Coffee Lips | Akira Kurusu x Reader
• Persona 5 • Protag x Reader • Akira Kurusu • Headcanons •
✮ Notes ✮
> Fluff
> Dating/Flirting
> Kissing to Taste Drinks
> Gender-Neutral Reader
~•~•~
✮ So we all know that Akira drinks coffee. He drinks it in the morning with Sojiro’s curry, and sometimes at night if he’s feeling it. For pleasure, SP, or just to keep his eyes open during evening activities, you can spot him sipping a cup of that fine, Sojiro-approved, bean water.
✮ You like coffee too. The smell, taste, and aesthetic of it has become a favorite to you. It’s probably one of the reasons you fell in love with Akira.
✮ No, not the MAIN reason, but definitely a little aesthetic reason as to why he seemed so charming.
✮ One time when you two were hanging out at the cafe in Kichijoji, you decided to sneak a little kiss after he had taken a sip of his latte.
> “Y-Y/n?”
> “Damn. You taste even better after having coffee.”
✮ Your bluntness had caused him to blush, though he tried to seal it all under those thick glasses of his.
✮ Nonetheless, the experience had sparked a new tradition, or experiment of sorts, that’s for sure.
✮ The cafe’s coffee was good, but you wondered how much better he would taste with Sojiro’s coffee.
✮ And you weren’t going to stop at just Sojiro-level coffee. You were determined to try every flavor of coffee the shopkeeper had on the shelves. Through Akira’s lips when the opportunity arised.
✮ The ravenette had learned rather quickly of those plans as soon as you had tried the first flavor.
> “You aren’t seriously going to do this every time I drink coffee, are you?” he sweated after you had withdrew from his face and licked your lips with contemplation.
✮ Like you were a food critic assessing each and every aspect of the taste that danced on your lips.
> “Oh, no. Just when there’s a Sojiro flavor I haven’t tried yet. Oh, and maybe when a favorite comes along.”
✮ He was so red that you could mistake him for the seat covers lining the sides of the counter.
✮ But he couldn’t say no.
✮ He had offered to make any flavor you wanted so that you wouldn’t have to go through him if you were just trying to be cheap on money.
✮ But you had emphasized that that deluded the point in the experiment in the first place.
> “You’re what makes it taste better. That’s why I want to taste it with you.”
✮ He was addicted to the taste of you as much as you were addicted to the taste of him with coffee.
✮ It was a temptation too good to resist.
✮ Naturally, the occasional taste test wardened some curious and confused looks.
✮ There was students, citizens, as well as the rest of the thieves.
✮ At first, it didn’t bother you in the slightest.
✮ Until you began to overhear mutters of disgust and disdain for the public signs of affection by strangers who found your attempts deplorable.
✮ So after awhile of hearing the negative reactions every time you tried, you began to grow timid of the test and, at one point, stopped all together.
✮ You didn’t even try when you were alone because you feared you were being selfish and that you were hitting a mallet on the already-tarnished reputation of your lover.
✮ That hesitation that hung over you became increasingly obvious to the Phantom leader, be it max-rank-kindness intuition and just knowing you in general.
✮ So he decided to confront you about it.
> “Hey, did you want to try this one? My lips are open to you,” he tried to flirt behind the counter, only for it to come out more like a genuinely concerned question than a pickup line.
✮ You, who had come to visit him at Leblanc that evening, gave a distant smile from the middle seat of the bar. A seat that you normally left empty in favor of taking the one closest to Akira and the siphons.
> “Heh, no, it’s alright. I shouldn’t bother you while you’re enjoying your cup,” you waved dismissively, only to return sipping the one you held in the palms of your hands.
✮ Okay, this called for direct confrontation.
> “Be real with me, Y/n. What’s the matter?” he started, tone turning light-hearted to dead serious, akin to the times he was thinking or coming up with a strategy in the metaverse.
✮ The sudden question had shocked you, coaxing your hands to put down the steaming drink so that you can gave him your full attention.
> “What are you talking about, Akira?”
> “The test. The coffee kiss taste test. Why did you stop?”
> “Oh, that.”
✮ You laughed awkwardly, almost lamentingly, which made Akira furrow his brows.
> “I thought it was silly, so I stopped,” you replied simply.
✮ Somehow, the boy had little to no trust in that answer, and began prodding some more.
> “What do you mean by silly? I thought you were determined to try every flavor?”
> “Well, I thought that would just get in your way so…”
> “I never said you got in the way though.”
✮ Falling into a silence, you averted from his gaze.
✮ You were ashamed to admit that you found your previous acts selfish, so you didn’t want to bring it up.
✮ But, like any other time with any and every person he met, Akira had a knack for snatching the truth out of your soul.
✮ And so eventually, you spilled everything.
✮ About the gossiping, about you worrying that you were being too clingy or too selfish to understand his personal boundaries.
✮ He had assumed that worthless junk strangers spouted was too idiotic to get to you.
✮ But then he realized that because you worried about him, it was why their words easily penetrated your confidence.
✮ It made him both mad and glad at the same time.
✮ Furious at himself for not noticing sooner and furious at the people for making you think this way. But glad that in the end, you still loved him.
✮ You didn’t fall out of love for him or got bored after a taste.
✮ You were addicted to him as much as he was addicted to you.
✮ Hoisting himself up and around the counter to stop at the opposing side of your cup, he pushed the half-sipped cup toward you with an unknown glint in his eye.
> “Drink it before it gets cold.”
✮ Though naturally confused, you complied, only for him to swiftly lean in and connect your lips with his the moment you looked up to notice.
✮ Pulling away, he licked his lips in a cheery fashion, glee pulling the rims of his eyes into obsidian arches as he stared into yours like you were the only thing in the world.
> “You’re right,” he hummed endearingly.
> “It does taste better with coffee. Is it alright if we continue this little test you’ve brewed up?”
✮ And well, you couldn’t say no.
✮ After that, the test lived on between the both of you, no longer a one-sided experiment on your end.
✮ When he tried a new cup, you smooched. And when you tried a cup? He swung in for a taste.
✮ Sure, there were people who gagged at the PDA, but Akira had made sure you knew that he minded not one bit and that you didn’t have to either.
✮ You would smile and nod, thanking him for the reassurance, but also reassure him that you would never feel insecure about it again as long as he was okay with it.
~•~•~
