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"Man, what's with you?"
Goro glances up from his textbook to see Ryuji giving him an annoyed glare, one that Goro unfortunately is not a stranger to.
"What do you mean?" Goro asks, feigning ignorance- he knows exactly what Ryuji means, that he'd been invited over to "hang and maybe watch Pokémon or some shit, I'unno it's whatever you feel like I guess", and he's had his nose in a history book in an effort to avoid Ryuji's gaze as much as humanly possible.
Ryuji huffs. "I mean- you're just sitting there! When'd you get so boring?" He sits up on his bed, which had been at one point made, until the ADHD kicked in and the silence became too much. He's been squirming for the past fifteen minutes.
Goro raises an eyebrow. "You quite literally invited me over to watch television. What difference does it make to you if I'm reading or not?"
Ryuji yeets something in his direction, which Goro smacks away with surprisingly fast reflexes. Upon inspection, it's a stuffed dog that's seen better days, if the missing ear means anything.
"Don't throw shit at me," he says flatly.
Ryuji stares at him for a moment, then reaches for a remote and turns off the TV. He's surprised Ryuji still has the remote, with the state of his bedroom, and that it's not buried in a drawer somewhere.
Goro hates mess, so it's always shocked him just how much Ryuji's bedroom has felt like home, even if he's only been over a few other times. There's quite literally a shirt hanging on the TV, manga strewn across the floor, and seven empty water bottles by his bedside, but it doesn't seem to bother Goro. Maybe it's because the guy at least makes his bed in the mornings.
"Alright, no TV, then. No books, either, you hear me?" Ryuji demands, donning a serious expression. "We're going to have a conversation like two normal people. About like… our days or something."
Goro stifles a laugh. "Like either of us are any degree of normal."
"Can it," he retorts, flopping back down on his bed. "My day was alright, some guys from the track team wanted to go run this morning but I wanted to sleep in. Had a weird fuckin' dream, though. Ma made a good breakfast 'n that made it better."
Figuring a little bit of small talk won't kill him, Goro decides to humor Ryuji. "What did she make?" He asks.
A smile almost instantly materializes on Ryuji's face, like it always does when he's asked about his mom. "She found a Taiyaki maker at an estate sale a while back, so we have that a lot. It's easy enough to make, but it's somehow better when Ma does it."
Goro hums. "So junk food, then."
"Hey, it's better than what you eat! Coffee and an apple ain't real breakfast, man," Ryuji tells him, turning his head to look at him. He must be able to tell something is off, because his brows furrow. "What's wrong with you?"
Goro folds his arms. "Why do you always assume something is wrong?" He challenges.
"'Cuz you're actin' effin' weird," Ryuji says, sitting back up. Goro doesn't think he's ever seen him sit still for longer than five minutes. "You're normally so much more talkative, and right now you're just making jabs at me. What's happening in your head?"
So this version of him is talkative, then. It makes sense that Akira and Maruki’s perfect, not-dead version of him is chatty- that's how he'd been before the Thieves had seen his true self. Charming, always up for conversation, and not a bitter asshole.
"I'm exhausted," he lies. "If you tried putting yourself in my shoes for once, you'd get it."
"Yeah, yeah," Ryuji replies. It's scary how well he can see through Goro’s charades sometimes. "Somethin's on your mind. Tell me."
"Why should I?"
Ryuji balks at him. "Because we're friends?"
Are we? Is what Goro almost says, but he holds his tongue. It's not his job to convince Ryuji that his current life is a façade, it's Akira's. He may as well play along- he's not a stranger to acting.
Goro unfolds his arms, figuring he should make himself look more vulnerable if he wants this to be convincing. "It's quite literally just that- I'm tired. A darker sort of tiredness, though, one that's been creeping into my bones for a disturbingly long time now."
Once again, Ryuji just stares at him, as if he's trying to figure out if Goro is joking or not.
Then, he snorts. "Okay, Jughead Jones."
"Who?"
"Dunno. I heard Ann call Yusuke that once," Ryuji replies, kicking his feet.
Goro just hums, figuring it's a reference he'll never get and probably doesn't care to. Hopefully Ryuji won't push any further, just assume he's dealing with some sort of depression and decide not to bother. If he does, Goro can just leave- a therapy session with Ryuji Sakamoto would be more of a hassle than it's worth.
Ryuji continues to surprise him, though, and says, "I kinda get it. Been dealing with that same shit for a while. It's gotten a lot better over the past few years, but it's still there."
Goro raises an eyebrow. Isn't this a perfect world? Without that teacher, what does Ryuji have to be depressed about? He knows that's not how depression works, but he figured in a reality as supposedly ideal as Maruki's…
"Oh?" Is all he manages. Goro sounds like an idiot.
"Yeah," Ryuji replies. "You just gotta find little things, you know? Meds 'n therapy 'n shit only do so much, and that's if you can afford it. And the true meaning of life or whatever isn't easy to come up with, so. Sometimes you've gotta be happy for things like ramen and manga."
"That's surprisingly profound, coming from you," Goro replies, and Ryuji is about to snap back with something rude, but Goro doesn't let him. "I suppose that could be good in the short term, if there are any 'little things' you recommend?"
"You don't have any?"
"...no?" Goro replies. For the first time today, he's not sure exactly how to respond. "I suppose I like cooking? Though I rarely have time for simple pleasures."
That gets Ryuji jumping to his feet almost instantly, startling Goro enough that his book nearly falls from his lap. "What the hell?" He asks.
"Cooking it is!" Ryuji declares. "We're makin' ramen- that way it'll be fun for both of us. Like, real ramen- not the microwave shit. I bet we can make the noodles from scratch and everything, Ma's got a pasta cutter."
He holds out a hand for Goro to take, a stupidly bright grin on his face, and the latter stares at him like a dear in headlights.
"What the hell?" He repeats.
Ryuji scoffs. "Are you allergic to fun or something?" He asks, quite literally grabbing Goro’s sleeve and yanking on it. "I said we're makin' ramen. With homemade noodles and real bone broth, not the shit from the cubes, and pork and eggs and all that jazz. Get up."
Goro's too stunned to do anything other than stand and let himself be dragged to the kitchen. Ryuji is talking a mile a minute, throwing ingredients on the counter and nearly splitting open a bag of flour that he's a little too careless with. The top is taped shut, and Goro has to wonder how many times that has actually happened.
Cooking with someone is not something Goro is used to, but by the time he's kneading the dough, he's decided it might be his favorite thing in the world. Ryuji's already dropped three entire eggs, and it gets to the point that Goro grabs his wrist and tells him to calm the fuck down, but he doesn't think he's laughed as hard in his life as he does when Ryuji's foot slips on an egg yolk. Cooking with Ryuji is disgusting, and he might love it just a little bit.
"I'm hungry," Ryuji announces not even fifteen minutes in. "I didn't think this would take as long as it is."
Goro has to stop himself from rolling his eyes. "You did say you wanted to make everything from scratch," he points out.
"That doesn't mean we can't stop for a snack. You wanna hit the convenience store?" He asks excitedly. "There's one only a block from here that home makes these little cakes that are so good, Ann and I used to go there all the time in middle school, she always gets the strawberry ones but I like the chocolate ones and then we get into fights about which is better and she always wins because she pulls my hair even though I don't got much hair and then we…"
Goro's laughing before Ryuji can even finish the story. This hadn't been at all what he was expecting when Ryuji invited him over, but he can't say he's complaining.
Even if it's temporary… maybe Goro can allow himself this. Maybe he can allow himself one good day with Ryuji.
If anything, it'll be worth it for the chocolate cake.