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The devil played with his red strings with scissors. Fate, fate had been the one thing that brought them together, somehow on that fateful say they walked to school together only too end up somewhere else, somewhere not either of them could imagine, a palace. He remembers that as his first meeting with the love of his life..the love that wasn’t his.
Ryuji was rooming with Yusuke when the letter came through, he read the words carefully each ran in his mind like church bells in a town square.
“Ryuji Sakamoto,
You are graciously invited to the wedding of Akechi Goro and Akira Kurusu. You are also formally given a place as one of Akira’s groomsman.”
He traced the lettering intricately, his eyes welled with tears like a rain cloud. ‘Wedding of Akechi Goro and Akira Kurusu’ That didn’t sound right to him, the words repeated in his mind and made his stomach turn to this feeling off sadness, one he was very accustomed too, he remembers that day in the coffee shop, he remembers the announcement.
~~~~
“Hey Guys.” Akira smiled, he was sat in the booth with Ann, Futaba and Haru already as well as him, Akechi Goro who seemed way too happy for this to be a good thing. Ryuji arrived along with Makoto and Yusuke, his hands lodged in his pockets. For months since the incident he’d used his pockets as an escape and the existential coldness that now welcomed his hands.
“Now that your all here, Akechi and I are dating!” Dating...Dating...Dating! Those words circled Ryuji’s mind, his eyes were wide as he watched Akechi, the bastard, pull Akira into his arms.
“Congratulations!”
“Wonderful!”
“Happy for the both of you!”
Were the echoes off his friends words, even he could hear the fake happiness in their tones. Ryuji nods, not choosing to add any words, any sentences, not even a breath to them. He stayed as the group caught up, he never even whispered a letter. An hour had passed and he was so awfully bored of being tortured.
“Renren and I- Ryuji?” Akechi turned as the blonde slammed his hands on the table, eyes built up in a wild fire as he got up and stormed to the bathroom, Ann holding everyone back from following him. As he made it in he locked the door behind him and slumped against it, his knees digging into his chest and his head falling between them, as if he was an intricate ballerina except all that followed was a stream of applause which took the form of tears.
“Bastard..BASTARD!” He cried into his knees, his nails digging into the sides of his legs, as if searching for some form of stability. “That’s my name for him, not yours, Thief.” He sobbed. It hurt, all of this, these couple of months he had reached a new low. Getting into more trouble at school, visibly more violent, short tempered, everything he was before Akira fell into his life. He then heard a knock on the door.
“Sakamoto, it’s not very manly off you too cry alone in a bathroom, not very sanitary either.” That voice. Ryuji couldn’t control himself, as if a flip had turned in his brain he stood up and unlocked the door, opening it and rushing foreward, grabbing Akechi by his collar and pinning him to the wall.
“Bastard!” Ryuji yelled, his eyes red and puffy as he tightened his grip. 2You stole him from me, you fucking bastard!” He yelled.
“Ryuji!” A feminine voice called, and quickly pulled the blonde away from Akechi, her eyes on the man as he walks back to the gathering at the table.
“Ann, why, why did you let him get away?” Whispered the blonde, his eyes looked down, a certain darkness in them.
“Because, there's nothing we can do now.” She whispered, Ryuji couldn’t hide it anymore as he slowly broke into sobs, falling against the girl and sobbing into her shoulders. She gently placed a hand on his back and pulled him into a hug. “Don’t you know it hurts me too? To see him where you should be?” Ann whispered, the blonde sobbed harder into her shoulders. For this reason she was glad the doors to the bathrooms were a little bit away from the main cafe area, hidden in a cubby sort of thing, a door blocking the view of the broken porcelain doll and his comforter. “We all know this is wrong but what can we do now? Akira doesn’t remember you and he’s being controlled…” She softly spoke.
~~~
Ryuji wiped his eyes as he noticed tear drops had fallen onto the invitation. When Akira lost his memories, they had to build their friendship up from rubble and at least Ryuji could say he was happy to be invited to his best friend's wedding right? He only wished he was a groom.
He sighed throwing the invitation onto the side and collapsing onto the couch. “Renren..” He whispered to the ceiling, his eyes clouding with what he could only know was tears, a frequent friend of his now.
~~~
“We need nicknames!” Called the dark haired boy, he was sat happily in Ryuji’s lap, scrolling through his phone.
“Nicknames?” Ryuji replied, his hand played with Akira’s hair softly his other hand occupied with his own phone.
“Yeah, like mine for you is Ryu,, I think you should give me a nickname.” Skira suggests, his head leaned into the soft touch off his boyfriend.
“Hm, well your middle name is Ren, right? How about..RenRen?” Ryuji asked with a soft smile on his face as Akira softly giggled at the name.
“Really? RenRen? Points for creativity, Sakamoto.” Ryuji loved it when Akira called him by his last name, he didn’t know why but it gave him this warm feeling in his stomach, these soft butterflies fluttered in his stomach.
“Well less nickname making and more hugs!” Ryuji declared and softly pulled his boyfriend down with him. There they layed, arms wrapped around eachother and talked about the most trivial things for what felt like an eternity, a feeling Ryuji never wanted to end. Since that they Ryuji would call Akira nickname, it was his name for him and his alone.
~~~
Less time reminiscing, Ryuji told himself, his mind battling with the feelings off his heart as he sat up. He had to busy himself, to ignore these feelings and that's what he did, For the nine months leading up to the wedding Ryuji busied himself, keeping his head buried under work, not letting himself think for even a second as he knew his thoughts would just go back to him. There was an Akira shaped hole in his Akira shaped heart and he was not going to let himself ruin his best friend's wedding day, even if he could never let himself enjoy the special day, he still had a freedom of thought.
Time passed like a car speeding by and suddenly Akira was stood on the left side of the alter, waiting for Akira to walk down the aisle, he was stood by Ann, Makoto, Haru, Futaba and Yusuke, who were all part of Akira’s groomsmen and groomsmaids. He blinked and suddenly organs sounded out their song like it was some sort of opera. Akira watched as the large wooden doors burst open and there stood his best friend, his soulmate in the most stunning tuxedo he’d ever seen.
~~~
“Hey Akira?” The blonde asked as they sat in a safe room to a palace. It was the first day in there so it was only scouting for now.
“Hm?” Akira lifted his head and looked over at Ryuji, a loving smile caressing his lips. Ryuji couldn’t help but fall in love all over again at the look of that smile.
“I was thinking.” Ryuji was blushing, he could feel this pit of nervousness build up in his stomach as he gulped down his nervousness. “Well, it’s a bit embarrassing.” He stalled, making Akira pout,
“Ryuji Sakamoto, I hope you don’t intend on making me wait forever for you to tell me, huh?” He joked, a playful glint in his eyes. Ryuji sighed and swallowed.
“I was thinking that you amd me, after we finish school in the following months and live our lives for a few years, would...would you like to marry me at some point?” He asked, which was only met with a look of shock on Akira’s face, his cheeks exploding with red.
“Ryu.,,Are you serious? Because of course! I love you and honestly..I would love to marry you..” He spoke softly and was taken surprise as Ryuji pulled him into a hUG.
“Is that a yes?”
“Obviously, dumbass. Now less hugging and more exploring this palace.” Akira spoke, picking them both up.
“And stop being so cute together, geez!” Called Ann who was sat glaring at them along with the rest of the Phantom Theives.
“Right..” Ryuji blushed and picked himself up as Akira lead them all further into the labyrinth.
They ended up exploring more than they bargained for and ended up in a strange room. A large enemy sat there, glaring down at them. One of his attacks hit Akira and knocks him out, they group barely drag him out and when he came to, he couldn’t who Ryuji was.
“Ryuji?” Akira asked, a blank look in his eyes.
“Yeah you know, your boyfriend?” Futaba asks, thinking Akira was joking around.
“No..I don’t know anyone called Ryuji..I remember all of you but Ryuji, the name sounds familiar but I have no memories of him.” If you listened carefully in that moment you could hear Ryuji’s heart shatter as the love off his life forgot him and they rebuilt their friendship up from scratch.
That's when Akechi came in.
~~~
The service bored Ryuji, he hardly listened as he kept his mind focused on other things; the stained glass windows, his friends, the audience, the benches, the decorations. Anything apart from the grooms.
As they officially tied the knot, slipping on the golden wedding bands, something in Ryuji died.
Celebrations continued through the night and guests idally chatted while Ryuji played around with his glass of champagne, the golden light of the sun faded to silver moonlight, which no stars accompanied. Ryuji sighed as he leaned on the balcony.
“Are you enjoying the events?” A voice called, his voice called. Ryuji gulped and drank his entire glass in one swig.
“Shouldn't you be dancing?” He asked, turning around, the shadow of a smile ghosting his lips as he looked upon the beautiful Akira, the boys charcoal covered eyes were still as mesmerizing as they were when Ryuji first fell in love. How this tugged on his heart.
“I’ve had enough off that. I came to seek out you. You’ve not been seen enjoying yourself.” Akira replied, walking up closer, you could make out the light scent of lily and lavender on him. At this point Ryuji has had enough of this, His heart finally taking control as it had longed for since the invitation first arrived.
“You caught me red handed Akira Kurusu- Oh I mean Akechi.” He spoke, a violent tone tipped his tongue and tears pooled in the corner off his eyes. This made Akira stop for a moment, and slowly he reached out his hand.
“Ryuji, are you ok-”
“You know the fuck I’m not!” Ryuji replied coldly, they were the only ones of the balcony. “You want to know why? Because this day was supposed to be ours! You were supposed to take my name, damn it.” Ryuji punched the concrete balcony rail, injuring his wrist in the process.
“Sakamoto-”
“Oh don’t give me that shit!” He started crying, his tears felt hot amongst the cold summer night. “You know Renren, I’ll tell you exactly everything, hm? We were together, you loved me, I love you!” He called. “We were happy, you are, no, were the only good thing to ever happen to me Akira!” He was practically screaming through his cries. This made Akira freeze, his eyes widened, he didn’t know why but some part of him wanted to pull Ryuji into a hug and comfort him. “You don’t remember me, do you? Well let me tell you Akira Ren Kurusu, there is one thing I sure didn’t miss, your very first kiss and there's one thing you’ve forgotten, my very first kiss. Goodbye, I can’t keep living like this anymore, I can’t keep pretending I’m ok when I’m not the one you love.” And like that he stormed past away from Akira and went to get out, Ann spotting him and running after him, even if she was in heels.
Akira stood there frozen for a moment, a single tear running down his face. He simply wiped it and went back to his wedding party although; It didn’t feel the same.
“Ryuji!” Ann called out, grabbing his arm as they got just far enough away from the venue for anyone to see them.
“Ann, go back to the party..” He turned around a small fake smile gathering on his lips, tears streamed down his face. Ann sighed and pulled the taller person into a hug and he just collapsed into her arms sobbing,
“Dummy, you know I’ll always be here to look after you because no one else will and we damn well know you wont.” She sighed,gently stroking his hair. “I promised myself, that day in the cafe, that I will always be here for you no matter what, because you’re my best friend..” She whispered as they collapsed to their knees, tears forming in her eyes. “I’ve done everything I can to try and get him to remember, you know?” She spoke softly. “Akechi is a bitch. He won’t let me spend time with Akira alone. He’s keeping that boy in a cage, not literally of course, Whenever any of us mention your name Akechi stops us and takes Akira away, as if he’s the one whose keeping Akira under this spell off his..” She whispers.
“That..bastard..” Ryuji croaked out.
~~~
“My very first kiss? His very first kiss?...Our very first kiss..” Akira mumbled as he glared into one of the flower bushes they had decorated around for his marriage.Thats when his eyes widened, a memory?
It was a dark night, Ryuji was walking Akira back to leblanc, their hands intertwined as they made idle chatter until they got to the front door. As Ryuji waved him goodbye Akira stood there, only having the door light to illuminate the features off his face. It was now or never, he had told himself as he stood up, reaching up, his lips meeting with the blondes.
Akira gasped, looking around the room, all his memories, everything, were flooding back to him, he stumbled backwards, grabbing his head as if he was in pain. He was caught by a pair off arms.
“Akira, are you ok honey?” Akechi asked, looking down at his husband in worry. Akira didn’t look at him as he spoke.
“
“I’ve married the wrong person..”