Akira froze in place. He didn’t want to go down this street, though it led to a house that he loved to be at, it also led to memories he rather not bring up with Edward. “hmm, I don’t remember this street, anyway, it’s getting late, why don’t we-“

“Akira?”

Akira closed his eyes and slowly turned, he recognized the voice from behind them “H-hey!” he said, giving one of the most awkward smiles ever.

“Oh my god, it is you!” the man said and ran over to Akira giving him a hug. “How have you been since you got out?” the man asked and glanced over at Edward, “oh… or maybe not. I thought you said you weren’t gonna do that anymore?”

Akira blushed, “Misha! I- this- um… well, this is my husband,” he murmured, his voice getting softer and softer.

Misha looked back and forth between Akira and Edward, “husband!” he shouted, “Hold it you got married to a john?”

Akira blushed furiously “He is not a john! He’s – he’s I… um… well he’s not a john.”

Edward coughed a bit when he was called a john. Then again, he supposed it did make sense, what with the little he knew of Akira’s past. “My name’s Edward. Nice to meet you, Misha. Of what relation you have to my husband I have no idea,” he said and held his hand out.

Misha looked at Edward's hand and then back to Edward, “don’t shake hands, honey. I’m Akira’s best friend, though I’m wondering about that title now that I’ve found out he is married but I wasn’t invited to the wedding or even know he was going to be getting married.”

Akira chuckled, “you are still my best friend, Misha,” he said as he gave Misha a squeeze, “I just… well, you know.”

Misha nodded “yeah, yeah, no need to have prostitutes at the wedding… ooo, wait does-“

“Stop, Misha, just stop,” Akira said interrupting the man, “yes, he does know, but we don’t really talk about it, okay. That part of my life is over, you know that.”

Misha nodded and glanced at his watch, “well, anyway. I’ve got to go, are you staying close by or something?”

Akira nodded, “uh, probably just for the night, but at um, the house.”

Misha’s face dropped, “oh, I see… good luck then. I’ll see you later, maybe? Call a friend once in a while, okay?” he asked and waved before he headed off in the direction of the street that Akira didn’t want to go down.

“So, an old friend from your ‘bad past’ I’m assuming,” Edward said as he grabbed Akira’s hand and headed back towards the house.

Akira nodded, “The one that actually got me in and also out of my ‘bad past’” he explained, “he honestly is a really good friend, he protected me a lot back then. He also supported me like no tomorrow when I decided to get out of the line of work,” he explained.

Edward smiled “well, I suppose I could like him then.”

Akira chuckled, “he’s harmless, I promise,” he said and paused when they got to the house.

“We don’t have to stay, Aki.”

He shook his head, “No. I need to stay. At least one night,” he said and headed into the house.

It was a long night for both the men in the house. Each having somewhat the same bad memories and dreams, just from a different perspective. Little did they know things were only going to get worse for them before they ever got close to getting better.

That night came with more than just bad dreams, it also came with bad rumors around the neighborhood, King was back in town and looking for two people specifically. Who also just happened to be back in town. Seemed like the universe was against this couple as it kept throwing twists and turns and this one was just the beginning of the bad.

Akira woke up the next morning, laying next to his husband, and glanced to the window that showed off his favorite tree. The night wasn’t all that bad, granted it was a torturous night filled with bad dreams, but overall he had to say, he could probably do it again. After all, his parents had been murdered years ago and he was happy with his life now. Plus, it was a free house. Who could argue with that? He licked his lips and looked over to the sleeping Edward next to him. He’d have to talk to Edward about officially staying here, but he figured he could do it. It would just mean leaving his job, probably Edward’s too, depending on if he wanted to get a car or not.

He smiled at Edward for a moment, watching him sleep before he got up to scrounge up food for the two of them. Akira moved around the house as he waited for Edward to wake up, they wouldn’t need to get a lot of things for the house, as Sato apparently decided to not get rid of any of the furniture. Though he was sure he would have to replace the mattresses and probably some of the cushions.

As Akira was lost in thought about what needed to be done, Edward had woken up and headed towards the kitchen to see what Akira had made. Edward stopped when he saw Akira looking deep in thought. “Aki?” he called.

Akira jumped slightly and looked over to Edward, “yeah?”

“So what are we gonna do?”

“I-“ Akira stopped himself and bit his lip “I want to stay. Maybe not forever, but at least for a little while, you think it would be okay?”

Edward very much wanted to scream no at the top of his lungs. How could Akira live in the place where his folks had been killed? Edward almost couldn’t stand it, but he supposed Akira wanted to get rid of those memories. The thought that if he stayed long enough, he might actually forget about the horrible things that happened here. Edward would never forget, not with his realization of what he had done. All of it. He killed the parents and then married the child of those parents. He very much wanted to scream no, but he couldn’t. He loved Akira too much, “Yeah, I think that would be okay.”