#which reminds me i need to come up with headcanons for fuji and for zeni

[morporkian-cryptid]

Turns out I really like the idea of Lupin and Jigen having met when they were kids. Thank you Anon for putting that idea into my head!

Jigen is trans in this story, and at this point, he still identifies as a girl, but for clarity’s sake I’m using he/him pronouns.

Yes, Gun Hill Houses is an actual neighborhood in the Bronx.

Reblogs are much appreciated!

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The sun was setting on the Bronx and on the last day Jigen could spend with his best friend. Lupin didn’t live here, and only God knew when his father’s travels would bring him to New York again. They always made the most of the time they had together, exploring the city, robbing liquor stores, pick-pocketing tourists and getting into fights with the local gangs. These were the best parts of Jigen’s otherwise sorry existence, and they were always over too soon.

For their last few hours together, Jigen had taken his friend to a rooftop in Gun Hill, where there was a nice view on the square below and an even better one on the sunset. To anyone who didn’t know better, this might have almost looked like a date. Jigen didn’t want Lupin to know he thought that.

It was a mystery to Jigen how this strange little foreigner, with his tailored but battered suits and his mischievous grin, with his mysteriously wealthy family and his unfortunately sized ego, had managed to gain his trust so quickly. The two of them were polar opposites, but there was something in Lupin that had drawn Jigen in. Somehow, he felt like this strange boy from beyond the oceans was the only person who could truly understand him.

That didn’t make those words any easier to say, but he had to say them to someone. And the only person who could hear them was Lupin.

“Sometimes… I really wish I was a boy.”

Jigen was kicking his feet over the edge of the rooftop, trying very hard not to look at his friend. The young thief’s attention was turned to him, with an intensity that made him want to squirm. Looking away at least dulled it a bit.

“I mean, of course life would be easier,” Jigen justified himself. “But also… I don’t know. I just… don’t think I’m ever going to be happy as a girl. I wish I could just snap my fingers and change it.”

He was still looking away from his friend. Lupin may be the only person he could open up to, that didn’t mean he didn’t fear his judgement. At least the thief could understand that. Being a girl in the streets of the Bronx wasn’t fun.

“What’s your name?”

Jigen almost fell off the roof in surprise when his friend’s voice rose, candid and enthusiastic. Lupin was looking at him, with a smile on his face – not that lopsided grin that announced trouble to everyone around, but a soft, genuine smile that he reserved for those rare moments when he really meant what he said.

“It’s Suki,” Jigen retorted, “you know that.”

“That’s a girl’s name,” Lupin replied as if that wasn’t obvious. “If you were a boy, what would be your name?”

Jigen stared at the young thief in utter bafflement. He was serious, he realised. Perfectly honest in his enquiry, as if this was a normal thing to ask. A normal reaction to the confession Jigen had just given him.

That was probably why he liked Lupin so much.

“I don’t know…” he muttered after a few seconds of reflection. “Daisuke sounds nice.”

“Japanese,” Lupin nodded. “Like your grandparents. A good name.”

He extended a hand to his bewildered friend.

“Nice to meet you, Daisuke. I’m Arsène.”

Jigen had no other choice but to gingerly take the thief’s hand and shake it, acting on autopilot as his mind tried to make sense of what was happening. Lupin wasn’t berating him, he was even… accepting him? Playing along? That name in Lupin’s voice felt so right, like a puzzle piece fitting itself into the hole in his heart he had been ignoring all these years.

“I’m glad to be friends with a boy as incredible as you.”

And the idea of that feeling right, felt painfully wrong.

Jigen shoved his misplaced euphoria back down his throat and abruptly stood up. Lupin followed suit, but he stayed standing there as his friend took a few steps back.

“You’re crazy,” he spat out. “I’m not a boy, Arsène.”

“You can be. If you want to.”

“That’s not how this works!”

“But what if it is?” the thief insisted. “You could just dress like one, act like one, and people will believe you.”

Jigen angrily gestured at his dirty and patched up skirt.

“I’m not gonna fool anyone. Least of all myself.”

“You might. I mean, look at me. You’d never guess I’m supposed to be a girl.”

Jigen stopped dead in his pacing to turn towards him. Lupin was staring at him with defiance in his eyes, as if daring his friend to prove him wrong.

“You what?”

The thief’s expression softened somewhat, and he sat back down on the roof. He didn’t let go of Jigen’s gaze.

“My real name’s Amélie. But I didn’t like it, and I didn’t like being a girl, so I just…” he snapped his fingers, “changed it.”

“Your father let you do that?”

Lupin shrugged.

“As long as I carry the family legacy, my dad doesn’t care if he has a son or a daughter. So I decided to be his son.” A sharp glint shone in his eye, and his grin was back. “I took Grand-Père’s name. I want to be like him when I grow up. I’m gonna be the best damn thief my family has ever seen, and no one’s going to stop me.” He smiled. “And no one can stop you either.”

Jigen stayed silent for a long time. Lupin didn’t push him, simply looked at him with that soft expression that made Jigen’s heart curl up in shame inside his chest. He didn’t deserve this compassion. But he craved it, and Lupin was too good at tempting him. And Jigen decided he was too weak to resist.

He sat down next to his friend, head bowed down.

“They can, though,” he finally replied. “I already get beat up for being a tomboy. Your dad seems like a cool guy, but mine would kill me if he found out.”

Lupin leaned towards him and put his hand on Jigen’s, sending his heart racing.

“Then it will be our secret. You can be yourself when you’re with me, Daisuke.”

Jigen tried to hide his smile behind a disgusted rictus, but it probably didn’t fool his friend.

“Only call me that when we’re alone, understood?”

The thief grinned.

“When we’re alone, and with people who don’t know you.”

“With people who don’t know me, only when I do look like a boy.”

“Deal!”

Lupin punched his friend’s shoulder, and Jigen punched him in the stomach in retaliation.

“You have a terrible influence on me, you know that?”

“Says the guy who’s training to be a mobster.”

“Shut up.”

That was why he liked Lupin so much, Jigen thought as they sat there and watched the sunset. With him, he didn’t have to hide.