Chapter Text
“Wait… So you want us to have sex so that you can be better at it for when you ask Akira out?” Goro says over his cup of coffee, his red eyes boring into the other pair of red eyes in front of him. Sumire’s face is almost the same hue as her hair and eyes as she seems to fidget with her own cup of tea.
“Can you please not say things like that so openly!?” She whispers harshly, trying to shrink down in her seat.
Goro almost has to smirk at how easy it is to taunt the redhead. “You’re the one who invited me out to a public place. What did you expect?” He asks, his eyebrows raised nearly into his hairline. “Besides, why are you asking me? We’re exes.”
“I know that but it just makes sense,” She says, clearing her throat. “You know what he likes and I guess maybe you can help me?”
He barely holds back a snort. It’s such a ludicrous idea: Sumire asking Goro for sex tips to woo his ex boyfriend.
He and Akira had started dating in the summer when they traveled Japan for jails and other Metaverse bullshit. After almost two years, they called it quits because while they loved each other, they both had deep seated issues to work on. A year later, Akira is happy and living his life the way he wants and while Goro wants to be bitter, he isn’t. Akira deserves to live his life without needing to act as someone’s emotional support crutch. Goro himself had gone through with therapy after pushing it off for three years and did in fact learn that it was helpful and not some sort of manipulative ploy.
Goro still isn’t sure he’s happy though.
Sure, he has healthy coping mechanisms that don’t include smoking or needing to abuse his body to the point of exhaustion but it almost seems robotic how he carries himself. Akira’s – his friends – have all come to an understanding with one another, even Haru and his half sister, two women he had deeply hurt. After going through college and speeding through the courses, he managed to get himself a degree in journalism – something that still used his detective skills though he does write under a pseudonym.
“Let’s say, hypothetically, I agree to this. What are the terms and how long do you want to do this?” He refills his cup and adds another cube of sugar, stirring the dark liquid.
“Oh my God, thank you, thank you!” She begins to clap, causing people to turn and look at them. “You don’t know how much this-”
Goro rolls his eyes and cuts her off by clicking his spoon on the rim of his cup. “I didn’t say I was going to do it. I want to know what I’m getting into first before I agree with this proposition.”
“Oh! Right. Ha ha…” she trails off awkwardly. “I didn’t think I’d get this far… honestly…” her words trail off as she slouches in her seat and sips her tea to avoid having to talk further.
“Sumi…” Goro groans, dragging his hand down his face. He wants to say he’s surprised but he really isn’t. “You brought about this idea and then didn’t think it through?”
“I didn’t think you’d actually agree!” She pouts, making a face which causes her glasses to slide down her nose to the tip.
“Okay. Okay. Let’s finish here and then go back to your or my place to figure out the details.” He signals over to the waitress and hands her yen for their beverages. “Did you drive or walk here?”
“I walked here and besides, Futaba and Yusuke are both home so that feels kinda awkward.” Sumire stands and adjusts her glasses.
“Yeah, how is it living with an ace couple?” He asks, leading her to where his motorcycle was parked.
“Fine! It’s great, really. Futaba’s my best friend and Yusuke’s really nice. I never have to worry about walking in on them which is… nice. But I always feel awkward bringing anyone over.”
Goro hands her the only helmet. “I can see why you don’t want to do this there. Anyways, wear this, we’ll head to my place.”
She looks between him, the helmet, and the bike with an odd expression. “I forgot you had a motorcycle.”
He raises a brow as he sits on the bike and waits for her. “Is that a problem?”
“Nope!” Quickly she puts on the helmet and awkwardly stands next to Goro. “Uh, do I just get on?”
Goro rolls his eyes and pats the seat behind him. “It’s literally like a bike. Hop on the seat behind me and either hang onto the bars on the sides or hold onto my waist.”
She nods but she resembles a bobble head. Before she gets onto the bike with him, he adjusts the chin strap so that it fits her snugly and finds that the girl is nearly frozen still as he barely touches her.
Soon enough they’re going through the streets of Shibuya at a slower pace than Goro normally drove. Sumire had started with holding onto the bars but when Goro took a sharp turn, suddenly her arms were around his waist, holding onto him for dear life. It would have been a little sweet had the helmet not been digging into his back uncomfortably the rest of the ride.
Finally they arrive at his apartment complex and go into the underground garage. When he parks and shuts the bike off, he taps her hand. “We’re here. You’re not going to fall off anymore.”
Sumire peels herself off the man and tries to get off the bike with shaky legs. Goro shakes his head and helps her undo the helmet to find her incredibly red and shaken. “I’ll take you home in my car.” He nearly has to laugh. He normally didn’t have passengers except for Akira every once in a while or Futaba when they were hanging out.
“Why do you go so fast ?” She asks, blinking at him.
“I was not even going that fast. Let’s go upstairs, I doubt you want to talk about this in a public parking garage.” He rolls his eyes and leads her towards the elevator. It’s a quick ride to the sixth floor of the building, where his apartment is located.
“You live alone, don’t you?” She asks, walking beside him and trying to fix her hair.
“For the last year or so.” He hums, hands in his pockets.
“Doesn’t it get lonely? Don’t you get lonely?”
Goro almost stops walking to process her question. Having been with Akira almost immediately, he never really was alone. Even when he had been living alone as a teen detective, he was never truly alone considering his father kept tabs on him. It wasn’t until recently that he was fully living on his own. He learned after the first week that he really liked being alone and having to only worry about himself and not worry about something spying on him (he forbade Futaba from bugging his place).
“No, not really.” he says, finally arriving at his door at the end of the hall and pulling out his keys.
“I can’t imagine that… I feel like I’d go crazy without at least one other person near me.” She laughs softly.
“Forewarning, Hereward likes to jump,” he says to the redhead as he opens the door. A large black dog springs from the apartment and tries to tackle Sumire to the ground but Goro is faster and has his hand on his collar.
“When did you get a dog?” She asks, standing behind the man as the large dog is panting and wagging its tail, clearly excited at the new guest.
“About six months ago. He’s only a year old. Let’s go inside before he tries to make it down the hall to my neighbor who makes him treats.” Goro says, pulling the dog back into the apartment. When he looks back to close the door, he finds that Sumire has already done so and is in the process of taking off her shoes and setting them with his other pairs. He releases Hereward and watches as he trots over to Sumire.
“So this is why you’re not lonely.” She comes closer and leans down to be eye level with the canine. Hereward sits in front of her and sniffs the air before his tail thumps on the floor loudly.
“He’s actually my service dog. Therapist recommended. Feel free to pet him, he’s incredibly well mannered.” He hums, taking off his own shoes and hanging up his coat.
As Goro turns around to ask the girl another question, she’s sitting on the floor giving the canine plenty of affection. Hereward normally didn’t see people except for Futaba and Akira but that was probably once or twice. “He’s so sweet! How come you never bring him anywhere when we all hang out?” She asks, rubbing her face against the dog’s.
“Morgana.” He says simply. “He doesn’t like dogs, remember?”
“Oh, yeah. That’s right.” She stands and dusts herself off. “So… uh… how should we do this?”
“Let’s sit and talk.” he beckons her towards his living room, to the comfortable couch in the middle of the room. He sits on the end and watches as she sits on the opposite end, almost as if wanting to put as much space between them. Hereward decides to fill the space by laying between them, resting his head in Goro’s lap. “This was your idea, you must have some way you want to go about this.”
Sumire fidgets with her hands and stares at the ground. “Uh… well… I’m not too familiar with sex, actually. I’ve never… you know…”
“You’re a virgin.” He chuckles. “I’m not surprised by that. It actually makes sense.”
Her head snaps towards him with a pout. “You already assumed I was a virgin!?”
Goro shrugs and rests a hand in Hereward’s fur. “Am I wrong?”
“N-no! But still!” She balls her fists in her lap, twisting the fabric of her cardigan.
“There’s nothing to be ashamed of, you know? That’s a relatively normal thing.” He hums, gauging her face.
“I-I guess. I want to get experience before I ask out Akira.”
“So you’d rather embarrass yourself in front of me instead of Akira? I’m a lot harsher than he will ever be.” He points out. There was a reason he only had the former Phantom Thieves as his friends. Goro Akechi, under all his layers of civility and manufactured niceness, was just an asshole and he always had been.
“Yeah but you don’t tell me what I want to hear either. You’re honest with people – well now you are.” She says, looking at him fully this time.
He knew what she meant. While Akira was much nicer, he had a habit of telling people what they wanted to hear, even if he didn't necessarily agree with it. It was a huge reason why they broke up. Goro needed honesty and sincerity – something that Akira just couldn’t give him at the time. “I suppose that’s true. How long do you want to do this?”
“A couple months, maybe? I want to be comfortable with sex and not seem like a blushing virgin.” She plays with her hair.
“Makoto still acts like a blushing virgin.” He offers. Hereward grows tired of their conversation and leaves the pair to go lay in his dog bed.
“Yeah but she could punch someone in the face if they called her that.” She groans. “My point is that I don’t want to seem so inexperienced and awkward.”
“I can respect that. Sure, I’ll help.” He shrugs. There didn’t really seem to be a downside to his whole proposition. At the same time this would help him since he hadn’t been close to anyone since Akira. Sumire was also pretty on the eyes which didn’t hurt.
“Really? You’ll help?” She asks with a wide smile.
“Of course-” his sentence is cut off when he feels Sumire tackle him against the arm of the couch, nestled between his legs.
“Thank you so much, Goro. Really, I appreciate this.” She says, holding him much like a child would hold a newly acquired stuffed animal.
Awkwardly, he pats her back and thinks to himself.
What’s the worst that can happen?