"Ah and yet… It seems I have made a misunderstanding."

Haru blinked. The meeting with the new president of Okumura Foods, Takakura, had gone exceedingly well. He had listened to her explanation about her doubts regarding the coffee chain the company was planning, had reassured her of his intentions and had asked for her assistance with convincing the board of directors to support his plan, and he had even agreed to work towards cancelling her upcoming marriage to Sugimura. Things were starting to look up, but with what he had just said, she was now worried. What could he have misunderstood?

"I was under the impression you were quite thrilled with your arrangement with Sugimura-kun. That was why I was so insistent on hurrying the marriage along. I wanted you to have all the support you needed, but it appears as though you prefer the young man next to you instead.

Haru squeaked. "Huh? Um… Well…"

Takakura simply smiled and nodded, before finishing the cup of coffee Haru had carefully crafted for him and standing up. "The coffee was superb. But I must get going, thank you for coming to speak to me today," he said as he walked over to the door and walked out of the room.

Leaving Haru with Akira, who was looking up at her in confusion. "That was a success."

Haru was silent for a moment as she tried to regain her composure. "A huge success." Haru smiled and sat back down next to Akira, refusing to look at him. "I was able to tell Takakura-san how I felt, and he actually understood. Not just about the company, but about Sugimura-san too. To be honest, I was so afraid…" Looking over at Akira to find an understanding look in his eyes, she continued. "But now that it was over, it was pretty simple."

A familiar playful smirk found it's way onto Akira's face at that. "Simpler than the Student Sharing Special?" he joked.

"Erm…well…"

Haru had been in a bind. The MC had asked her questions about the Phantom Thieves, and she hadn't trusted herself to give an answer that wouldn't raise suspicions, especially amongst the rumour mill Shujin had. Only a timely save by a student she had only recently met had stopped her from leaving the stage in embarrassment.

"I always loved you!"

Haru had jumped up in surprise at the outburst, her composure completely gone. "What?!" she had shrieked, looking wildly at the audience before spotting the culprit, a certain transfer student known as Akira Kurusu, who was looking at her with a playful smirk, one she had gone on to notice would form whenever he decided to be a bit mischievous, from sneaking a bow onto Morgana's tail to adding chilli to the pancakes Akechi had ordered when they had tried a new food place.

She found that she liked that smirk.

Haru blushed and looked away. "Yes." She admitted. Akira chuckled and looked away from her after that, giving her time to collect her thoughts and figure out what she wanted to say. "But I only made it to this point because you were with me, though. Thank you, Akira-kun."

Akira looked at her in surprise. "I… You're very welcome…?" he offered, voice trailing away in a way that made her giggle.

"But, um…" Haru started fidgeting in her seat, fingers grasping the sleeves of her fluffy pink sweater as she tried to word what else she wanted to say. "I only started trusting people again because you were by my side helping me. So… I want to return the favour."

"I'm not going anywhere."

The night the leader of the Phantom Thieves had committed suicide in his cell, Haru had remained in the LeBlanc attic when Takemi had ordered the rest of the Phantom Thieves to go downstairs. When the doctor had repeated her statement, Haru had simply rolled up her sleeves and asked how she could help.

Thus, Haru saw the bruises, the cuts, the damage those monsters in the police station had inflicted upon him in their attempts to get him to spill the truth about what he did, who his accomplices were. Akira had given them nothing and had paid the price for his stubborn refusal.

For the first time, Akira had been vulnerable, unable to keep up the playful façade he usually wore around his friends. He had been in too much pain to do so, and he knew that she knew it too.

When the doctor had finished cleaning up his injuries to the best of her abilities and the two had gotten him laid down on the bed, Akira had reached out a bloodstained hand to caress her cheek, almost as if he wanted to make sure she was still there. His lips had quirked into a familiar smirk, and he had said something that had reassured her that he was going to be fine.

"I don't think he liked that his pancakes were extra hot that day."

"You don't need to." He smiled. "You've done more than enough."

"But I want to. I want you to be able to confide in me if you ever need help. I will always be there for you."

"I know, Haru. And I appreciate it." Akira looked at the coffee he had yet to finish and picked it up to take a sip from it.

"Oh, that reminds me! Takakura-san said something… a little strange, didn't he?"

"He did?"

"Yes… Um, th-th-that I… like you…?" she squeaked out. "Goodness, whywouldhesaythat? It seems a bit strange…" Haru started to rub her arm nervously, hoping Akira, who was now staring into his coffee cup with an unreadable expression on his face, would take the hint and figure out what she was trying to say.

"Why do you think-"

A loud rumble interrupted her question, and Akira looked down in embarrassment at his stomach. "I may have forgotten to eat before I came here," he admitted sheepishly.

"Oh."

"Yeah…" Akira finished the rest of his coffee and stood up. "You wanna come by LeBlanc for a bit and get some food? We can talk more there; Boss should give us some privacy."

Well, it wasn't an actual answer, but it was a chance to get an actual answer from him. Haru smiled and stood up, her coffee long ago finished. "I would love to, Kurusu-kun."

…

"My… this has such profoundly bold flavour," Haru said as she set down the coffee cup she had been drinking from. Akira had insisted he make them both coffees once they arrived in LeBlanc and was now sat opposite her with a proud expression on his face as he watched her drink.

"I've heard that you've been getting into the roasting scene, little lady."

"Yes. I often have the urge to drink a fresh cup of your coffee, so I wanted to learn how to make one."

"Heh. That near brings a tear to my eye. And I take it he's been teaching you?"

"Guilty as charged." Akira took a drink of his own coffee. "Just passing on your lessons."

"Then you can teach her one more lesson. I'm heading on home, so show her how to close-up the shop for me, will you?"

Akira smiled and nodded, and Sojiro walked around the counter and hung up his apron before leaving the shop. "It's nothing too difficult. You just flip the sign to closed, lock up, stack the stools on the counter and turn the lights out downstairs."

Haru watched as he began closing up the shop, occasionally taking sips from her coffee as he worked. He had been doing this for something close to eight months now, and had figured out an efficient routine for doing it. "You can take your coffee upstairs if you want," he said as he flipped a third stool up onto the counter.

"Thank you. I will." And she did just that, carrying her cup upstairs as he worked. Sitting down on the futon, she looked around and was surprised to see that Morgana was not anywhere to be found.

That was unusual. Morgana and Akira were practically inseparable. "Where's Morgana?" she called.

"With Futaba!" came the answer back. She heard Akira's footsteps as the boy trudged up the stairs with his coffee cup in hand. "She's been having nightmares, so I asked Morgana to stay with her for a bit."

She had had access to the security cameras in the interrogation room and had seen everything that had happened to Akira. The Phantom Thieves had done what they could to comfort her afterwards but watching helplessly as someone who had effectively become your adoptive brother was brutalized for trying to help people would give anyone nightmares.

"So," Akira began as he sat down next to Haru, "What's your plan now?"

"My plan?" Haru hadn't thought about that yet, she had been too busy worrying about Akira's response was going to be. "Well… I want to be able to convey my feelings regarding Father, the future of the company and the coffee shop chain in the next meeting the company has. Some of them may be angry with my presence there, but I think that if Takakura-san was able to listen to me, the others will as well."

"I think they will." Akira took a drink of his coffee, quickly finishing it off and setting the coffee cup down.

"But I'm quite nervous. I've never spoke about my own feelings to the VIPs, I've only ever had diplomatic dealing with before. But if they will listen, and if the management proves themselves to be capable of handling the company, then I will leave it in their hands. It's not something I can really supervise on my own, but I will wait to see how they handle the public's criticism first."

"That's… wow."

Haru looked at Akira, who briefly had a look of awe and something else on his face before he blinked and looked away. "Well, you're being all passionate about it and it's, well…" Akira mumbled something that Haru couldn't hear.

"Pardon?"

"Nothing!"

"Oh." Haru started fidgeting with her sleeves again, internally debating something. Akira noticed her nervousness, and concern grew on his face. "Is everything alright?"

"Yes, but, um, well…" Haru made a sound that was something close to a squeak and shifted away from Akira.

"Did I say something wrong-" Akira's question was cut off as Haru rested her head on his shoulder, blushing furiously.

"I-If it's not too much trouble…"

"It's never too much trouble."

"You don't even know what I'm going to ask yet."

"Then ask away."

"I'd like to stay here a little longer."

Akira briefly didn't answer, smiling contently to himself before his smile morphed into a playful smirk. "You can spend the night here if you want."

"Huh?!" Haru shot up off Akira's shoulder and looked at him in shock. "What?!"

"You take the bed; I'll take the futon."

"Oh!" Haru pouted and put a hand over her chest, letting out a sigh of relief. "I thought you meant-I- Don't tease me like that!"

"Sorry." Akira sheepishly rubbed his head, his smirk fading away. "But yeah, you can stay here for tonight if you want."

Haru smiled sweetly. "Thank you."

The two set to work locating additional blankets and pillows for the futon. December nights were not very warm, but mercifully the worst of the cold for that week had passed earlier on, and the space heater Sojiro had provided helped keep them warm. Perhaps a few months prior, Haru would've fretted over not bringing additional clothes, but with how bitter the nights were anyway, the extra layers would be helpful in keeping her warm.

Before long, they had salvaged as much as they could, and now both the bed and the futon were piled up with blankets. "Think I'll be warm enough in there?" Akira asked.

"I think so? I can give you some of mine if you're still cold."

"I'm okay. Unless you wanna share?"

"Akira-kun."

"Yes, Haru?" Both looked at each other for a few moments before Akira started chuckling. "I'll be fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. You should go to bed, I wouldn't put it past Morgana to sneak out to check on me, even in this cold."

Haru didn't even question that, she simply burrowed into the nest of blankets and covers they had strewn on the bed and got comfortable. On the plus side, it smelled like him, which was comforting for some reason.

She was beginning to think Akira knew what Takakura-san had meant.

"If I'm being honest, Haru," Akira said as he flicked off the light in the attic and made his way to the futon by way of the light of his phone screen, "you're getting pretty good at keeping up with me."

"With what?"

"The whole thing where I say something weird and you… keep up, I guess?"

"Ohh. Thank you. I think I know what you mean."

"Good." Akira made it over to the futon and quickly burrowed inside his own nest of blankets. "Also, you asked me what Takakura-san meant-"

Haru's heart skipped a beat.

"I think, well, um-IlikeyoutoonightHaru!"

Then it stopped.

"Huh?!"

…

Haru barely slept that night, her heart going at 200 beats a second as she replayed the last thing Akira had said to her before going to sleep over and over in her head.

"I like you too!"

Had he really meant that? He couldn't have, he was Joker, he would be more interested in Takamaki-san or Mako-chan, he only liked her as a friend. That must be it, she must've thought Takakura-san meant she preferred him as a friend! That must be it!

Even as she tried to force herself to accept that answer, her mind continued to consider "what if he actually liked her as more than a friend?" and entertained ideas spawned from that thought. He'd return her feelings and they'd be happy together and would get married and openupalittlecaféwhereeverythingwouldbehomegrownanduptoherstandards and-

And before she knew it, the sun had started shining through the window, and she was mentally thankful that today was a Sunday before she managed to drift into sleep for a short while.

She awoke later to the smell of curry and coffee permeating the air, the grumble of her stomach telling her that maybe she should consider getting herself some food. Clambering out of the nest of blankets and pillows, she made her way downstairs to be greeted by the sight of Akira behind the counter.

"Morning," he called as he poured a cup of coffee into a cup in front of him, a steaming plate of curry already waiting.

"How did you know I was getting up?"

"I didn't. But here you go, eat up." Akira turned back to the pot and scraped out the extra portion he had made just in case Haru did get up, the fluffy haired girl yawning as she began to eat. Placing it on a plate of his own and pouring the remaining coffee into a cup he pulled out, he quietly took a seat next to her and began eating his own breakfast in silence.

It was when they had finished with their food and coffee and Akira was washing up that she finally chose to broach the subject that had been on her mind since last night. "Um, Akira," she began hesitantly. "About what you said last night…"

"You heard that?" Akira set down the last cup and turned to face Haru, drying his hands on a towel.

"I-I did, and well, Iwasworriedyoudidntunderstand-"

"Slow down, Haru. I didn't understand what?"

"What Takakura-san said, that I-"

"Like me?" Haru blushed and nodded. Akira fought to keep his face level, even as his heart sang over the confirmation. "I understood. And I meant what I said. I like you too."

"You do?"

"I do."

Haru's mouth briefly flopped open ungracefully before fixing itself into a massive smile, one that made Akira chuckle and smile as well, the first genuinely happy smile she had seen since the interrogation. "Well, now that that's been said…" he said as he placed the towel back on the rack and walked around the counter. "What do we do now?"

That stopped Haru short. "I don't know. I-I didn't think this would happen."

Akira looked up at the clock on the wall. "Well, Boss doesn't get here for half an hour. How about we sit down together and talk?"

"About what?"

"Dreams? Hopes? Certain bald headed idiots?"

Haru laughed as she stood up off the stool. "Perhaps not the last one."

And so, they sat down in a booth together, and talked. Of owning a café and growing their own food, of setting up support groups to help those who had been in the positions of them and their fellow Phantom Thieves. And as they talked, they laughed and smiled together, whether it be over a photo of Morgana glaring indignantly at the camera with the pretty pink bow on his tail or a dumb pun Akira made about Morgana's reaction in the photo.

And for the first time in quite a while, both of them were happy.

...

Author's Note: Still alive guys!

I wrote this as a fun little one-shot for Akira/Haru and also because I know some people might have wondered where I went.

Basically? I got a tonne of ideas for A Wedding in Tokyo and have been sucked into writing for that. I can't give an ETA for when there will be an update for it because I'm back at uni in two weeks but I'm working on it!

But anyway, I hope you enjoyed this fic! Come find me on Twitter Ulysses_Quanta and on Tumblr as ulyssesquanta!