woaaah who dropped this sexy widdle askbox in frontttt of meeee can i get uhhhhhhhhhh a fuckin uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh "Stay with me tonight?" with Akira and Kaito if you please. and maybe a large number 9 with a side of pepsi but NO ICE.
Akira wakes up from his nap to the sound of murmuring from downstairs, which isn’t unusual, but a quick glance at the clock tells him Leblanc is closed right now. He rubs at his eyes as he sits up, glancing over to where Morgana is still fast asleep at the foot of his bed. So it isn’t him… not that he’d thought that in the first place. Morgana’s high-pitched voice is a little too distinctive to mistake for someone else’s, and Sojiro has a pretty recognisable I’m-talking-to-the-cat tone too.
Too sleepy to grab his glasses, Akira shuffles over to the edge of the stairs to eavesdrop. He leans his head down in time to catch Sojiro saying, “Think he’s asleep, but you can go on up and check if you want.”
The response comes from an equally low voice, though not Yusuke low, and after a moment of scrubbing his eyes, Akira places it. The realisation makes him both apprehensive and a little excited—he hasn’t seen Kaito since he got arrested in Niijima Sae’s palace, so naturally he’s happy that the guy swung by, but…
Well, Akira also hasn’t seen Kaito since the interrogation room. He feels his shoulders curling in instinctively, chest clogging with irrational panic at the thought of letting Kaito down (he won’t have as much energy or dry wit as Kaito is used to, won’t that be annoying?) but no sooner has the thought hit than are the stairs creaking as Kaito climbs them.
Akira stays planted, not bothering to move, so Kaito ends up meeting him at the top, blinking for a moment before a grin spreads across his face.
“Hey man! The boss said you’d be sleeping, hope I didn’t wake you up.”
He did wake Akira up, but Akira isn’t upset about it. He wouldn’t have wanted to sleep through Kaito’s visit. Besides, Akira’s been doing a lot of sleeping recently. He shakes his head slightly and turns, heading back over towards his bed, and Kaito follows him in, plopping down right next to Morgana.
“Sheesh, what the hell do you sleep on,” Kaito mutters when the bed doesn’t give beneath him. “Rocks?”
“Close,” Morgana mutters, shifting to rest his chin against Kaito’s knee and immediately beginning to purr. Akira can’t help but smile seeing it, but doesn’t respond, taking a seat a few feet away from Kaito and leaning against the wall.
Kaito takes a moment to scratch indulgently behind Morgana’s ears, and then says, “You doing okay, man?”
Akira nods. It gets something of a disbelieving look out of his friend, which he supposes isn’t all too surprising. Kaito can probably see the fading bruises on his face, the bags under his eyes. Akira looks down at the floor. He’s been taking a lot of naps, sure, but…
“I guess I’m a bit tired,” Akira says quietly. Kaito doesn’t respond immediately, working at a good spot on Morgana’s neck, and it prompts Akira to glance at him questioningly.
Kaito looks more thoughtful than anything. He says, “Anything I can do to help with that? I’m pretty free outside of classes and shit, so y’know. You’ve done me a lot of favours too, you know that?”
That’s true, but Akira still feels a bit conflicted about accepting the offer. He gives a little nod to let Kaito know he heard, then stares at the floorboards. Thankfully Kaito doesn’t push the subject. He doesn’t even saying anything else, letting the room fall silent save for the sound of Morgana’s purring. Akira can feel the weight of both of their concerned gazes on the side of his neck. He’s been getting that a lot lately, and he appreciates the thought of it, but the reality does kind of make his skin crawl.
Or at least that’s what Akira is feeling until he glances over and sees that Kaito is not, indeed, looking at him, but instead squinting up at the ceiling. Maybe he’s thinking about space or something. Akira has seen the inside of Kaito’s bedroom before, and he knows the ceiling there is decorated with stars.
The recollection makes Akira smile faintly for a moment. Glow-in-the-dark star stickers would be nice, actually… might make this place a little easier to…
…Well, that’s actually something Akira could ask for. He grips the knees of his pants. He’s felt too guilty to ask for it from the thieves, knowing they all have enough on their plates with the upcoming palace infiltration, but…
“Momota,” Akira starts. Kaito glances over, attentive immediately. It brings another smile to Akira’s face, but the look slips away fast. “Would you… stay with me tonight?”
Kaito’s eyebrows raise. “Here? Sure! I’ll take the couch.” He offers a grin. “The boss won’t mind, will he?”
Akira shakes his head. He shouldn’t. Kaito responds by lifting a hand, perhaps to clap Akira on the shoulder, but he falters, as if reconsidering. Eventually, he just rests his hand down gently. Akira appreciates it… and he appreciates the touch, too. Kaito has always been pretty warm.
“Then no problem,” Kaito says quietly. “Happy to help in any way I can, man.”
Akira breathes out. Closes his eyes and leans into Kaito’s hand. He knows that, and he knows anyone else would help too, but it was still unbearably difficult to ask.
…Oh well. Hard or not, Akira can’t help but feel relieved. That means it was for the better that he asked. Maybe it’ll be easier to sleep now, with Kaito hanging around to chase off the dark.
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