Castling Your King: An Akira Kurusu/Goro Akechi Rec List
“I’m glad I found you…to paraphrase Hegel, advancement cannot occur without both thesis and antithesis.”
fics may be based on the canons of either Persona 5 + Persona 5 Royal. Check notes and tags of fics for warnings and ratings, esp for violence, dark topics etc.
One-Shots
(includes canon, canon divergence, future fics, and AUs)
all we inherit by Mertiya
Akira visits Akechi’s Palace, and events play out differently.
warm data by scionblad
Goro Akechi was seventeen years old and fond of biking, high-class food, and bouldering. It felt a very mechanical way to get to know a person, like a checklist of the things that made them up.
Bullet Caught Between Your Teeth by npcx
Akira’s forgiveness is unrelenting. Akechi’s heart can hardly keep up.
Start Again At Your Beginnings by joishbishmyoga
The thing about having given your heart, your service, and most of your soul to your country, Soujiro thought, mouthing at an unlit cigarette as he sat uselessly by Akira’s bedside for the second night in a row, watching that the kid kept breathing through his concussion… The thing was, you either broke, or you learned to appreciate the simpler things in life. Fine coffee. Fresh curry. Regular customers.
ashes and ruin by SpookyVern
An evening conversation that traveled into Kurusu’s attic, ruined by one sentence.
“We know you know about the metaverse.”
furball by hamnet
Goro finds a kitten. Despite everything his logic tells him, he keeps her.
Spring Cleaning by deplore
Goro’s hair grows longer and his feelings grow deeper as he waits for Akira Kurusu to return. Emotions gain a peculiar, foreign dimension to them, like he’s slowly being filled with the things that he previously lacked. Or maybe it’s more that he’s regaining things that he once tried to throw away: his dreams, his passions, his opportunities, all burned to crisps and used as kindling to keep the hell-fire in him fierce and unyielding.
a multitude of deaths, and a world for us alone by deplore
Post-canon AU. Goro and Akira go on a trip together, and Goro has bad dreams.
Goro breathes in deeply and interlaces his fingers. “The night sky,’ he begins to say, and then lets the subject trail off with no action behind it, letting that trite, overused line go unfinished: the night sky is beautiful, which really means – I think you’re beautiful. I love you.
get lost tracing my steps back by the hyacinth girl (arguendo)
Favors exchanged after a juvenile court hearing.
Places, everyone by neonsign
Because where Akira Kurusu goes, Goro Akechi follows. Everyone knows the rivalry, even if their knowledge is limited to what’s been in the papers; a game like this draws attention from those content to sit on the sidelines.
With Mournful Tread by Yustiel
There’s Akechi, bandaging his wounds in the dusty summer evenings with gentle hands; Akechi, reading the English aloud for his sake; Akechi, with undue viciousness, tearing at the shadow that had threatened them.
“Don’t worry,” he said. “I won’t let them touch you.” But oh, they’re not the ones he’s afraid of. (New Game+ AU)
and it looks so very much like me by Rethira
felix faces him, leans down and murmurs, “i don’t mind if you call me goro, amamiya-kun”
(the velvet room has a new attendant)
Felled by izanyas
At the dawn of their doomed partnership, in a moment of weakness, Joker gives Akechi a chance.
How to Build a Temple by sakuraba
Falling in love – not the how, but the where. Or: Akechi Goro finally gets something he’s desperately been lacking.
i can put on a show by SpineAndSpite
“Were you this hard when you killed me?” the vicious mouth asks.
skeptic by chasmish
Maybe it’s just a born characteristic of Kurusu’s, Goro thinks idly. To be so cynical.
playing with ghosts by dcuros
Late at night, Akira brews a particular blend, sets up the chessboard and chases the ghost of Akechi Goro.
the devil’s details by relationshipcrimes
When Akechi is sentenced to six years in prison after Shido’s change of heart, Akira makes sure to stay in touch.
when your eyes say it by lesbianedgeworth
Akechi exhales sharply. Annoyed. Better then soft any day, if he matched this with pity Joker would throw himself off a roof and be done with it— he meets Joker’s eyes as abruptly as he decides to do anything. “You like me. Is that right?”
in the aftermath of february second, akechi and joker have some things to say.
it’s not the waking by theexistentiallyqueer
There’s something hot and thick sitting in his throat almost choking him, something heavy and full of furious grief.You should know the moment when you first fall in love. (Persona 5 Royal spoilers)
the second hand of fate ticks closer to home by theexistentiallyqueer
“Hey,” Akira says, catching Akechi by the sleeve of his jacket before he can leave. “Stay for a bit.”
He doesn’t look to see if Akechi stays; he can hear that Akechi stays, because the door doesn’t open and the bell doesn’t ring. Akira goes behind the bar to grab a canister off the shelves on the wall and make them both coffee. (Persona 5 Royal spoilers)
To err is human by Katraa
to forgive, divine. It’s a matter of perspective. At least that’s what he tells himself so he can sleep at night. His sleep isn’t sound, instead riddled with nightmares and roaming hands. Hot whiskey eyes and bony fingers make themselves at home in his mind and he can’t escape. There’s a bomb, ticking away, set to explode – or perhaps implode? – in less than a month and yet he can’t help himself from wanting to play with the wires.
Fold In by SomewhereFlying
As long as Goro was still around, the Thieves would be in danger - if not from him, then from Shido - and that was something he could no longer bear. Sometimes the bravest thing you can do is run away.
What You Don’t Know by SomewhereFlying
Akira was supposed to be keeping his nose down during his probation at Shujin, but sometimes things don’t work out the way you expect. Sometimes you befriend the other misfits in school and start working to expose an abusive teacher for the scum that he is. Hey, it couldn’t be helped - these things happen.
Sometimes you have to distract the student council vice president by making out with him. These things happen.
uncertainty principle by akc
In the silence, Akira asks his ceiling why things turned out this way. His ceiling does not answer. (goro and akira are childhood friends au)
Cover Your Tracks by prosodiical
On the day Goro Akechi first entered the Metaverse, a stranger followed him in. A little more than two years later, Akira Kurusu returns to Shibuya, accidentally stumbles into another Palace, and meets a talking cat.
Crooked Hands by coolkidroland
In which Akira absolutely does not learn to leave well enough alone.
(alternate title: A Fork in Want of a Light Socket). Part of a series. Followed by Goblin Men and The Reed Which Grows Nevermore Again.
an all encompassing guide on how to stop the snow from falling by akc
After living quietly by himself for nearly two years, dead in the eyes of the Phantom Thieves, Akechi Goro makes the decision to step into Leblanc unprompted to face them all, unaware of the tumultuous unfolding and unfurling that will come along with it.
Dreaming of Butterflies by heavymoons
Akira wakes up, his mind bursting with visions of the future and his heart burning with resolve … only to discover that he hadn’t needed to worry about it at all.
(I.e. NG+ maxstats!Akira might be an anxious, mildly depressed wreck but he has never looked this good.)
people like you, people like me by cybersquatt
I know about the Metaverse and what you are, he sometimes thinks about dumping the hard truth onto Kurusu, just to see that notorious poker face off guard at least once. You better stop this hero act before you ruin us both. As if he’s not the one driving them off the road. (Persona 5 Royal setting)
killed with kindness by veterization
Goro can’t quite figure out why so many people keep acting like they’re his friend. (Or: the one where the Phantom Thieves decide to know thy enemy, befriend thy enemy, love thy enemy, crush on thy enemy).
it takes a village by shouldbeworking
Each passing day brings new challenges, and each passing day brings his plan closer to fruition.
So, who cares if he keeps remembering things that never happened? So what if there are eight Phantom Thieves, rather than the three he expected? And so what if their leader has proven surprisingly adept at avoiding him?
None of it matters. A new game is starting, and Akechi Goro is going to win it.
a shrike to your sharp and glorious thorn by theexistentiallyqueer
Goro spent three years in juvenile hall, unmoored and deserted on a metaphorical island with no ship in sight. He never planned for a future beyond ruining the man who ruined him. (The funny thing about futures is that they have their own way of finding you.)
you will not take my heart alive by myotinae
Kurusu leans forward and says, “Look. You do deserve to feel this bad. I’m sorry, but you do. But you don’t deserve to be alone while you deal with it. So I’ll leave now if you want me to, but I’m coming back tomorrow. All right?” Goro wipes his face with his sleeve and glowers at him: Great Akira the Moralizer, who knows exactly what everyone else deserves. Perfect, beloved Akira.
Once More With Feeling by beesandtoes
Akira’s determined not to let Akechi die this time. Akira’s determined not to let Akechi die this time. Akira’s determined not to let Akechi die this time. Akira— well, he’ll get it next time for sure.
janainaart
vaporwave
baratheonpilled
andulkaphoto
pixelskylines
areudirty
germansingergirl
