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“So, hypothetically,” Akira said, “If I told you I wanted to dress as a sexy cop for Halloween, would you do my makeup for me?”
Ann paused and looked up from her hand of cards, her expression a sort of amused incredulousness, “...Come again?”
Akira shifted in his seat, “Hypothetically, of course.”
A half a second of silence passed by, but it was enough time for a million alarms to go off in Akira’s head. Abort! Abort! Abort! They screamed out, and who was he to avoid listening to his instincts?
“Aki-” the pigtailed girl began to speak up, but by that time Akira was already out of his seat.
Joker, the ever-confident leader of the Phantom Thieves, a savant known for his battle prowess, charm, and insane thievery abilities, was running away.
The teenager sprinted away from the tycoon tables, past the not-human boy in white who stared at him with curious eyes, and through the hallway that signaled the exit to the Thieves Den.
Akira Kurusu woke up gasping and in a cold sweat, heart beating out of his chest as if he’d just run for his life (which wasn’t a totally inaccurate description). Beside him, Morgana let out an indignant hiss, but otherwise remained fast asleep.
The boy ran a finger through his untamed curls, letting out a slow breath, “...That was bad.”
Akira had first discovered the Thieves Den shortly after Kamoshida’s defeat and the official establishment of the Phantom Thieves. The night after going to the buffet, he’d gone to sleep only to find himself in the strange place, where Akira played cards with his friends before leaving. At first he simply passed it off as some sort of dream, fueled on by all the strange things he’d gone through in the past month. That was until Morgana said something the next morning.
“I had a… strange dream last night,” the not-cat stated as Akira was eating breakfast, “We were sitting around at this table playing cards, and Lady Ann and Ryuji were there, too.” He swung his tail around thoughtfully, “This has to prove I’m human! I mean, I was playing a human game so naturally with you guys, right?”
It didn’t take long for Akira to realize that this Thieves Den was nothing like any normal dream, and that he was the only one out of all its visitors that was sentient there, too. At one point he’d tried to tell Morgana about this strange phenomenon, but when he did so the cat did some creepy thing where he sort of zoned out and his eyes glazed over for a second before he’d asked Akira what they’d been talking about right after. The teenager didn’t try to bring it up with anyone else after that.
The whole thing kind of freaked him out. Like, sure there was the Metaverse in all of its warped glory, and the Velvet Room, the other dreamscape that Akira frequented with the twin wardens and the man with the long nose who only seemed to spout cryptic nonsense about “rehabilitation” to him, but the Thieves Den was different. Akira had found that he could access the Den whenever he wanted, but also that his teammates would only have the “dreams” that they would only ever vaguely remember whenever he would choose to go there. It felt weird, and kind of lonely when he realized that although he wasn’t alone, he basically had the space all to himself.
That was all until Akira realized the benefits to taking advantage of his teammates’ lapse in memory.
See, despite being the leader of an up-and-coming group of vigilantes, Akira was at his essence an extremely awkward seventeen-year-old boy. One that didn’t quite know how to socialize at that. Before arriving in the city, Akira didn’t actually talk to a lot of people, and when he did he mostly relied on them starting any conversations while the boy mostly opted to listen and give a comment or two when it seemed necessary.
But now Akira did have friends– friends that he actually had proper conversations with, at that. And it was only after finally having people he wanted to talk to that Akira realized that he was, in fact, very awkward. Many times when he’d first started attending Shujin, the teen found himself in situations where he’d accidentally choose an awkward conversation topic or would respond to someone in a strange way. It didn’t seem to bother his friends all that much, but it was slowly killing Akira inside. In the first few weeks of his new life, he desperately wished that there could be some sort of way he would know what to say and when.
And well, the Thieves Den wasn’t exactly that, but there was a way to utilize it which came pretty close.
So that was how Akira found himself using the Thieves Den as his own personal social simulator. Sometimes he’d reenact awkward conversations in different ways as the bumbling Akira, and at others he’d practice giving an inspiring speech to his team as the confident Joker. A lot of the time he’d just play pranks on Ryuji though, too. The whole thing became a valuable tool once Akira was able to embrace the fact that none of them would remember anything that happened there the next day.
All in all, the Den proved to be quite useful to Akira as the months passed by. He began to find his time there as simply more opportunity to hang out with his friends, and although only the Thieves were able to appear there it also helped him quite a lot with his other day-to-day interactions. Akira had made quite a few friends in the city, and even though he couldn’t directly practice talking to them in the Thieves Den, the time spent there aided him greatly in understanding them as well.
Well, he was able to better understand almost all of them. Despite Akira’s rapidly developing social skills, one person still remained an enigma.
That’s why he was so happy when Goro Akechi finally appeared in the Thieve’s Den for the first time.
~~~~~~~~~
Goro didn’t know what to make of the Thieves Den.
The place had started appearing in his dreams immediately after he joined the Phantom Thieves. And although the Thieves there still regarded him with the same apprehension that they usually did, he found the place to be quite welcoming. It was a nice change from the typically restless, nightmare-addled sleep he had grown accustomed to, anyways.
It was quite like lucid dreaming, in a way. While at the Den, Goro found himself fully in control of his own actions, and that when he woke up he was able to recall everything that had transpired as if they were actual memories instead of dreams. The only thing was that Goro himself had no say over when he’d show up at the Thieves Den; his (and the rest of the Thieves’) materializations seemed to come at completely random.
At first the detective was simply happy to accept the idea that his subconscious was finally allowing him some semblance of peace. That was until the Kurusu in his dreams began acting strange, that is.
It was Goro’s third time at the Den, and the Thieves were sitting around playing tycoon as always. Niijima was beginning to get a tad too invested in the game, egged on by the continued success of Kitagawa who kept managing to win despite being only half-aware of his surroundings the entire time. Sakamoto, the Beggar of the last round, was groaning in annoyance at his hand, and beside him Kurusu, the final player, was trying to offer some semblance of comfort. By all means, there was nothing out-of-the-ordinary about the scene.
Then, as naturally as if he were talking about today’s weather, Kurusu said to Sakamoto, “Y’know Ryuji, if you didn’t bleach your hair like some crappy idol maybe you’d get girls.”
Goro, who had silently been observing the game, paused; was this a normal thing for Kurusu to say to his friend? Although he had observed the leader of the Phantom Thieves to be quite the honest person, he had never seemed so… blunt by any means. However, as Goro observed the confused reactions of the other teenagers around him, he quickly grew to realize that this was in fact not normal behavior.
Okumura was the first to speak up, “Uhm, don’t you think that’s a bit rude of you to say, Akira-kun?”
“Yeah, what the eff man?!” Sakamoto spluttered out.
Rather than try to respond or defend himself like any sane person would, Kurusu simply studied Sakamoto’s expression closely before sliding his gaze around at the rest of his comrades gathered around. Finally, he locked eyes with Goro who in turn gave his best ‘politely confused’ Detective Prince look, grey eyes lingering there for a second before moving his attention to no one in particular.
“Yeah, I expected as much,” Kurusu said. Then he stood up and walked away.
The Phantom Thieves watched their leader exit the Den in silence.
“What a strange dream,” Goro thought aloud.
This fascinating behavior of Goro’s dream version of Kurusu only continued almost every time he found himself in the Thieves Den. More often than not, this Dream Kurusu would say something completely random (not to mention extremely tone-deaf) to one of the Phantom Thieves only to observe their reactions before simply walking away and disappearing for the rest of the night. Goro found it all quite strange; the rest of the Phantom Thieves acted as their normal selves in the Den, so where did this new slightly ruder, much more awkward side of Akira Kurusu come from? His current hypothesis was that this Dream Kurusu was some sort of manifestation of the less… socially acceptable thoughts that Goro would often have, though in that case he would’ve imagined his deepest thoughts to be a bit more aggressive. After all, wasn’t that what Loki was for? Goro never really suspected that the most suppressed parts of his brain were dying to inform Haru Okumura of how her haircut accentuated her massive forehead, at the very least.
The questions continued to pile up, and eventually Goro decided to investigate. He wasn’t a completely phony detective, after all.
“Kurusu-kun, may I speak with you for a moment?” Goro approached the Dream Kurusu as soon as the dream started.
“Is this the part where you take me to someplace secluded just to kill me?” Kurusu said jokingly as he followed Goro to the second floor of the Thieves Den.
“I would appreciate it if you refrained from saying such asinine things, Kurusu-kun,” if only he knew.
The Dream Kurusu feigned a gasp, “Oh, so you’re going to have your way with me before killing me! How could you, Akechi-kun?”
Goro simply sighed. Although this Kurusu was similar to the one in reality, he definitely did have more of a habit of running his mouth a bit more recklessly than he normally would in this strange dream world.
“Aw, don’t ignore me!” Kurusu whined like a child, “You’re the one that brought me aside anyways.”
Goro bit down the annoyance he felt towards the Dream Kurusu, forcing on his Detective Prince smile as he turned around to face the younger boy, “Forgive me, Kurusu-kun. There was simply something that I wanted to talk to you about privately.”
Kurusu’s expression faltered before he put on a smirk of his own, “Oh, is this a confession after all?”
No wonder they call him Joker , Goro observed the shit-eating expression on Kurusu’s face, “I’m sorry to disappoint, but no, actually. You’ve just been acting a bit strange as of late and I thought I would ask you about it.”
Interestingly, that seemed to wipe the smile off of Kurusu’s face, “...Uhm, I’m not acting weird, what do you mean?”
Goro simply stared.
Kurusu stared back.
The black-haired boy pushed up his glasses, “...Yep, nothing wrong here, haha.”
Then, he bolted away.
Maybe Goro was being paranoid, but he could’ve sworn that the Phantom Thieves were acting cautiously around him. Well, more cautiously than normal, that is.
A glance in his direction here, a flinch whenever he walked into the room there, Goro took note of these little mannerisms which seemed to pop up more and more often as he interacted with the other Thieves. Even Kurusu, who had previously always seemed more relaxed around Goro than he should’ve been, seemed a bit more uptight than usual.
Goro knew he was just imagining things, though. It had always been like this, his nerves were just getting to him. The 19th of November, the day the Thieves were going to fight the shadow of Sae Niijima, as well as the day Kurusu’s arrest was set to occur, was fastly approaching, after all.
And so Goro was content to accept the widening distance he felt between himself and the Phantom Thieves. It was better this way, he thought, even if he did kind of miss the little smirks Kurusu used to send his way for seemingly no reason at all.
“Akechi,” the Dream Kurusu spoke to Goro on the night of November 18th.
“Yes, Kurusu-kun?” Goro hummed as he observed the board in front of him. The two of them were sitting at their own table separate from the other Phantom Thieves, engaged in a game of chess.
“You know you can tell me anything, right?”
Goro moved a bishop, effectively putting Kurusu into a check. He chuckled, “Well certainly you wouldn’t want me to tell you anything.”
Kurusu slid around a knight that Goro had not accounted for. The brunet frowned; he was in check now too, and would need to sacrifice the bishop that he had just moved in order to save the king.
Kurusu seemed to study Goro for a second, “No, Akechi. I mean it… if there’s anything you’re thinking, or worrying about, don’t be afraid to tell me. I promise you I’ll listen to whatever you have to say. I’ll try to understand.”
Goro frowned. Was this some kind of sick joke his subconscious was playing on him? But no, even if this was a dream, he needed to keep his mask up. Smiling as he always did on TV, Goro addressed the Dream Kurusu, “...I apologize, but there is nothing that I have to say to you.” Not even his own dreams would be able to get a confession out of him (After all, he wasn’t sure what kind of unnecessary feelings he’d let leak out once he did).
“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” Then, like always, the Dream Kurusu did something completely unexpected. He stood up, grabbed the front of Goro’s shirt, pulled him forward, and kissed him.
For a dream, the kiss felt surprisingly real. It only lasted for half, maybe a second at most, but all at once Goro’s senses were overtaken by Kurusu. Soft, slightly chapped lips were on his. Black-rimmed glasses and deep raven hair was up much closer than they’d ever been before.
Kurusu pulled away and looked at Goro with eyes so soft that if he had been any less of a hardened human being he would’ve broken down crying right then and there.
And, just like he always seemed to do in Goro’s dreams, Kurusu ran away again.
Goro stood there, upper body still leaned across the table with its now-forgotten chess game as he slowly brought a gloved hand to his lips where a ghost of the warm kiss remained. If this Dream Kurusu represented Goro’s subconscious like he initially thought, then he wasn’t sure if he wanted to think too hard about the implications of what had just happened.
~~~~~~~~~
They were playing darts at Penguin Sniper.
Akira tugged at the sleeves of his long winter coat as Akechi stood behind the throw line, a deep concentrated scowl etched onto his face.
The black-haired boy watched as Akechi threw the darts as skillfully as he always did, hitting exactly the right points and getting the score down to a perfect zero without so much as batting an eyelid.
This new Akechi was definitely less talkative than he had been before. Whereas two months ago he might have interwoven unnecessary pleasantries into his words and actions, this Akechi only spoke when he wanted to, and was much ruder about it.
This Akechi was much more honest. He was blunt and sad and definitely more than a little crazy. Akira knew that this was much closer to who the former Detective Prince truly was, and this simple fact meant that he liked him infinitely more this way.
(And if Akira happened to find the way Akechi’s hair framed his face much more attractive when he was wearing a battle-crazed expression in the Metaverse, then who was he to judge?)
Akechi went to collect the darts embedded in the circular board, “You know, I’ve been having these dreams for a few months now. They’re almost lucid in that I can control what I do there, but not anything else. You’re always there, and the others, too.”
Interesting. “And how exactly do I act in these dreams of yours?”
Akechi turned his face away, “Like an imbecile. You… say and do the strangest things, then run away right afterwards.”
Akira paused. What the other boy was describing seemed almost too familiar, “...Oh?”
The brunet shot him a glare, “Don’t make me talk more about this. I know what you’re thinking, and I’d rather you not try to dissect the inner workings of my fucked-up brain.”
“No, that’s not it!” Akira shook his head. He thought about what he was going to say next– it was a complete shot in the dark, but by now he knew that with Akechi nothing was impossible, “Are you talking about the Thieves Den?”
The response was immediate as Akechi’s eyes widened and he stepped back, “What did you say?” He hissed.
“You– You’re conscious there, too,” Akira was trying to keep his voice as level as possible, but internally there were hundreds of alarms going off inside his mind. Oh my god.
“I am what? ”
Akira put his hands up defensively, “Okay, I think I can explain, but please don’t murder me again.”
“You’re making it really fucking hard not to.”
That was fair. He began to speak, hands still held up as if he were surrendering, “So, well, ever since the Phantom Thieves were created, I’ve had this ability to go to this place called the Thieves Den when I’m asleep. The others are there, too, but they just think it’s some sort of dream and don’t remember any of it in the morning.
“And since they can’t remember anything that happens there I’ve been using the Den to practice acting out different scenarios and stuff, because I didn’t really know how to talk to people and it used to be so awkward and please do not get mad at me.”
There was a moment of silence where all they did was stare at each other. Akechi’s face was incredulous and confused and definitely more than a little bit mad. Akira braced himself for what was coming next.
“...So what I am gathering is that you are conscious in this place,” Akechi stared, hands in fists at his sides.
“Yes.”
“But I’m conscious there too.”
“Apparently so,” Akira knew where this conversation was going, and he didn’t like that direction at all.
Another moment before Akechi spoke up again, “You kissed me there.”
Akira regretted ever visiting the Thieves Den in the first place, “...That I did.”
More silence.
“Is that a problem for you?” Akira spoke, and wished he could pass away right then and there. He hated this whole situation, he hated himself for getting into it in the first place, and he especially hated how his eyes kept flickering down to Akechi’s lips that were currently molded into the shape of a deep frown.
Some emotion flashed in Akechi’s eyes and he suddenly shifted, pulling his phone out of the pocket of his coat, “You idiot,” the world swirled around them as Akira felt the familiar suffocation of the Metaverse, “No, I guess it’s not.” He stepped forward and met Akira’s lips with his own.