over their eyes? Or have they all just accepted that this… magnetism is part of his charm, that he's a beast who shouldn't be caged?
Still, the person he really feels for is the Mishima fellow he met a while back. His visits are far less frequent than those of the other two, and he's never invited to their group hangouts.
If Goro squinted, he could just about picture himself in his shoes.
It's what his life would most likely be like, were he part of this dreadful game of Kurusu's.
He was never part of Kurusu's… family of misfits, not really. Even if he wanted to be a part of it, he never really belonged. Otherwise, Kurusu might have thought to invite him.
Granted, he would have turned it down, but it's the principle of the thing.
If he were unaware of Kurusu's arrangement, it's far too likely that he would have fallen for his charms. He could easily have been Mishima, if he wasn't privy to Kurusu's secrets.
Is that why Kurusu hasn't approached him yet? Living right next-door, able to listen in on his clandestine endeavors, he knows too much?
In a way, he envies Mishima. His absolute ignorance of Kurusu's infidelity must be blissful, thinking that he and his incredible boyfriend are exclusive. And if Mishima is aware of the fact that Kurusu is out of his league, it's certainly something Goro can relate to, not that he would ever admit to it.
It would be so easy to picture himself in Mishima's place…
Goro will tell himself later that it wouldn't have happened had he not been so absurdly exhausted upon getting home. The mock trials lasted well into the night, and by the time he gets home, the last thing on his mind is Kurusu and his various sexual partners.
Instead, he crawls into bed and waits for sleep to catch him.
His foot catches at the edge of a dream when the fucking starts, his eyes going wide as the realization grips him.
It's Monday.
Of course it's Monday. How could he ever forget that it's Mishima's day in the rotation?
Pressing the heels of his palms into his eyes, Goro debates getting up, pulling on a robe, and heading for the kitchen. He wouldn't be able to do any work considering how tired he is, but… it would be better, wouldn't it?
He's about to act on the impulse just as Kurusu's thrusting intensifies when he promptly scraps that idea on account of the fact that he is… hard.
Ah.
How long has it been since the last time? A week? Surely that's what this is.
But even his rationalizations have come to sound like hollow platitudes to him. After all, this is hardly the first time that this has happened to him when subjected to Kurusu's… appetites.
It is, however, the first time he's been so… close. It sounds as though their bedroom walls are right up against each other. If he closes his eyes, he can just about imagine that it's his wall, his bed shaking as he's fucked into the mattress.
He could get in the shower and take care of himself. That would leave him wet and unable to go to sleep for a while.
He'd also be denying what he knows to be the case already. Is there any point to it still?
His erection certainly seems to suggest otherwise. He's not an idiot, and denial has never looked good on anyone, least of all himself.
So he swallows hard, shimmies down his underwear, and slips a hand beneath the covers to wrap around his cock.
He's so touch-starved-- even from himself-- that the effect is almost immediate, his hips arching up to beg for more as he gasps, the sound quickly dissolving and giving way to a moan.
Oh no-- no, that won't do at all.
Kurusu can't hear this. Goro might be able to hear him, but--
Biting down on the base of his thumb, he does his best to stop the litany of noises now spilling out of him, his feet working to kick his blanket off of him as he pulls his shirt up. The shower would have been better for the sound insulation alone, but then he wouldn't have been able to listen to Kurusu--
He closes his eyes in the hopes of inviting the fantasy, only to find it woefully insufficient. He needs-- he needs--
Rolling over onto his knees, Goro ignores the way his legs become tangled in the sheets. Instead, he allows the pillow to cradle his face as his free hand slips behind him, a lone finger pressing into his ass and back out again, rhythmic in time with the thrusts on the other side of the wall.
Kurusu would be bigger than this, faster and far harder to take, but it's enough for him, enough to convince him in that moment.
He adds a second finger and shudders, hips stuttering into his hand.
If it were Kurusu's hand around his cock right now-- Goro knows he'd take good care of him, would know just how to care for a good, obedient bottom like him. There has to be a reason for Kitagawa, Sakamoto, and Mishima to keep coming back, after all.
Would he kiss him? Hold him? Mark him?
Goro thinks about how Kurusu might feel, how he might hold him and touch him, his thoughts as greedy as his own hand as it keeps stroking his length.
He never hears any noises of passion from the other side, but perhaps the walls are too thick for that. Perhaps the only thing coming through loud and clear is the way the headboard hits the wall, the grunts and moans and whimpers too muffled for Goro to make out.
Then again, maybe Kurusu is just a quiet lover.
Has he thought him to be loud before?
It strikes him that he hasn't, that he's always assumed him to prioritize the pleasure of his partner even if Goro knows that he'd have to insist on returning the favor. The chance to sink down to his knees and take his cock in his mouth, to look up at him past hooded eyes and see amazement. There's power in that, too, in reducing Kurusu to nothing more than noises.
Would Kurusu praise him? Tell him how good he was doing, in lieu of said noises of passion?
He comes before his mind allows an answer to be provided to the question, his body cutting the fantasy off short and leaving him with nothing but shame in its wake.
This is the worst part of getting off by far, without fail.
The mess on his sheets is staring back at him in rather obvious reproach, not that his spit-slicked fingers are any better.
Sitting back on his haunches, Goro sighs. He'll have to clean this up now, lest he end up reminded of this little dalliance with himself later.
Like he's some sort of slovenly hedonist.
Another harsh sigh leaves him. This is pathetic. Even if he has the bad taste of sleeping with Kurusu, this… stray he appears to have picked up is still a person.
Mishima. Right.
Only to be made out to be a placeholder, someone for Goro to use to insert himself into his own ridiculous fantasy.
He truly is the worst kind of person, isn't he?
Shoving his sheets into the wash, he empties far too much detergent into the machine in one go and finds that he doesn't care. Rotating the dials as needed, he turns the washer on and goes to sit on top of his kitchen counter like some kind of degenerate.
He doesn't have feelings for Kurusu. Certainly not romantic ones. No-- all this is, all this could be, is a misplaced sense of lust. The presence of the… noise through the walls is simply getting to him, reminding him of his own lacking sex life. Not that he wants to have a sex life, mind, but--
Still. It's the principle of the thing.
Maybe he'll make himself some coffee.
As if coffee, of all things, could scrub his mind free of Kurusu.
&
Coffee does nothing to save him from his torment, finally prompting Goro to switch to wine at the eleventh hour.
There is an extra carton of eggs in the fridge just for Kurusu and he feels utterly pathetic. It must be so nice to be a happy or horny drunk, but, no, of course Goro could not possibly get so lucky. Once the classiness of a good red has worn off and he's down to the bottom of the bottle, there is truly nothing redeeming left for him there.
Perhaps he can move.
It's tempting, truly. Kurusu seems to be driving him slowly insane, even if it is as-of-yet unclear whether or not said insanity will affect his schoolwork, as well. He'd get away from the constant interruptions, the sex noises, the egg thief behind said sex noises, and-- he'd be able to stop… pining.
Is that what this is? Is he pining after Kurusu? He remembers having a pathetic little schoolboy crush (immature and vaguely sad, honestly, all things considered) back when they first met, but he'd been so certain that he was over it.
Now, he's collecting eggs in order to answer Kurusu's frequent requests for them.
Imagining himself in place of Kurusu's myriad lovers.
Fixating on his fidelity and lack thereof.
Waking up from a coma only to discover that everything had already been dealt with had been a jarring discovery, if somewhat relieving. He didn't have to worry about it anymore. He could simply look back on the news reports and see how his father's empire had burned by his own hand.
Back then, he'd been so convinced that this chapter of his life had been closed for good.
And yet…
Logistical difficulties aside, moving seems like a good prospect. Even if it would feel like giving up on two fronts:
- Metaphorically, in the struggle against his libido and Kurusu's inherent magnetism, and
- Materially-- namely, by losing a functional in-unit washer, a prime location close to campus, and an astonishing amount of space for the rent he's paying, which is far below the norm for this area.
And he'd be losing his only connection to Kurusu.
Before now, he'd hoped never to see him again. Now it's like he's jumping at the opportunity, expecting there to be a knock at his door at any moment. And hoping for more than a request for eggs, most likely. Pathetic.
He's not sure he could sink any lower even if it were possible.
Getting up, he pulls on a bathrobe and grabs his extra carton of eggs.
&
A part of him half-expects Kurusu's conquest to still be over by the time he opens the door, but it's just… him. Looking expectant and half-naked.
Does he ever get dressed? is Goro's first thought.
Oh no is the second.
His gaze roams the full span of Kurusu's upper body, doing his best to look skeptical before moving back up to his face.
"Here," he says, all but thrusting the egg carton toward Kurusu. "Eggs," he adds, as if the addendum had been necessary.
Kurusu's look of confusion is, admittedly, rather worrying. For just a moment Goro wonders if he hasn't dropped into an alternate universe in which he hasn't been buying additional eggs just to sate Kurusu's seemingly endless need for them.
Then Kurusu seems to register the reality before him, his confusion coalescing instead into… disappointment? It's gone in the next instant, so quick that Goro isn't sure if his eyes weren't playing tricks on him.
"Right," he says, accepting the carton somewhat awkwardly. "Thanks?"
"I thought this would be… more efficient," Goro says, feeling utterly ridiculous.
Now, he thinks, you'll have to either see me for a good reason, or… stop altogether.
He cannot convince himself of the fact that that would be… better, necessarily, but at least it would help him make a decision, one way or another.
Kurusu still looks pensive as he stares down at the eggs with a solemn nod. "Right," he says again.
"Good night," Goro declares, as if to firmly remind himself that he should not linger here lest he start looking… desperate.
He turns on his heel and returns to his own apartment. He can always regret his terrible decisions there.
&
Naturally, Goro does so.
As he is so often wont to do.
An entire day passes before he hears any news at all, and when he does it's… a Thursday.
Also known as Kitagawa Day.
There are some lucky, lucky days, that he's fortunate enough to miss out on the auditory torture that is listening to Kurusu fuck another person. Whether it's on account of mock trials, exams, long hours spent in the library, or simply classes, sometimes he gets home and there is no noise through their shared bedroom wall at all. It's magnificent.
Today, of course, has been no such day.
He's been home for most of it, studying for a number of upcoming exams, something he thoroughly regrets the second he's reminded of the day of the week. As if it hadn't already been bad enough, having his focus ruined by Kurusu's absence from his doorway ever since he handed him an entire carton of eggs.
It has brought with it a terrible thought:
What if he really just wanted eggs… this entire time.
It's an absurd notion, but it won't leave him, taking root in his mind like a parasite and staying there. Disregarding, in their entirety, a number of perfectly rational questions to ask:
- Why on earth would anyone require so many eggs?
- With a supermarket just around the corner of their apartment building, why not simply buy them himself?
- Whatever did he do before Goro moved in? Harass other neighbors the same way he's been harassing him?
- Why only ever eggs?
His thoughts are unceremoniously cut off by a striking realization.
Kitagawa, it would seem, is staying longer today.
In fact, it takes an additional half hour before he hears telltale footsteps pass by in front of his door. Their front doors are loud, and it is rather hard to miss anyone's exit, let alone the only other one on his-- on their floor.
He's about to turn away from his spot at the door when a knock resounds, Goro just about jumping out of his skin at the noise.
Surely, not another request for eggs? His heart is pounding.
Frantically looking around, he tries to do some rapid mental math to delineate how much time it might take him to reach the door under normal circumstances.
Finally, he clears his throat, straightens somewhat, and opens the door.
"Kurusu." He hopes he sounds as disaffected as he certainly does not feel. "More eggs?"
"Er, no." Kurusu twirls his hair when he is nervous. Goro wishes he didn't find that endearing.
More importantly: why would Kurusu feel nervous now?
"No?" he says, waiting for him to continue.
"I was wondering if you might like some… wine?"
Kurusu is not holding a bottle. A part of him can't help but wonder if this means what he thinks it does.
"At my place," Kurusu adds, Goro's heart skipping a beat. Now, thinking back to all those claims of how he would reject him if invited into his… love… trident, he feels like a fool.
After all, he's… considering it. Considering a stern talk about his habits as well, but likewise considering the prospect of… more. With his nemesis.
With whom he is currently flirting.
"To atone for the theft of all those eggs?" he asks, amusement lingering in his voice.
"Something like that."
"Well," he says, hands folded behind his back, Goro giving him an appraising once-over. "Seeing as you know where I live, I trust you can find your way here to inform me when this… date of sorts is to take place."
"Now?" Kurusu asks, smile lopsided and oddly earnest.
Fuck.
"I… suppose I don't see why not," Goro says, making a mental note to return to studying after all of this. When he might actually be able to think straight.
"Great!" Kurusu says, and turns to lead the way.
&
It occurs to him that this is the first time he's ever been inside Kurusu's apartment.
In truth, he's not sure what he expected. Some sort of den of iniquity, he supposes, a bachelor pad turned sex den.
Though bachelor pad still seems fairly accurate-- few decorations, barebones at best, clearly still rocking that "homeless chic" vibe from the attic above Café Leblanc-- it's not bad. It's… clean, which is refreshing. He's sure most young men wouldn't be quite this… cleanly.
Then again, perhaps this is just to make sure men keep coming back week after week.
"Here, um-- make yourself comfortable. I'll… grab the wine."
Akira gestures vaguely toward the couch before heading into the kitchen.
"No… dining room, I take it?"
A pause. Goro hears the disconcerting sound of a refrigerator opening and closing. Is Kurusu serving him white wine?
"Everywhere is the dining room." The clink of glass resounds from beyond the wall into the kitchen. "Thought it would be a more efficient use of space, especially since I'm usually doing other stuff while I'm eating."
It is downright irritating that he agrees with that line of reasoning, especially since he uses his dining room table to work, not to eat-- save for the occasional granola bar to keep him going through several more hours of studying..
"You don't need a space to work?"
"I have a desk in my bedroom." Stepping past the threshold of the kitchen, Kurusu moves to set two glasses down on the living room table in front of them. "I could give you a tour later, if you'd like?"
Goro stares. For a moment, he can't be certain that his brain hasn't stopped working entirely, now focused on the glasses before him. A number of thoughts strike him all at once, as if out of nowhere, though only two ultimately prevail:
First, that Kurusu did not serve him white wine. He served him red wine. In a cocktail glass.
And second, that Kurusu just invited him into his bedroom.
Oh, how he wishes his mind and body didn't equally react to that thought.
He clears his throat, reaching for the… rather cold cocktail glass. "Pray tell, Kurusu-kun. What wine is this, if I may?"
"Oh, uh… it's a vintage… something." Most of that is mumbled under his breath, but as Kurusu is sitting right by him, it is hard to miss when his focus is quite so keenly fixed as it is here. Goro squints, taking a very slow, very experimental sip. "I… can go check?"
A terrible dread forms in the pit of his stomach. What horrifying poison is he being served to him here, exactly?
"Oh, I certainly don't mind," he says, moving to stand and head into the kitchen. "Please, you've been a perfectly gracious host thus far, I don't mind doing at least some of the legwork…"
He's halfway into the kitchen and on his way to the refrigerator when Kurusu's panicked voice comes from behind him.
"No, that's all right, I wouldn't want to make a guest do my errands--"
Nothing could have prepared him for the sight that greets him upon opening the fridge door. Nothing in the world.
Staring back at him are dozens upon dozens of eggs, all lined up neatly on the top rack before Kurusu evidently began stacking them atop one another.
More horrifying by far is the boxed wine, however.
"I… can explain," Kurusu says, which Goro really, truly doubts.
He closes the door and turns to look at him.
"Why," he hears himself say, utterly baffled. "Why didn't you use these? Why come borrow eggs when--" He pauses. "Unless, of course, these are all old, in which case my question becomes why you never threw them away. Which-- which is ignoring the real problem here entirely, which--" Pausing, he turns back around, opens the fridge, and pulls out the boxed wine, "-- is that this horrifying abomination shouldn't even be in the fridge in the first place."
Closing the door again, he sets the box wine-- box! wine!-- down on the counter and marvels at how someone like this could get so many men into bed, no matter how good his bedroom game might be.
Him, sure. He's been besotted with this moron for years. But three others? Three others with such vastly differing personalities?
Kurusu offers a guilt-edged shrug. "I thought it would look suspicious if someone kept throwing eggs away… and I didn't want you to notice."
Gears turn, going nowhere. Goro wonders if he isn't having a stroke, having entered an alternate universe in which he is the sort of person to root through other people's garbage.
"I-- what?"
"You're very observant," Kurusu offers by way of explanation, which… almost sounds like a compliment, but it does only further complicate matters from there.
Why keep asking for eggs at all? Is he being propositioned?
How long has Kurusu been flirting with him?
"Well," Kurusu cuts through the thick of his thoughts, "since you've found my worst secrets, the wine and the egg collection, might you be partial to that tour now?"
Kurusu smiles, and Goro feels oddly, pathetically weak-kneed.
"I… would. Seeing as you're so eager to redeem yourself here, it only seems fair to give you a chance."
The smile only widens. "Well, you've already seen the kitchen and the living room," he says, leading the way back out of the kitchen and to one of the doors, opening it to reveal the bedroom. "This is my bedroom, complete with desk."
"So this is where all the sordid stuff happens, huh."
Kurusu laughs. "Oh, yeah. Totally."
He continues talking, but Goro realizes a moment later that he's stopped listening entirely.
This is… not where he thought the bedroom was. This is not where the bedroom should be.
A horrifying, horrifying realization washes over him slowly like an ice cold shower, far worse than the thought that he was being served bottom shelf wine.
"Ah… pardon me, Kurusu-kun," he says, possibly inadvertently interrupting Kurusu in the process, "which wall is it that we happen to share?"
Kurusu, not missing a beat, smiles and leads him down a hallway to present him with the laundry room.
What?
Has Kurusu been having raucous intercourse with these other men up against the wall they share? Intentionally? Why would he not wish to use his bedroom for that?
"I've been wondering what was causing all the… noises I've been hearing."
He nods, touching on the back of his neck. "Oh yeah, the washer here gets pretty loud and I end up doing a lot of laundry because I'm the only one of my friends with a washer of my own. I wasn't sure if you could hear it, sorry about that."
In third grade, after having to have the school nurse remove a splinter from his thumb, Goro had fainted for the first time. All too well does he remember the dark outline slowly swallowing up his vision from the edges.
This does not feel that far off, all the blood seeming to leave his face all at once.
"Um. Pardon me, Kurusu-kun. I… just realized that I need to urgently leave." A beat passes. "Goodbye," he adds for posterity, before promptly heading toward the door, not looking back until the safe click of his apartment door locking resounds behind him.
Nothing about this feels safe, however.
The perplexed, genuinely worried, and hurt expression on Kurusu's face feels like it's been burned into his mind, seared there as if by a brand.
He… he needs to move.
Making his way into the kitchen, he pulls a proper bottle of red wine off the shelf alongside a proper wine glass and pours. And pours.
He needs to move and also forget that this ever happened. All he has to do is get drunk enough that he forgets any and all of this in one fell swoop.
A part of him-- one in denial, no doubt-- decides that it is a good idea to try and study while in this mindset, but somehow, for some reason, it doesn't work. The deeper he gets into the wine bottle, the harder it is to concentrate on anything other than Kurusu.
Kurusu, who has just been asking him for eggs to, what, get the chance to speak with him?
Kurusu, about whom Goro has had the rudest, filthiest thoughts over the last few months.
Theorizing on his sex life… extensively. Assuming him to be some kind of hedonistic, lust-crazed beast who would openly cheat on numerous sexual partners. Who could not be satisfied with just one person in his bed, but who would have three different men on rotation.
Another horrible thought strikes him.
What if Kurusu isn't gay-- or bisexual, for that matter-- at all? What if he has simply been attempting to strike up a friendship with Goro, now that their shared past might finally be put behind them?
He feels like an idiot.
He's about to pitch himself into a fourth glass of this appropriately room temperature red when there's a knock on the door.
Dread gathers low in his belly as he turns to stare at the door.
No. No, it can't be. He wouldn't--
Hasn't he embarrassed himself enough already?
The knocking repeats itself before quieting again. He… could pretend he didn't hear it. It's certainly soft enough of a knock to justify it.
Except that-- curiosity beckons, Goro going to stand in front of the door, the peephole revealing it to indeed be Kurusu.
How many times did he stand here, waiting for one of his presumed paramours to walk past? How many unkind theories were formed in his mind over the course of the last several weeks, all painting Kurusu in a similarly unkind light?
He deserves for Goro to open the door.
Goro just… needs to work up the courage to do so first.
He's taking a deep breath when he sees Kurusu start to sadly turn away, Goro taking that as his prompt to do what's necessary and wrench open the door.
"Kurusu-kun," he says, watching Kurusu turn back to him, eyes wide and bright and far too hopeful for his own good. "What a… pleasant surprise, seeing you here at this hour."
Even if he'd wanted to make eye contact-- which he most certainly does not-- he would be distracted by the sight of a rather large egg carton in Kurusu's hands.
What? Is he back for more eggs?
"Eggs, is it?" he asks, when Kurusu seems momentarily lost for words. That jolts him back into reality however, Kurusu looking down at the carton somewhat uncertain before holding it out for him.
"I-- I would have gotten wine, but… I wouldn't even have known what to get. Anything worthy of you would have probably been out of my price range. Anyway." He clears his throat. "I'm… sorry I wasted all those eggs… and that I used all the hot water for my friends to do laundry… and that I tried to give you box wine… I hope those are the things you're upset about, because otherwise I don't really know--"
Goro cuts him off before he risks flatlining entirely. "Are these apology eggs?"
Kurusu nods, exceedingly earnest, and Goro cannot help it anymore: he bursts out into hysterical laughter.
It's ridiculous. Everything about this is utterly ridiculous, made to seem all the more so by the fact that Kurusu seems to think that any of this is his fault. Is it absurd that he kept asking for eggs as a means by which to talk to Goro? Yes. Is it equally absurd that he kept them? Also yes.
Somehow, that only makes Goro like him more.
His laughter simmers to a faint giggle that softens into a genuine smile by the time he looks back up at Kurusu, who is looking at him like he's concerned he might have become ill.
"Are-- are you wine drunk?"
"Tipsy," he corrects, and pulls Kurusu in by the front of his shirt. "Just enough to do something stupid."
So he kisses him.
There is a moment of genuine surprise from Kurusu's end, but it fades quickly, giving way to swift retribution on his end. He counters him with ease, deepening the kiss and pushing Goro into his apartment.
They're both slightly off balance for different reasons. Goro blindly kicks his door closed before taking the carton of apology eggs from Kurusu to set down on the kitchen counter.
A dizzying bit of laughter leaves him, Goro still smiling.
"Are you better than a washing machine, I wonder…"
Kurusu's expression shifts in a heartbeat, dazed smiles turning into confusion as his gaze jumps back up from his lips.
"Oh, it's nothing," Goro mutters, and pulls him in for another kiss.
They stumble-- more than anything else-- to the bedroom, all while shedding their clothes along the way, and Goro finds himself almost more eager to help Kurusu out of his clothes than he is to get out of his own.
By the time they do reach the bed in a tangle of limbs, Goro has his hand down Kurusu's pants.
"Akechi-kun," Kurusu gasps, eyes briefly fluttering shut at the feeling of Goro's hand wrapped around his cock. "Are you sure about this? You're drunk."
"I'm tipsy," he clarifies again, though even that has faded with the clarity provided by finally getting to make out with Kurusu. "And I know what I want."
It's not a lie. He's known what he's wanted for a very long time.
How long has it been since he had his first fantasies about Kurusu? Years, by now. Since they met in the studio, when that small inkling-- like minds coming together in a crescendo of chemistry-- first struck him.
What he won't tell Kurusu is that he's never wanted anyone else. That he'd thought himself above wanting any of this prior to meeting him.
But he doesn't have to. Because Kurusu is the one to kiss him that time, just as desperate and needy as he himself feels.
It's emboldening, Goro continuing to stroke Kurusu's cock as Kurusu deepens the kiss, his rhythm slipping bit by bit until he breaks from the kiss to gasp. "Akechi-kun--"
"Goro," Goro corrects, gently squeezing around his length. "I don't want to be Akechi-kun here."
Something more important goes unspoken: I don't want to be Akechi-kun when I'm with you.
Kurusu seems to understand, hooded eyes moving up turn their gaze upon him. There's always been an intensity to the way Kurusu looks at him, one that makes him want to shy away, to look anywhere else at all.
He doesn't.
"Just Goro?"
"Just Goro," he says, and Kurusu kisses him again before drawing back and shucking his pants off completely to discard on the floor.
"You next," he tells him, his hand moving to the bulge at the front of his pants, Kurusu gently stroking at the fabric still separating them. It's enough to make his hips buck up on instinct, a swear slipping past his lips as he clenches his teeth. It's hard not to give in to him in every possible way, but even so, the undercurrent of fear remains.
If he sees him like this, he will know all of him there is to know. If he does not stay after that, Goro isn't sure that his heart could handle it, not after years of pushing Kurusu away.
That fear is trumped by an even greater one, however, one that has seemed all too real over the last several months of torment and suffering: If he does not stake his claim on Kurusu now, someone else will.
Frenzied fingers move to start unbuttoning his dress shirt-- his sweater-vest already long discarded-- as Kurusu starts undoing his pants closure with deft fingers, allowing his cock to spring free.
A bone-deep shudder runs through him, Goro resisting the urge to touch himself as he opens his eyes to look at Kurusu, staring at his length with a desperately eager hunger that he recognizes only because he's seen it before, reflected back at him.
He only falters for a moment longer in his distraction before he pulls Goro's pants off the rest of the way and moves back up his body to kiss him again.
It's… nice. They're both hard and impatient and kissing with a fervor to match, yes, but-- it's also bare skin against bare skin, an intimacy that Goro has never experienced before, not from anyone, and now desperately wants to savor.
It's that thought that drives Goro to turn them over, pushing Kurusu onto his back and moving down his body.
Not once does Kurusu take his eyes off of him, not even when he takes his cock in his mouth and starts to move.
Kurusu looks like he's fighting everything in him not to let his head fall back, his mouth drop open, or his eyes to close, and just for a moment, Goro feels powerful.
It's not like the power felt wearing the mask. Not like the power he felt in the interrogation room. And certainly not like the power he felt as the detective prince.
No; this power feels like so much more somehow. Like one movement could bring Kurusu soaring to new heights or leave him begging Goro for more.
More than that still-- Kurusu looks upon him like a man in love, praying for mercy.
"Goro--"
Kurusu's breathing is coming faster as he watches him bobbing up and down his cock, Goro's eyes remaining fixed up as best as he can manage. As though letting Kurusu out of his sight for even a second could spell disaster.
"Goro--"
A hand finds its way into his hair, Goro moaning faintly around Kurusu's cock in his mouth at the feeling-- until the hand tightens its grip slightly, Kurusu groans. "Stop, ah--" A pause. "I'll--"
Goro does not stop. If anything, he redoubles his efforts, his hand coming up to cup his balls as he keeps taking him as deep into his throat as he can manage, tears forming in his eyes.
"Fuck," Kurusu gasps, the hand tightening in his hair as he tenses up and bucks his hips, Goro feeling him throb and twitch his release in his mouth, coming hard as he finally gives in to his body's demands: his head falls back, his eyes close, and his mouth drops open, leaving him with nothing but noises.
It goes on for longer than Goro expected, taking the time to swallow all of him before drawing back and wiping off his mouth with the back of his hand. He does feel powerful. More than that, though, he feels an incredible swell of affection in his chest.
"I didn't mean to-- come so soon--" Kurusu manages, still catching his breath but looking no less rueful over his perceived failure. "Can I make it up to you?"
Again, that horrible swell of affection. Goro can practically feel his former self judging him for this show of weakness.
But it doesn't matter. Because he's the one here with Kurusu. Not Kitagawa, not Sakamoto, and not the enigmatic Mishima who had heard so much about him from Kurusu.
He wants to ask about that, but he reminds himself that there will be time enough later to do so. Later, after he addresses his own needs.
"There should be lubricant in the top drawer there," he says, offering a nod at it before sitting back on his haunches to wait for Kurusu.
Kurusu, who seems to have short-circuited.
"What?"
"Lubricant," he repeats.
"You--" He falters, evidently struggling as much with words as he is with thoughts. "-- want to-- do that?"
"Yes, that was the general idea." A beat passes as something inside of him tenses up with sudden panic. "Unless, of course," he continues, careful to keep his voice steady, "you don't want to."
"No, I--" He shakes his head, eyes wide. "I didn't think you would."
"I'm afraid I don't have any patience left in that regard. I've waited more than long enough for this." He is, quite firmly, not looking at Kurusu. "I told you I know what I want. Unless this is your way of telling me this is a one-night affair for you?"
His hackles raised once more, Goro studies his bedsheets, determined not to let Kurusu see just how much this answer matters to him.
Out of the corner of his eyes, Kurusu shakes his head before moving closer to him, his fingers on his chin easing Goro to look at him. "It's not." A beat. "I don't… even like eggs all that much."
Goro considers that he's in love with a moron and decides that he doesn't care, leaning in to kiss him. "Lube," he says again, Kurusu drawing back with a nod as Goro moves onto all fours.
"I guess this is the part where I confess that I've never done this before," Kurusu says from behind him, Goro hearing the sound of the lubricant being uncapped. It's a downright comical thing to hear after spending the last several months steeped in jealousy.
"I'm afraid that we happen to share that… quality."
"We do?"
Gracious, he actually sounds surprised. He turns to stare at Kurusu over his shoulder. "Is that really such a surprise?"
He looks a bit sheepish but holds up the tube of lubricant. "You have this."
Cocking his head, a slow smile comes over his features. "Jealous?"
"Um… no?"
Irritating. He certainly would be.
"You're an adult and can make your own decisions. I was the idiot that kept asking you for eggs instead of asking you out. If you'd decided to… find someone else, I wouldn't have blamed you."
His chest warms all over again, his heart skipping a beat. It feels like there are butterflies in his stomach, it's sickening.
"You--" He stops. His face is burning. "You really are infuriating, you know that?"
"I'm… sorry?"
Moving onto his elbows, he glowers at the bedsheet before him. "Are you going to finger my ass or do I have to do it myself?"
"Oh!" he says, startled out of whatever thoughts he'd been absorbed in, which is just as annoyingly endearing. "Hang on--"
Goro does not have to wait long. One long-- infuriatingly long-- finger presses inside of him, slowly starting to move.
"I don't want to hurt you," he says slowly. "You said you've never done this before?"
"I've done it with myself," he grinds out. "I'm not made of porcelain-- what did you think the lubricant was for?"
"Oh." Goro can hear the recognition alight in Kurusu's voice for just a moment before everything changes.
A second finger presses inside of him, and Kurusu starts moving them in earnest, curling them against Goro's prostate, remarkably insistent.
It feels a bit like payback for making him come earlier, but this-- this is so much more than that was, Goro suddenly reduced to noises and the occasional gasp. "K-Kurusu--"
"Akira," he corrects, his fingers not even letting up for an instant as he leans down to press a kiss to the small of Goro's hip.
"Just-- ah--"
"I don't want to be just Kurusu-kun to you anymore, either."
His voice is soft, but the emotions behind it still carry through even despite the way his fingers are slowly wrecking Goro from the inside out, occasionally stopping to scissor him, helping to stretch him out. There's hardly any reprieve before he stops and adds a third finger, Goro letting out a needy cry.
He's grateful for his practice, for the fact that this hardly hurts at all-- and yet he's likewise grateful for the slight burn that is there, for the pain punctuating the edges of their intimacy with a reminder that, yes. This is his first time.
And it's with Kurusu.
No-- Akira.
It only registers a moment later that he voiced that particular thought out loud, Akira's name leaving his tongue as he grasps at the sheets beneath him, clawing as if for purchase. His cock twitches and twitches, uselessly wanting, desperate for any sort of touch so he might come.
It does not come, Goro letting out a sob of frustration that only intensifies as he feels Akira withdraw his fingers and pull back.
"Flip over," he says, the words barely registering with Goro.
"What?"
He feels his hips being grasped for a lingering moment before he's turned over and onto his back, his cock leaking precome onto his abdomen now instead of the sheets. His hands, temporarily freed, find purchase anew, one running into his hair while the other twists into the sheets behind him.
A part of him is terrified to open his eyes, the vulnerability of this too vast, too exposed.
"Look at me, Goro."
He does so.
Against his better judgment, against all semblance of self-preservation or reason, he opens his eyes, turning his gaze from the heavens to look at Akira.
"Are you ready to stop teasing me yet?"
"Yes," Akira says, and moves to part Goro's legs, positioning himself at his entrance.
His heart skips several beats.
"Tell me if I'm hurting you," he mutters softly, and starts to push inside of him.
Goro's teeth find his bottom lip to capture and keep as he savors the burn of Akira pushing into him. Even with his practice, even with his toys, even with the preparation and the lubricant-- Akira is still larger than anything he's had inside of him thus far, and it's glorious.
"Don't you dare fucking stop," he warns, wrapping his legs around Akira's hips to urge him in deeper, faster.
"Ah--"
"Yes," Goro gasps, his hand leaving his own hair in favor of Akira's, pulling him closer. "Fuck me." Then, another thought hits him. "Fuck me like you should have years ago."
Akira lets out a near-indescribable noise, a needy growl escaping his throat before he leans in to kiss Goro and moves.
"Yes," Goro gasps again, urging him on to fuck him properly every single time he pulls out, his heels digging into his ass to spur him on. He cannot believe he ever went without this, that this is truly so much better than his hand and his fantasies ever were.
Akira shifts just slightly, hitching his legs up higher, and suddenly ever single thrust is enough to make him see stars, Goro's hand tightening in Akira's hair.
It is possible, he thinks, for him to come untouched in that moment, each and every thrust into him a tease in its own right.
He's back to just noises, clinging onto Akira for dear life, when he feels himself start to fall apart, his cock throbbing.
The feeling starts slow, gathering in tensed toes before running up his body and cresting, finally, finally, when Akira leans into him impossibly close, and all but moans out his name.
"Goro--"
It's a miracle he doesn't black out in that moment, just clinging on to Akira for dear life, sobbing through his own peak. He's never had an orgasm this intense before, flooding his body wholesale and only making him more sensitive to the change inside of him when he catches Akira faltering in response to Goro clenching around him: his hips stutter, his cock throbs, and Goro can feel him spilling himself inside of him.
He's still saying Goro's name, as if in a mantra, but Goro can focus on little more than the sensations of the body around him and inside of him, and he thinks, quite simply, that he never wants this feeling to go away.
That he wants this, with Akira, for the rest of his life.
His eyes are still damp when he reaches up stiff, faintly trembling fingers to wipe the tears away.
"Fuck," he mutters sharply, Akira slowly pressing kisses over his shoulder, his cheek, his temple.
"You were amazing," Akira tells him, sounding far too earnest in that moment. "You felt-- you still feel-- so good."
Goro feels his cock throb, traitorous, and he pretends that Akira doesn't notice in that moment how he responded to that.
They can unpack that another time.
He marvels at that thought for a moment. There… will be another time. They're going to get to do this again. And again. And again.
And he smiles.
&
It takes a bit for them to find their footing again after that before they decide to take a shower together, Goro marveling at the joy in the simple domesticity of such a thing. It's nice, intimate in ways he's never gotten to be with a person and never thought he would.
After that, the dilemma they're faced with prompts just as much joy, Goro remarking that he'll have to change the sheets-- only for Akira to point out that his apartment is mere steps away, outfitted with just as big a bed.
So they relocate, Goro deciding to ignore the laziness in that moment. The sheets can wait until tomorrow. This evening was far too lovely to be tarnished by chores.
Not to mention… there is something nice about finally being in Akira's bed, so far removed from their shared wall.
"You know," Goro says slowly, Akira's thumb playing over the back of his hand as they're curled up in bed together, "I was jealous for… months."
From his reaction, Akira clearly had no idea, eyes wide as he draws back slightly. "What? Why?"
He shrugs. "Your friends were over a great deal." He bites down on the inside of his cheek, warring with himself for a moment only to lose. "There were… noises."
"The--" Realization dawns, Akira's eyes going impossibly wide. "The washing machine--"
"You are not allowed to make fun of me for this," he tells him, leaving no room for argument. "I suffered long enough because of you."
He's met with bafflement. "Goro… no one would need that many eggs. I don't understand how you didn't realize…"
"Well, I did think you were sleeping with your friends," he tells him, eyes narrowed. "I think I do have reason enough not to jump to conclusions about your egg-based intentions."
Akira laughs. It's a lovely, bright sound, one he finds that he missed terribly over the years.
"Let's make pancakes and omelettes tomorrow," he says, all smiles, and steals a kiss. "I think we might have just enough eggs."
