Tag: junpei/akane

The problem with espers

~ zecretsanta ~ Leave a comment

To: @midlangley

From: @eatingfireflies

Happy holidays, midlangley! I loved your prompts and I hope you don’t mind having some Junpei/Akanes with a bit of Kurashiki siblings bonding! ^^ (Some warnings for #body horror maybe? Oops.)

i.

In the dream he was in an unfamiliar room. On the shelves were boxes and cans of food; the kind that people stored for the winter back before the advent of supermarkets and online shops. He knew people still did this in places where sheep and dogs outnumbered the people, but he’d always made a point not to experience it first-hand. 

He was looking for something. A clue, perhaps? He was peering inside boxes. In one of them there were potatoes cut in half and resting in a row. They spoke to him in riddles. Another box contained a leg nestled on top of more potatoes. Skinny leg that surely belonged to a mannequin. It looked so lifelike but there was no blood, the cut below the knee too clean, and he could hear his companion’s voice telling him it wasn’t. Wasn’t real. Still his heart pounded against his rib cage until it was the only thing he could hear. He could hardly breath.

Other body parts were scattered around the room. Arms, torso. All neat and cold to the touch; the niggling suspicion at the back of his mind screaming now. He needed to get out of there. A key. He was looking for the key. In the enormous freezer, the mannequin’s first uncurled to reveal a small man. He cupped his hands so the man could jump onto his palms. 

‘That’s the key,’ said his companion. ‘Let’s get out of here and look for Junpei.’ 

Junpei. The name filled him with dread. Where the fuck was Junpei? His hands were shaking and he almost dropped the small man on the floor. 

‘Careful. Just slide him into the lock, right there.’ 

He did. The door opened. And inside– 

The scream was so loud he wasn’t sure if it was still part of the dream. Was it him screaming? The floor was slippery with blood. Whose blood? His blood? 

’Junpei!’ 

Aoi’s eyes flew open, his consciousness tearing itself away from the heavy coldness of sleep. Reality crashing down that was almost a physical pain. A dream, he thought. Just another fucking dream. 

In another history, he knew it was real. 

ii. 

In the bed she shared with Junpei, Akane slept on. A fitful sleep. 

iii. 

In the dream he was in the pantry. He remembered it from their brief tour of Ward C; marking the rooms in the map that Zero had provided them. They’d looked around, had taken note of the boxes and cans of food in preparation for whatever nuclear disaster the bunker has been made for, and had gone on to the next room. 

This time they were locked inside. This history not part of his memories; featuring puzzles he didn’t remember solving. They were easy, followed steps like in a recipe. Was Zero having a laugh at their expense? The bastard even thought to include body parts. He couldn’t be sure, even though Carlos kept reassuring him they weren’t real, but they looked so lifelike, if a bit cold to the touch. They were cut cleanly at the joints and quite bloodless. Surely they were just from a super realistic doll? What sort of hobbies did this second Zero even have? 

In the end they had to put one of the arms inside the microwave. A tight fit, even though the arm was pretty skinny. Whole arms weren’t supposed to go inside microwaves, no matter how fake they were. 

All warmed up the hand was now soft and pliant; he noticed Carlos playing rock-paper-scissors with it. He couldn’t say he didn’t do the same. It was an unsettling thing to have on one’s person, might as well make full use of it. 

He could swear he could feel bones inside the flesh. 

The hand was callused and there was a scar near the elbow; a thin silvery line against the pale skin of the mannequin. He remembered having slipped while crossing a shallow creek as a kid. His mother had scolded him for coming home dripping wet and with his shirt torn at the elbows. 

‘Let’s get out of here and look for Junpei,’ said Carlos. 

Junpei. The name filled him with dread. Hang on, he thought. I am Junpei; the fuck are you talking about, man? 

They placed the hand against the palm-print recognition device. The door opened. And inside– 

He was screaming, running away from the freezer and almost slipping. There was blood all over the floor. An axe and a chainsaw. So much fucking blood. 

‘Jumpy!’ 

Junpei woke up with a start. Beside him he could feel Akane stirring, hear her soft sobs. 

He reached out for her, slender shoulder pale in the darkness of their room, light from the moon enough for him to see her face and the tears on her cheeks. Another dream. Another one of those fucking dreams. 

‘Akane!’ he said. ‘Kanny?’ 

iv. 

In her dreams she kept seeing him dying. 

Shot full of holes, his face smudged with the ashes from the fireplace and the smell of gunpowder temporarily masking the coppery scent of blood. 

Unable to breathe and reassuring her between gasps that everything would be fine. Twenty minutes in a room of poisoned air and she had to see the light leaving his eyes; feel the warmth fading from his body. 

And this. Most nights this was the dream that haunted her sleep, made her wake up and reach out for him, fingertips tracing an invisible line across his neck. 

Whole. He was whole; her brave and beautiful boy. 

‘Kanny, wake up!’ 

v. 

In the room she shared with Junpei since Dcom–she and Aoi putting their feet down when Junpei suggested maybe he should go back to his own place; they had enough room and Junpei barely took up space–and on the bed next to him, Akane woke up. 

Junpei was holding her close; she could feel him rubbing her back, feel his breath warm against her neck. 

‘It’s all right, Kanny,’ he said. ‘I’m here.’ 

Someone was knocking on the door, perfunctory knock and then the soft thuds of bare feet on the wooden floor. 

‘We’re here,’ said Aoi. His voice was soft, not the cranky growling he does in the mornings when he wakes up too early. He’d been awake for a while; back when they were kids he would always make her tea or hot chocolate whenever she had bad dreams. He’d started doing it again recently. ‘Now someone take these fucking mugs from me before I spill eggnog all over your boy.’ 

Junpei made an indignant sound as Akane started to giggle. They both sat up on the bed, reaching out for the mugs Aoi had brought in a small tray. 

‘Did you put alcohol in these?’ said Akane, sniffing at her mug. 

‘Hey, it’s Christmas,’ said Aoi, grinning. He nudged Akane closer to Junpei so he can sit on the bed beside her. ‘A few drops of brandy won’t kill him.’ 

Junpei reached behind Akane to pinch Aoi’s arm. ‘Don’t joke about that now.’ 

‘Don’t spill the drinks!’ said Aoi. ‘Can someone turn the lights on in this godforsaken place?’ 

The eggnog was liberally laced with brandy, definitely more than ‘a drop’ but it did lots of wonders to soothe Akane’s nerves. Warm and comforted, with her boys bickering by her side, she raised her mug to her lips to hide a grin. 

vi. 

‘You’re not doing this alone any more,’ said Junpei. They’ve all settled back to bed, with Akane in the middle. Her bed was big enough for the three of them, although she and Junpei had to share a pillow since Aoi stole all the others. 

‘Excuse me?’ said Aoi. 

‘Neither of you,’ said Junpei, grudgingly. ‘I’m here and no amount of that super spicy curry your brother keeps on making is going to chase me away.’ 

‘Oh damn,’ said Aoi. Akane reached out to poke him in the ribs. 

‘It is very spicy,’ she said. 

‘Curry’s supposed to be spicy. Fucking heathens, the both of you,’ said Aoi, throwing a pillow at Akane and Junpei. ‘Now go back to sleep.’ 

Akane laughed. It’s only been five minutes and she’d rescued one of her pillows already. 

‘It’s three in the morning,’ she said, scooting closer to Junpei. ‘Merry Christmas, Jumpy!’ 

‘So it is,’ he said, craning his neck to look at the digital clock on the table behind Aoi. ‘About that. Presents, I mean. Because you know. What with all the investigating and stuff, I er. Hmm.’ 

‘This is already the best present I could have,’ said Akane, humming happily as Junpei started rubbing her back again. 

Beside her, Aoi groaned. ‘Are you serious? I want the receipt.’

~ zecretsanta ~ Leave a comment

To: @mudbunnie

From: @rypeltajaroll

Here’s a little something for @muddbunnie! No matter how hardcore Akane’s esper powers are, she always seemed a bit clumsy to me. So, I figured she might have a hard time ice skating… like, even without the ice skates… But that’s okay! Junpei is a patient teacher (not that he’s much better himself)!

Happy holidays! ❤

Zecret Santa submission for Juniiper

~ zecretsanta ~ Leave a comment

To: @juniiper

From: @aromanticsouda

Here’s fic, I also have an image; two gifts!  To make up for being late and also in case juniiper dislikes one of them

AO3 link

Akane was grateful for this timeline.

There was something strange about it, though. Whose mind had Delta read, to discover that this timeline could have been doomed? Akane had experienced so many timelines for herself, jumped so many times, but she’d never seen it. Never seen the future which fell to the hands of a religious fanatic who wiped out the planet. However, Delta knew it existed; and he could only gather information from the minds of others. Somebody had seen it, somebody that Delta once met. It couldn’t have been Carlos, that was for sure. He had strong abilities, but had no memory of his jumps whatsoever till Akane instructed him on it. Delta couldn’t read something which just wasn’t there at all.

As for Sigma and Phi… The memories that they had were a completely different set. Nothing that those two remembered could be from any time in between the decision game and the third nonary game if it hadn’t happened in the timeline which contained the third nonary game. That was the only progression forward that those versions from the future could have ever experienced; it just wasn’t possible for those alternate timelines to lie within their minds.

Nonetheless, Akane couldn’t allow herself to dwell on the idea, could she? What mattered was that this timeline was different; it was different from all of the others. Every single one. There wasn’t one other timeline out there where Akane got to experience this, where she was alive and happy and not forging on alone, fighting for a better future and committing atrocities, or simply hiding away waiting for the world to end in a timeline where she was the only member of C team to survive. This was the good end. This was the timeline where she could spend Christmas with Junpei.

One million Christmases, and not a single one this wonderful. Of course, Aoi was always great to be around, and he’d made her childhood Christmases a bright spot in an otherwise unsatisfactory life, but there was something to be said about a timeline where she could spend the holiday with her amazing brother and the love of her life. Especially considering the fact it was one of a kind! After so many, many decades of strife (albeit, with their moments) cluttering her memory, it was nice to throw that all to the wayside for once to just enjoy herself.

“Kanny, what’s up?” Junpei questioned, leaning close to her cheek, “You’re sort of spacing out. Everything okay?” On autopilot, he lifted a hand to her forehead, remembering what had happened during the second nonary game. She snapped out of her train of thought to giggle and grab his hand, pulling it away from her head but not letting go of it.

“I’m fine! Actually, I was just thinking about…” She glanced away, cheeks flushed the smallest little bit, “How nice this is, spending Christmas with you.”

“Well,” He chuckled, shrugging, “It’s not really a unique experience… right?”

“It sort of is…” She mumbled, her smile growing a bit, “Believe it or not, Jumpy, this is actually… the only timeline out there, where we can get to do something like this.”

“Wait, seriously?” He questioned, then gave her a scrutinous look, “Wait, doesn’t that mean that… our relationship has no branching paths? Come on, that’s not fair! What if I make a mistake?”

“I guess we’ll just have to deal with it the way normal people do,” Akane shrugged, “Roll with it and work through our problems!” She laughed again, “Doesn’t that sound dreadful? If we did that ever before, well, we’d both be long dead! Anyway, the fact that it isn’t branching is something that I say we should appreciate. It means we won’t be in enough danger to jump!”

“Maybe you won’t be, but if I do make one of those mistakes I mentioned…” Junpei trailed off with a lopsided grin, and Akane pouted for a second before getting on her toes to give him a quick kiss then offer her retribution.

“Danger of being sent to sleep on the couch, maybe…” She scolded with a teasing smirk.

“Yeah, a fate worse than death!” Junpei joked right back.

“Oh really?” She questioned, “What other sort of things are worse than death for you?”

“A huge number of mundane annoyances,” He answered as a matter of fact, “Not at all limited to ‘being denied not only the concept of getting laid, but also innocent spooning’. I’d also consider it worse than death to be able to smell cookies but not eat any, or to be inflicted with a curse that removed my sense of humor.”

“I suppose that last one is a mundane annoyance due to the fact you hardly have a sense of humor in the first place? A more accurate curse would be one that made it so you couldn’t make puns, since that seems to be the only joke you’re capable of to begin with,” Akane chuckled, then wandered over to the kitchen, “Also, I’m going to grab…” She took two oven mitts and put them on her hands, “Both the oven mitts we own…” She opened the oven, “And stand on a chair, holding these cookies over your head and giving you no way to get them!”

“Cruel mistress of my heart…” Junpei groaned as he watched Akane climb onto the chair, but then approached her, “Too bad for you, I know how to get the cookies.”

“My plan is foolproof! You’re just bluffing!” Akane cackled, holding the tray aloft.

“Not so airtight, Kanny my dear,” Junpei chuckled, then stepped up and reached up to her sides, tickling her. She squirmed and laughed at this, and several cookies fell off of the sheet onto the floor before she was able to get a handle on herself- and Junpei stopped, “Tada!”

“That doesn’t give you any cookies, you’re just feeding the floor!” She managed through laughter, “Thwarted again, Jumpy!”

“Not so fast!” He swooped down and picked up the cookies as fast as he could, “Five second rule! …Er, well, ten second rule,” He bit into one, “I’m still gonna eat them. The kitchen floor’s pretty clean.”

“It’s not clean at all, we haven’t mopped in two months!” Akane protested, climbing down from the chair to put the cookies on the kitchen counter, “Though I guess it does look pretty clean… Except for the cookie crumbs.”

“That’s because I mopped it earlier today, while you were at work,” Junpei explained, “I figured with our friends coming over tomorrow we should at least show a little bit of effort, right? You’re busy with work and I’m busy with classes, but if the floor isn’t disgusting then we’ll seem a little bit more like functioning adults who aren’t just barely managing on our own!”

“I don’t think any of our friends would care much…” Akane trailed off, crossing her arms and side-eyeing the wall, oven mitts still on, “I mean, think about it. Every single friend we have… Has seen us brutally murdered in some timeline or another. I think the social misstep of being a corpse far outranks being mild slobs.”

“Well, there is also the benefit of being able to eat these floor cookies without getting salmonella,” Junpei shrugged as he bit into another floor cookie.

“The cookies that I definitely didn’t rub raw chicken on after removing from the oven?” Akane asked.

“Yeah right, there’s not even any raw chicken in the house,” Junpei rolled his eyes, “If there was I would know, I looked in the fridge like twelve times today.”

“And that’s what stands out to you about my joke?” Akane chuckled, then pulled off her oven mitts, ‘Well, I guess you had to shoot me down somehow.”

“I wasn’t kidding about looking in the fridge so many times, though. What exactly are we, the hosts, going to provide for this Christmas Potluck?” Junpei questioned, raising his eyebrows.

“Oh, I’ll go shopping in the morning. If I tried to get to the store anytime in the past week, it would just be too crowded,” Akane shrugged, “Don’t worry, I do have a plan. I always do, Jumpy.”

“Plans that hinge on my coming through without ever knowing what I’m supposed to do, usually,” He joked, “Luckily, it’s just Christmas Dinner this time. Not a matter of life and death.”

“This plan doesn’t hinge on you at all! And it’s not true that my plans always hinge on you cluelessly doing exactly what I want you to. Sometimes that burden falls on Sigma Klim,” She chuckled, “But he doesn’t even get the benefit of a lifetime of rewards from me! Not even a single minute. After all, even if you didn’t remember it, you and I were engaged in that timeline… So I probably hold the world record of most faithful wife ever!”

“Not quite. After all, we aren’t married yet!” Junpei joked back, wrapping his arms around her shoulders, “Because you didn’t want a cold wedding.”

“Who would want to get married in November?” Akane questioned, turning to look at him, “Spring is a lovely time. Beautiful, and a great temperature…”

“Though, we did have some of our best early flirtations while locked in a freezer…” Junpei noted.

“Yes, and I also discovered your disembodied head in another freezer, so what’s your point? I don’t want to get married in winter!” She chuckled.

“Okay, I get it. Same reason I don’t want to get married during a heatwave,” Junpei rolled his eyes, “Too reminiscent of one of the many ways we’ve been separated by death.”

“Oh, that reminds me…” Akane pulled away, holding a finger to her chin, “Aoi and I always had this tradition, we’d open one gift on Christmas Eve then the rest on Christmas day. So could I give you one of your gifts early?”

“I don’t get how that reminded you, but I’m not opposed to the idea. I’ll give you one of yours early too,” Junpei nodded, scratching his head as he watched Akane pick up a small box from under the tree, giggling to herself.

“Okay Jumpy,” She got out between laughter, “You’ve been a very naughty boy this year,” She approached him and held out the box, “And I’ll offer you, my body,” She couldn’t keep a straight face as he took the box from her with a confused look. He opened it, then just turned and gave her a deadpan look.

“Coal? Really?” He questioned, stifling laughter himself.

“Oh no, coal is created when organic matter decomposes for a long time. This is a charcoal briquette, which is made when organic matter burns up!” She explained, her laughter turning to a guffaw, “Get it? My body?”

“Akane, this joke is in terrible taste!” Junpei snickered, then burst out laughing as well, “So it shouldn’t be this hilarious!”

“We can laugh about my trauma if I say it’s okay to, and I do!” Akane’s laughter eventually trailed off and she just grinned at Junpei, “I’ve been waiting for an opportunity to use that joke on you since the second nonary game…”

“So a year and a half, but basically an eternity… You sure are one committed comedian,” Junpei’s laughter dissipated as well, and he caught himself just staring at Akane. Staring at… her face. Her smile, the lack of which had made him so bitter, and now they were laughing at something so morbid, and they were together. Living together, going to get married… It was almost too good to be true, but if it was the only timeline where this could happen, then Junpei was by far the luckiest man on Earth after all. As much as a non sequitur as it was, he couldn’t help but voice this, “…God, I love you.”

“I love you too, Jumpy!” She responded, her smile softening as well when she stepped closer to him, “I just…” She took a deep breath, then stepped forward and wrapped him in the tightest hug she could muster, “I’ve waited so long, to be able… To hold you like this anytime. To be close to you… And I’m sorry. Sorry to all of the timelines that I abandoned… you.”

“That’s all in the past now,” Junpei shook his head, then chuckled again, “Well… past, paralell, and future, but none of it’s relevant to us. Here and now. All those other memories are just like… a bad dream,” He shrugged, “Besides, it’s not like the bitter old man version of me ever jumped back here, so all I know about that timeline is what you’ve told me!”

“You were still charming, in your own right,” Akane noted, “But I think that it would be a nice goal for me, to make sure that you didn’t become so grumpy in your old age this time around!”

“That’s quite the task, Kanny,” Junpei answered, planting a soft kiss on her forehead, “I mean, it did only take a year without you to turn me into a nihilist. After weathering the years of life, well, I’m not sure even the best woman ever to grace this planet can keep me from getting at least a little grouchy when I start to get decrepit.”

“Well if she can’t do it, I guess I don’t stand a chance!” Akane teased, looking up at him with a goofy grin, “But, I love you when you’re grouchy anyway. As long as you don’t get as emo as you were right at the beginning of the decision game, that is… If you start talking about the lack of meaning our futile existences hold again, I just might have to disappear without a trace for another decade!”

“Did I really say that? Doesn’t quite sound like me. You sure you’re not the emo one, Kanny?” Junpei joked, then pulled away from the tight hug but didn’t let go of her, “Hey, what was that Shakespeare thing? True love’s a shitty river, but it works out?”

“The course of true love never did run smooth,” Akane gave him the proper statement, “Which I guess could be a river, but you know what it could also be?” She questioned, looking him in the eyes with a small smile, “A branching timeline. One that eventually, always comes back to this. You and I. It’s always been us… hasn’t it? All our lives… I always wanted to be with you, no matter where or when it was, or how disastrous… And I’m sorry I keep bringing this up, but there’s this nagging part of me that worries, that you don’t feel the same.”

“Kanny, I haven’t seen as many timelines as you. I haven’t seen as much death and destruction, and I haven’t waited for you as long as you’ve waited for me, not in the timelines which I can remember, but I…” He trailed off and sighed, “I searched for you. After the second nonary game, all I did was look for you, because I knew that very same thing. This is sappy as all get out, but I get the feeling that we were meant to be.”

“I do too…” Akane nodded with a content sigh, “It just seems too good to be true.”

“Well, we had a one in a million shot, of reaching a timeline like this, but we did it,” Junpei chuckled, then leaned down and picked up one of the other gifts from under the tree and held it out to her, “Here. Open one tonight. I don’t have anything clever like you did, but… Well, it’s the tradition of the thing, right?”

“Aw, thank you!” Akane grinned as she took the item, which was very shoddily wrapped, and squished in her hands. She pulled the paper off to discover that it was a stuffed toy, a rabbit with very soft fabric for fur. Her smile grew even more and her eyes lit up as she ran a hand over it, “You remembered my favorite animal…”

“That gift’s also a promise to you,” Junpei explained, tapping the toy’s head, “Once we’re all sorted out, less busy, really settled in, we’ll get our own rabbit hutch. And I’ll build a really strong fence around it, because even if I still can’t win a fight, that’ll keep them safe from any neighborhood kids who might decide to be dickwads!”

“Well, I don’t think that tends to happen often around here… It’s usually schoolyard rabbits that get targeted by hooligans, right? But…” She giggled, “We should protect them as best as we can anyway. I’d hate for you to get beat up again!”

“Of course,” Junpei nodded, then sighed with a grin, “…Merry Christmas, Kanny.”

“Merry Christmas, Jumpy.”

————–

There was one person who remembered the timeline in which the whole world died.

His name was Aoi Kurashiki, and he was one of the only survivors in that timeline, left alone in a destroyed world. He was never as strong an esper as his sister, but there were things which stuck in his mind, from time to time. Timelines where the second nonary game was a failure… but at least in those, there was something he knew for certain. He always knew that it was impermanent, in those timelines. He watched Akane die, over and over, but he always went back and there she was, ready to give it another college try.

This was different. This timeline, Aoi had no guarantee that anything would work out, that he’d escape this world in which he was alone. He kept trying, trying to get back, but it wasn’t working, and even if he did return he had no way of knowing if there would be anything he could change about it. Everyone was gone. Akane was gone. Aoi had never in his life been so absolutely alone.

He hadn’t seen one million Christmases; but he had seen quite a few.

None were quite as horrible as that one.

When Aoi woke up on Christmas day, it wasn’t. Wasn’t Christmas Day, that was. It was two days after Akane left for the Mars simulation. When Aoi went looking for her, he was turned away by a decrepit old man who seemed to stare right through him. All he could do was hope things would be different this time around…

And they were. They were different, and Akane was okay, and he was going to see her and Junpei for Christmas dinner tomorrow. Even so, that memory haunted him. He just couldn’t let go, despite all the joy in the air. One Christmas without her, without a promise of seeing her again. Was that the sort of burden she carried, in timelines where she outlived him?

“Merry Christmas!” She giggled to him, holding Junpei’s hand, “Santa!”

~ zecretsanta ~ Leave a comment

To: @zerotimedilemmaofficial

From: @thefireinthewire

Happy holidays! I liked all of your prompts, so they ended up fusing into one large fic. Hope you like it!

AO3 link

For Junpei the most amazing thing about being with Akane wasn’t waking up next to her, or being able to hold her for as long as he wanted. For Junpei the best thing about being with Akane was getting to know the tiny little habits that made her who she was. Every new thing he learned seemed to make her more real, not just the ghost of his childhood best friend, but a living breathing human.

If he was really being honest though, some of her habits were more concerning than endearing. It was always mildly amusing when she would disappear for fifteen minutes only to reappear with Starbucks in hand, but after she was done with her milk-and-syrup nightmare and onto her sixth cup of crappy office coffee of the day, Junpei had to pretend that he couldn’t see her hands shaking from the caffeine. He had brought it up once, one of those nights that had turned into morning without them noticing. She had brushed it off and laughed about needing the caffeine in order to get any work done on time. Junpei was not in a place to judge, having spent too much time passed out drunk in bathtubs, but on those days he held her extra close when they went to bed and tried to make sure that her eyes closed before his did.

Their apartment wasn’t very large- Aoi’s stocks brought in a lot of money, but trying to save the world wasn’t cheap. However, when they were searching for a place to live they had made sure to find an apartment with a second bedroom that they could turn into an office. It’s kind of ridiculous, considering the amount of time that they spend at the Crash Keys office, but both of them are workaholics, and it helps to have a place to do little things like pay bills and write cards. Or, it would help if either of them could actually find their desks under the piles of paper that were one stray breeze away from toppling. The clutter extended up to the walls, maps and graphs interspersed with sticky notes and photos. There is a snapshot of Gab in a little sweater that Carlos had sent them, and an old family photo of the Kurashiki’s, before everything had gone wrong. On Junpei’s desk, in a tiny patch clear of junk, is a framed picture of Akane from right before she had moved away. Sometimes he looks at it and wonders when exactly he had fallen for her; whether it had been so many years ago up on that hill, or that moment upon the stairs when they were reunited, or somewhere in between.

In sleep her face seems to regain some of the childish peace from that picture.  The lines around her eyes soften, and it’s easy to forget that she is carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders. The scene is slightly ruined by the fact that she’s asleep at her desk, and by the papers stuck to her cheek, but he can ignore those things. It is early morning, and the weak light filters through the window, making her seem pale and ghostly. He hesitates for a second, reluctant to interrupt her sleep, then reaches out to lay a hand on her shoulder.

Akane jerks awake, looking around and slurring together a few nonsense syllables. It takes a few seconds for her to realize where she is and who it was that had woken her. Junpei can feel the muscles in her shoulder relax under his hand as she lets her guard down.

“It’s morning,” he says, his voice quiet. “You can get up and I can make breakfast, or you can go to bed and go back to sleep. I just don’t want you to keep sleeping here.”

“I’ll get up,” she mumbles, rubbing the sleep away from her eyes. “I was planning on finishing these reports last night, but I fell asleep earlier than I intended, so I guess I’ll finish them now.” She reaches to scoop up the papers that she had been sleeping on, but before she can, Junpei pulls her hand away.

“Nope,” he says, as she looks at him in confusion. “Today’s a holiday. No one else is working, so you shouldn’t be either. Reports can wait until tomorrow.”

“What holiday…” she begins, reaching for her phone. “Oh.” In front of her lock screen, pattered with cartoon bunnies, small white text announced that today’s date was December 25th.

“Merry Christmas, Akane.”

Her face falls. “Junpei, I’m so sorry, I totally forgot.”

“Kanny,” he brushes a hand through her hair. “It’s fine. You’ve been under a lot of stress lately. Besides, my family’s Buddhist. I’m not used to celebrating.” He cracks a smile and she sighs.

“Still,” she says, “I should at least remember what day it is. Oh, I should text Aoi. Christmas is his favorite holiday, you know.”

“I never would have guessed,” Junpei says dryly, and Akane laughs. “C’mon, let me cook breakfast and you can text your brother in the meantime.” She nods and they shuffle into the kitchen together, the morning light turning them to silver.

“We may be in a history that God has abandoned.”

Junpei looks up from his eggs to see Akane looking at her phone, her eyes wide.

“Akane, the last time you said that was when Starbucks ran out of pumpkin spice syrup.”

“I mean it this time.” She pushes her phone in his face “Look.”

Junpei blinks several times and tries to understand what he’s seeing. The picture is of Sigma, who has fake cat ears perched on top of his head, and who already looks fairly intoxicated. In the background he can see Diana sticking out her tongue, and Phi, who looks absolutely mortified. All three of them are wearing the same sweater, emblazoned with a cat and the phrase “Meow-ry Christmas.”

“They sure start partying early, huh?” He hands the phone back to Akane.

“I think that this picture was taken last night, but still. Sometimes I wonder if that’s really the same man who ran the AB project.”

“You’re one to talk, Kanny. Remember that time the new employee thought you were an intern because you looked to cute to be the boss?”

“Oh hush you.” She waves her hand at him and goes back to scrolling through her texts. “I got a response from Aoi. He said that he’ll be stopping by later to bring some holiday cheer.”

“I hope that he dresses up like Santa and comes in through the chimney.”

“I’m going to tell him that you said that.”

“Akane!” Junpei puts on his best scandalized expression. “I want your brother to like me!”

“He already likes you, he’s just too emotionally constipated to show it.”

Junpei smirks. “I’m going to tell him that you said that.”

Akane laughs. “I’d love to see you do that. His expression would be hilarious.”

“Nah, it’s not worth it.” Junpei shifts in his seat to try and catch a glimpse of Akane’s phone. “Any news from anyone else?”

“Hmm.” Akane scrolls through her texts. “Clover and Light are apparently spending the day with Alice, or at least, that’s what I can deduce from Clover’s text. Most of her messages are at least 90% emoji.”

“What about Carlos and Maria? I know that New Years is a big holiday for them, but are they doing anything today?”

“Carlos said something about visiting extended family in Santa Fe the last time I talked to him, so they’re probably either already there, or still on the road.”

“That’s nice. I hope they have fun. Though, maybe not as much fun as the Klims are having.”

Akane laughs, and the two of them let a comfortable silence fall between them. After a minute or two Junpei reaches out and takes hold of Akane’s hand. She laces their fingers together. They sit together like that for a while, not saying much, just taking in the other’s presence. Junpei is the first to break the silence.

“Akane,” he says, “I’m glad that I get to spend my Christmas with you.”

She smiles, deep and warm. Behind her the sun has risen fully, bathing her in golden light.

“Me too,” she says, “me too.”

~ zecretsanta ~ Leave a comment

To: @siggyklim

From: @therosecrest

I suck at writing, but I suck more at drawing. I wanted to do more than just a few paragraphs but I couldn’t come up with aaanythinng. Does this even count as enough? Happy Christmas!

K-A-N-N-Y.

Akane’s beloved nickname was stitched into the back of the jumper like a jersey. She might have stitched U-G-L-Y, herself. It seemed like Junpei had done that bit himself. That’s cute, Junpei, she thought. He was too. Not like this jumper. Aside from his addition, there were a few snowflake ‘embellishments’ that looked ready to fall off at any time. She should be so lucky. Turning around in the mirror, Akane ‘admired’ the front.

The first, and worst thing to see was the tree. The jumper was a mossy green colour similar to that of a Christmas Tree, and the designer had included one in the pattern on the chest. Then they had gone one step further and added lights, like on a real tree. To think she would have to wear this when the others came later made her face glow more brightly than those lights ever would.

There was one more addition from Junpei to the snowman on one side of the jumper. If Akane were to guess, it was a snow…rabbit? The stitching was terrible, but the thought was sweet. Junpei still remembered that she loved rabbits.

Turning again, she saw Junpei was looking at her expectantly, so she smiled sweetly at him and said “it’s perfect!” She wasn’t really lying; it would be perfect – at the back of her wardrobe where nobody could see it. His beaming face was more than enough to make her forget her embarrassment. It was just for Christmas, after all. But she would treasure it for much longer than that. Just…at the back of her wardrobe.

“Silver Bells,” Junpei/Akane+Quark fic for morphogenetlc

~ zecretsanta ~ Leave a comment

To: @morphogenetlc

From: @billyweird

Happy Holidays, morphogenetlc! I had so much fun writing this and hope you enjoy it.

AO3 link

Dear Santa,

Grandpa always told me not to expect anything to be handed to me, so I’m not sure what it’s okay to ask for. Uncle Junpei and Aunt Akane said you could do anything though, so I hope it’s okay if I ask for something big.


All I want is to talk to Grandpa again. I want him to know I really like it here and I’m okay. Can you tell him that? And please ask him to write to me. I put an envelope in here so he can send it back with you.


Thank you very much,

Quark

Junpei sighed and reread the letter, but it didn’t get any easier to swallow. “Why couldn’t he just ask for a video game?” he muttered. The way Aoi and Akane described their “letter to Santa” tradition sounded so innocent, but then again they hadn’t been kids from an apocalyptic future. They’d always known about toys and candy and books and animals, and the guarantee that tomorrow they wouldn’t have to dig through ruins to find everything they needed.

When Quark had first started to feel comfortable outside, Junpei and Akane took him grocery shopping. It was something fast and easy, and they took him on a weekday mid-morning when there wouldn’t be any parents hurrying to grab dinner fixings, old people fighting with cashiers to accept their expired coupons, and rowdy teenagers clogging aisles. After hearing they’d buy him anything he wanted, he grabbed a bottle of root beer from the fridge by the checkout line and said this was fine. Junpei’d had to nudge Quark to walk around the store with him to “just look” at other items, and Quark was in awe that so much fresh produce and meat, including stuff he’d never had in his life, was just sitting there in great pyramids and stuffed drawers. They filled the cart with mismatched oddities like pomegranates, seafood mix, purple potatoes, chicken liver, and kiwi before Junpei and Akane dragged him to the junk food on principle.

When they made it to the frozen aisle, he’d gone “Whoa!” and walked up and down the ice cream row a dozen times before finally grabbing a pint of vanilla and holding it up sheepishly. “Please?”

Akane’d chuckled. “Get a bigger one. We’ll make root beer floats.”

Quark’s eyes widened but he listened. That trip was one of the first signs that maybe Quark wasn’t going to be “normal” right away, but this letter was the thing that made Junpei’s chest burn, because he had no way to explain to Quark this was impossible.

When Quark came out of the transporter they’d acquired after years of searching, he’d been confused and then uncomfortable when he realized “Grandpa” wasn’t with him. Junpei’d froze, while Phi and Sigma just knelt down and re-introduced themselves. “Oh! Hey Miss Phi!” he’d said excitedly, and she’d smiled at him and said the guy beside her really was Mr. Sigma. Junpei was really, really glad he’d listened to them when they said having someone Quark recognized would make things easier. He wasn’t sure how to explain his identity at the time, so he just…hadn’t. He and Akane became “Grandpa’s relatives” and called themselves Quark’s Uncle and Aunt instead.

All he’d arrived with was a note tucked in his pocket from his Grandpa, explaining who he was and why he’d sent Quark back. Show him how good life can be, he’d written, like it was easy. Like Quark would never miss what he’d grown up with.

Junpei jumped when someone grabbed him from behind, and his assailant pulled him closer, giggling, and pressed her face between her shoulder blades. “Just me.“

“You know I hate that,” he grumbled, but turned to face Akane, grabbed her face, and planted a messy kiss on her lips to get her back. While he was distracted, she plucked the letter from between his fingers and stepped back. “Hey! I’m Santa, remember?”

She practically danced out of his grasp, reading it despite his struggle to take it from her, and her face softened as she reached the end. “Aw, Quark…”

“…Yeah. I thought he’d just want more ice cream or something.” He scratched the back of his head. “How am I supposed to do this?” he murmured so he wouldn’t wake Quark in the other room. He was Junpei Tenmyouji, 26 year-old newlywed in over his head; he wasn’t Junpei Tenmyouji, 67 year-old grandfather.

“Well, one time when I was nine I wrote to Santa and asked him to prove he was real.”

“Why?” He shook his head. “No, wait, you would do that.”

Akane puffed out her cheeks. “I wanted to tell Ishinomori he was wrong about Santa not being real! Santa even wrote me back!”

“That must’ve been Aoi.”

Akane smiled and tilted her head, one finger to her chin. “Exactly.”

Junpei tried to set the idea aside for a while, thinking maybe Quark would forget about his request if they kept him distracted with all manner of fun and gifts the day-of, but the thought nagged at him until it came out in bed one night.

“I mean, we got him the bike, right? He wants to learn! That’s probably gonna make up for it.” He flinched as the beer he’d been gesturing with splashed onto his face. Akane snorted at his predicament and handed him a tissue from her nightstand.

“Junpei…” she sighed, but kissed his cheek. “He doesn’t want a perfect letter or a bike. He wants Grandpa.”

“Well how do I pretend to be him? I only know a little bit of what his life was like!” He’d tried to use the morphic fieldset to learn more, but sometime around the hundredth vision of fire, dead bodies, and the disappointment and numbness that’d set in after finding Akane on the moon, he’d had enough and didn’t look again. He set the beer on his nightstand and propped himself up on his elbow to face Akane, looking at her in the soft glow of their bedside lamp.

When he’d slipped the ring on her finger the first time, in that doomed history, his only thoughts had been Don’t let me pass out and Please say yes and I hope Carlos isn’t staring at us. The second time, in the first motel room they’d crashed in after leaving Dcom, he’d knelt down on a grody carpet and put the ring on her left hand and given her the biggest, dorkiest grin he ever had in his life when she knocked him into the floor with the weight of her embrace. Then, he’d thought the best parts of marriage would be when they were happiest and declaring their love for each other. He learned the best parts were pinch-fights on the couch in headquarters, helping her out of her wedding gown when she got the flu at their reception and cleaning her running makeup off her face as she cried that she just wanted to enjoy her day, and lying next to her in bed savoring the fact that she was here.

She realized he was staring, and looked up from her book. “Do I have lotion on my face?”

“No, you just…” He met her eyes and she looked at him with growing confusion, before his hand darted out and pinched her cheek. “Gotcha.”

“Junpei!” She shook him off and tossed her book off the bed as she grabbed him and flipped them over so she was on top of him. “You’re gonna regret that,” she laughed as she pulled on his hair, and he slipped a hand under her shirt to pinch her stomach, making her shriek. They wrestled until they were out of breath, and ended up with her draped over him, kissing a line from his ear to his neck. He held her close as it dawned on him:

She was right. It didn’t have to be perfect to make them happy.

*

“It’s all for me?” Quark, convinced to take his precious hat off after Akane told him it was a rule before he opened his gifts, rubbed the back of his head. He looked again at the gifts around him: the bike, the stocking full of candy, the new coat and boots, the books, and the video game system Junpei had wanted for himself but had told Akane was for Quark. “You guys are really nice…”

“On Christmas, Santa grants wishes, okay? You’re a really good boy, so Santa told us you deserved it all.” Akane ruffled his hair and smiled when he shook his head. “Open up your presents from Phi and Sigma and Aoi while Uncle Junpei and I get the cocoa, okay?”

“Okay!”

Akane pulled him to the kitchen by the arm. As they left Aoi gave them a look that read Don’t leave me alone with him, but Junpei suspected he was growing a soft spot for Quark as he’d sent a “follow-up letter from Santa” asking Quark if he preferred toy cars or an ice cream maker.

“Do you think he likes it?” Junpei whispered to her as she poured cocoa into mugs.

“He seems happy, but I wish we’d written the letter.” She sighed. “His smile looks a little sad.”

“That’s an oxymoron.”

“You know what I mean.” He did. That Quark was afraid to look sad that he hadn’t gotten what he really wanted. Junpei pulled an envelope out of his pants pocket, carefully hidden until now.

“Who’s to say Santa didn’t grant his wish?”

She covered her mouth and her eyes watered a little. “Junpei…”

“What?”

She kissed his cheek and smiled at him, unable to explain why she was so touched. They returned to the living room, where Quark was enthusing about the ice cream maker and asking Aoi if kiwi-flavored ice cream was possible, and Junpei cleared his throat to get his attention. “I held onto this until the last gift was open…” With a flourish, he revealed the letter he’d been hiding behind his back. “Santa left this with me. He said you’re the only one allowed to open it.”

Quark’s hands shook as he read it front-to-back. Junpei’d thrown four other drafts away before settling on this one, and he hoped he’d gotten the voice right. When Quark finished, he turned it back over and reread it. Finally he looked up at Junpei, swallowing. “Santa read my letter,” was all he got out. Akane distracted him with the cocoa, changing the topic fluidly by telling Aoi they had to try and make red bean ice cream sometime, and Quark seemed to perk up.

Junpei sat next to him on the floor and nudged his shoulder into Quark’s, and they smiled at each other weakly. He hoped he’d gotten it right, and Quark wasn’t upset because he’d figured out the letter was fake:

Quark,

I’m glad you’re alright. It sounds like you’re happy over there. That’s what I wanted for you. I hope you’ll understand that someday. I tried to get Santa to help me search for rare metal, but he’s not you. I’ll be fine here, you just worry about being polite to Junpei and Akane and working hard when you go to school.

He went on, building up some story about a recent excavation Grandpa had gone on, and finished with: Say hi to Phi and Sigma for me. I’ll send another letter with Santa next year.

Grandpa

P.S. Tell Santa to bring scotch next time.

Quark seemed cheery the rest of the day as they went to the movies, had breakfast for dinner at his request, and played a video game (something he still found fascinating no matter how many times he saw one). He waved goodbye to Aoi pleasantly and fell asleep on the couch past his bedtime. Junpei and Akane, after carrying him to his bed, looked around at the mess of wrapping paper and dishes, and shrugged before retiring to their own room.

Junpei woke past midnight to the sound of shuffling around in the living room. He froze, listening, and there it was again: someone out there. He crept out, old instincts kicking in to protect himself, before he heard glass break and a quiet “Crap!”

“Quark?” He found Quark kneeling by the tree, carefully sweeping shards of a broken ornament into a pile with his hands. “Forget that, we have a broom,” he muttered, pulling him up by the arm.

“I’m sorry! I’ll fix it, I–”

“Quark, it’s fine. It’s just an accident. What are you doing up this late?” Quark looked down at his feet. “Quark?”

“I was trying to find something.”

“What?”

“I left a present for Grandpa, but Santa didn’t pick it up. I guess I hid it too well.” Quark shifted on his feet before bending down to grab an object he must’ve pulled from its hiding place. “Grandpa never wanted Christmas presents. We didn’t even do anything for it, but sometimes he’d give me things. He gave me my hat.” He handed it off to Junpei, a gift that was heavy and sloshing inside. It was wrapped in several layers of tissue paper and tape Quark must’ve taken when Akane was wrapping her gift for Aoi the other day. Junpei peeled back some of the paper and saw amber liquid.

“Uh…what is this?”

“Scotch.”

“How the hell did you get scotch!?” Junpei said louder than he’d meant, and Quark jumped.

“…Uh, Miss Phi helped me get it if I promised I wouldn’t tell.”

“Of all the…what goes through her…forget it, I’ll talk to her later.” Junpei felt so old, lecturing a kid in his care about hiding alcohol.

“It’s Grandpa’s favorite, and everything is so cheap here compared to where we come from. I wanted him to have something nice.” Quark looked askance. “And Miss Phi wouldn’t help me get ‘Grandpa videos.’”

Junpei wasn’t gonna ask. He gripped the bottle instead and looked at Quark. “We can hold onto this for Grandpa. You don’t have to hide stuff from me and Akane.”

Quark’s shoulders slumped. “Sorry… I thought you guys would tell Santa and then Grandpa wouldn’t be surprised.”

“Well… I’ll put this away and we’ll forget about it. But just don’t keep secrets again, okay? Grandpa wouldn’t be happy if he knew.” They cleaned up the glass and he sent Quark back to bed, then sat on the couch and started drinking the scotch himself. Drinking alone in a dark room, ‘tis the season. He hadn’t had a holiday this depressing since the Christmas right after the Nonary Game, which he’d celebrated by joining that detective firm and almost getting stabbed on his first case.

He must’ve dozed off, because he jolted awake when Akane settled beside him on the couch. The sun was just starting to rise and made the room rosy. She eased him onto his side and lay down on him, her head on his chest. “Sleep well?”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to uh. Do that.”

“The bed got cold,” she murmured, spreading out on top of him. “I don’t like sleeping alone.” She snuggled against him. “So I’ll stay right here.”

“Sounds good.” He put a hand on her head and stroked her hair. She was so warm and he held her closer, savoring her proximity and weight on top of him. There was a lot he could say—he loved her, Merry Christmas—but he didn’t say anything. Nothing could encapsulate how peaceful and lucky he felt right now. He didn’t have any easy answers for the next few months, but that was fine. He had Akane and Quark and they had him and together they’d see a lot of Christmases to come.