AN: You may have noticed I changed the fic name and description, that was so I could take it more in a direction I wanted.

Akira was standing rather awkwardly in between two important women in his life. That alone was something that disturbed him… He was the Joker. The leader of the Phantom Thieves. He didn't do awkward. That was Makoto's thing, not his. Truthfully he blamed Morgana and Arsene for influencing in such a manner. After dealing with those two… Well it was safe to say Akira was a fan of theatrics.

But with Futaba shuddering against him and Hifumi staring at him, there wasn't a real chance he could get away with any performance. Futaba was obviously in need of calming down, and Hifumi still somehow had this air of danger around her. He didn't really understand how she did that, he'd defeated countless shadows, but somehow Hifumi seemed more dangerous than all of them combined at this time. Akira mentally shrugged, he'd deal with that after Futaba wasn't having a mild panic attack. She'd done rather well to stay as composed as she had in all honesty. He was proud of her for that.

Turning around, he brought his free arm up around Futaba's small shoulder and brought her into his side, giving her a small embrace. The diminutive girl soon stopped shaking and rested against him for a few moments before exiting his personal area. She still clearly put him in between her and Hifumi though.

"Let's go downstairs and talk this over coffee. I'll make the type you like, Hifumi." Akira broke the silence between the three and tilted his head towards the stairs while looking at Hifumi.

"Ooh, ohh, I want some curry too!" Futaba added in excitedly from behind him, already making her way to the stairs.

Hifumi merely nodded slowly, trying to digest the events unfolding before her. Akira, noticing her silence frowned slightly. That wouldn't do, Hifumi was his girlfriend. They were meant to be happy to see each other. As such, he strode forward to the girl who was now standing and embraced her. She put up no resistance and was soon resting her head on his shoulder. Akira gave her one slight squeeze before closing the distance and gave her a quick kiss before grabbing her hand and tugging her to the stairs.

Hifumi followed with a bright smile and a soft grip on his hand.

Hifumi's smile was now strained.

Futaba had been waiting at the counter for the duo to go down. Apparently the man who had previously been there already left for home, leaving Futaba and Akira to care for the store. After learning that, Akira quickly made for the cooking materials needed for curry and when he had finally finished preparing everyone's food and or drink, they all moved to one of the tables. Akira had slide into one side first, and Hifumi was about to follow suit.

But Futaba had other ideas, and quickly rushed in to sit beside Akira.

Which she was now doing so, in that odd squat/sit position she had. Hifumi herself was on the opposite side, with a tighter than usual grip on her cup.

"Hifumi, this is one of my best friends, Futaba. Futaba, this is my girlfriend, Hifumi." Akira broke the silence once more.

Futaba's eyes darted between the couple and she raised an eyebrow at Akira. "You never mentioned a girlfriend. To anyone."

"It never came up. Didn't want to cause a fuss." Akira shrugged in response, eyes moving to Hifumi to see how she would react to his answer. She didn't seem bothered by it, to his relief.

"A fuss is one way to put it. There'll be a few interesting reactions…" Futaba trailed off at the end and began inhaling the curry Akira had prepared for her. Thankfully enough, his curry was now no longer some type of super effective fire move and had been toned down. Still had a lot more kick than Sojiro's curry, but Futaba had a tolerance for it. Mainly due to taste testing Akira's progress of cooking.

"What do you mean by that, Futaba?" Hifumi questioned the younger girl with a serious mien.

Futaba made to answer, but began choking on the curry. Akira rolled his eyes and offered her his own cup of coffee to wash down what she was choking on. Hifumi's eyes narrowed at the show of closeness. She might be a tad jealous of the fact Futaba was sharing a drink with her boyfriend, but she couldn't help it. She wouldn't act on it though, they were clearly just close friends.

Akira began thumping on Futaba's back as she still continued to hack up whatever it was stuck in her airways. Finally the small girl got it out and smiled sheepishly at the frowning man beside her.

"Ehehehe… I'll go to the restroom and wash myself up." For good reason too, Futaba had tear trails down her cheeks and watery, red eyes. Akira shaked his head in fond exasperation while making a 'shoo-ing' motion with his hand.

"Sorry about her, she tends to forget table manners exist." Akira apologised to Hifumi, reaching out to take her spare hand with his over the table. She smiled and squeezed his hand, intertwining their fingers together.

"So… She seems close to you. Even for a best friend?" Hifumi left the statement open as a question, obviously inquiring into why it was so.

"Hmm. I'll explain it when Futaba is back, it's rather personal for her. I'm not hiding anything, but it is up to Futaba. And as of right now, I'm just happy to be spending time with you. I was surprised to see you here, you know?" Akira smile softly as Hifumi's cheeks light up with a blush.

"That was kind of the point… Usually it's you meeting up with me. I just, well I wanted to do something for you." Hifumi was running her thumb along Akira's hand in her grasp. His hand tightened on hers and a genuine smile graced his face.

"Alright lovebirds, you're not alone yet." Futaba was making her way back from the washroom, a impish grin on her face as she interrupted Akira and Hifumi.

"How you tease me now is just fuel for the fire when you get a boyfriend Futaba. I hope you realise that." Akira theatrically threatened, pushing his glasses up and narrowing his eyes before relaxing. "Or a girlfriend, I won't judge."

Futaba spluttered at him, with a fiery blush on her face.

Hifumi brought her free hand up to muffle her giggles, enjoying the way the two interacted with each other. As the three calmed down, Futaba moved to sit beside Akira again, remnants of a blush still on her cheeks.

"So Futaba, Hifumi was wondering about what happened before. Do you mind if we told her?" Akira turned to the youngest, his voice soft. Futaba looked hesitant for a few moments, before nodding her head in agreement.

"Ok. She would have eventually met me anyway, right? So it makes sense to tell her." She shuffled slightly closer to Akira as she finished talking. Akira brought an arm around the girls shoulders, trying to reassure her.

"Futaba… Didn't have the best childhood. Her mother died when she was young and she was blamed for the death…"

As Akira finished explaining Futaba's circumstances, the young girl was shuddering into his shoulder once more.

Hifumi was horrified, her eyes wide and hand covering her mouth. How could people do that to such a lovely young girl? She took in Akira, comforting the younger girl who was still shaking against him, the memories of her mother's death, her belief that is was her fault for it, her perception of the "tomb" she deserved and the following phobia of people that arose due to it being too much for Futaba to handle.

Hifumi's demeanour softened, she wasn't surprised Akira would try his best to comfort Futaba. The two did have somewhat similar circumstances, both being blamed for something they didn't actually do.

"Futaba, if you ever need someone else to talk to, I would be more than willing to try and help. You seem like an amazing person I would enjoy getting to know." Hifumi declared her intentions, looking at Futaba who had brought her face up to view Hifumi.

"You made a good choice in her, Akira." Futaba smiled tearfully. "Would you mind going upstairs to get my phone? I left it on your bed."

"Of course." Akira stood up and carefully moved past Futaba. Once he was upstairs, Futaba began speaking to Hifumi.

"I hope you know that you're going to face competition for him. I love Akira myself, maybe not romantically, but I do. I can see he's happy with you, so I'm going to warn you. Some of the others might not be so accepting."

Hifumi blinked at the sudden mixture of threat and warning. Why was she not too surprised that Akira had other admirers?

AN: Hope the chapter was enjoyable. Let me know what you think.