RETURNS TO NOTHING / AKIANGEL

three

angel regrets even being partners with aki on such a project. i mean, it was so vague too that it was like the professor was trying to set people up.

"so, attraction..." aki hums as he walks out to the parking lot with angel. he had pitied him for taking the bus to school and of course, feeling bad for almost running him over, "any ideas?"

angel shrugs and aki groans, "come on, i don't wanna do all the work. at least try and come up with ideas."

"we can pretend to date and see if it'll make you more attractive." angel says as a joke but angel does not hear any laughter coming from aki.

aki stands still in the hall as he looks over to angel, "you're a genius!"

aki grabs his hand before the two are rushing into his car. aki drives cautiously as they sit in silence. perhaps he was trying to prove to angel that he was not a maniac that needed his license revoked and that it was a one time thing.

aki ends up taking angel to his apartment which feels like a huge step in their so-called friendship. aki opens the door to be greeted by a young boy with blonde choppy hair and a dog beside him.

"you got a girlfriend?" denji gasps as he stares at angel with awe in his eyes.

"i'm a guy." angel says as aki closes the door behind him and locks it.

"oh." denji says before he perks up again with the same awe in his eyes, "you got a boyfriend?"

aki shrugs, "we're figuring it out."

denji stares at the two in confusion. sure, he knew being an adult was hard and confusing but he didn't think it was that confusing.

"so are you two dating or not?" he asks as he watches angel slip his shoes off by the door. angel moves with elegance in his actions as if he were some type of royal, not just a regular guy.

"sure." angel says as he hangs his bag by the door before taking out a journal and pen from it.

"denji, don't bother him and get pochita out, she's getting her fur all over the couch." aki says as he glances towards the golden retriever that is lying on the couch as if she owned the place (which she basically did at this point.)

denji huffs as he stomps his way over to pochita, glaring at aki as he gently guides pochita out of the living room and into his room.

"you didn't have to kick him out, you know. i don't mind." angel says as he sits at the small table in aki's living room.

"i know but if we are going to pretend to date, i think we have to make it believable." aki says as he stares into angel's dark eyes, "you should be the only one who's aware that this is not real."

angel nods, "right. but also we don't know shit about each other."

aki smiles softly, "i am so glad you said that."

angel is about to ask why when aki pulls a small stack of papers stapled together from out of his notebook and lays it in the middle of the table.

"what is it?"

aki slides the papers over, "check for yourself."

angel looks over the papers briefly– they're filled with silly questions that a friend perhaps might ask when they were bored before leading into deeper more meaningful questions that he had never had the chance or time to be asked questions of those types.

"thirty six questions." aki states, "to make you fall in love with me."

"and you're going to ask me all of them? right now?"

aki shakes his head, "of course not. it's three sections, twelve questions each. i'll ask you one section every week."

"oh wow, you're organized." angel says, "i like it."

aki smiles, "thank you. let's get started shall we?"