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scarletwritesshit · 3 months

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⌛ Goro Akechi x Ren Amamiya ⌛ Takuto Maruki's Shuake Fanfiction

He had the ability to rewrite this reality in whatever way that he saw fit. The chance for everyone to live out their wildest dreams, regain what they thought was forever lost, free themselves of burdens plaguing their waking life, Maruki could do it all.

That is, if they choose to accept this new reality as their own. Maruki could appear sweeten the deal a little, perhaps exaggerating things just a tiny bit to encourage their acceptance. He had already won the others over fairly easily, but convincing both Akechi and Ren to accept his perfect world was especially important to him. From the start, he was well aware that something was brewing between those two, something that would blossom into far more than a tragic tale of two enemies turned best friends.

And what if could make that little something come to light, with a tad bit of prodding from him of course? So far, his little taste of reality manipulating tricks have proven quite successful with Sumire. Now, with having a grander scale to work with, the lives of the locals, soon to be the world’s, were practically his to toy with as he saw fit. In fact, there was no practically about it. It was his reality after all, and anything would soon be possible as long as he scored those few words of acceptance.

His reality opened up a never-ending realm of possibilities for him to explore, or for Ren and Akechi, he meant. Maruki knew quite well that their ultimate desires were to see each other again, alive, well, and within each other’s’ reach. Their bond was strong, despite the shaky history they have had in the past, and it was a buildup of these unfortunate events that lead to them ultimately becoming forced apart. Maruki wanted to amend this, and he was confident in his ability to execute his masterful plan. With Akechi back from the grave and within Ren’s reach, how could the two of them possibly decline his offer.

And Maruki’s mind was overflowing with so many possibilities for the two of them that he just had to spin his chair around and grab a spare piece of paper that was on his desk and begin furiously writing away. So many “alternate universes” that could become definitive reality at his command. His hands were trembling with excitement, but he had to keep himself composed, otherwise, these spur of the moment ideas of his would soon be taking up a section of reality all by themselves.

Coffee shop reality? That option quite honestly felt the most plausible. Ren as the barista at Leblanc, Akechi as a regular customer, it all felt so believable and perfect.

But why settle with something so mundane and predictable, when control of life itself was in his hands? Maruki could shake things up a little, and put Akechi in charge of the café instead. Or, both of them could work behind the counter together.

Why should he settle for something as average as a coffee shop alternate reality, where practically anything was possible if he decided that it was in their best interest? He pushed up his glasses and tapped his fingers together, expanding his thinking beyond what was just “plausible.”

Forget the limits of Japan law, why not take things a step further by putting Ren and Akechi together in a mafia reality? That’d be far more entertaining than just a run-of-the-mill coffee shop. And since it is his world with his rules, he could guide them on a path to make sure the police never, ever interrupt their devious little schemes. Oho, how entertaining that would be for all three of them.

But why stop at the limits of what would be considered plausible reality? Why not shake things up a little with a bit of fantasy? Like, a prince and his knight, perhaps? Maruki had no idea, at the moment anyways, on how to construct a fantasy universe with the current limits of Shibuya. With the Personas that ran free through the area, he could make something work. Somehow. At least their assistance would make the transition to heroic knight and prince in distress a somewhat smoother and less…immersion breaking, perhaps?

But who would fill which role, he wondered. He tapped his pen on his desk as his frantic writing temporarily ceased so that he may take a moment to carefully think things over. Would Akechi be the one in distress? He was under Shido’s strict control for almost the entirety of his life, and he didn’t exactly have the capability of breaking free all by himself. Then again, Ren, too, was a prisoner to both the law and Mementos, and he wasn’t exactly the definition of a gallant knight in shining armor all things considered. Well, in the sense of the “real” world he wasn’t, and with a little bit of help from Maruki, he could tweak a couple of small details to make things play out in their (his) favor.

He furiously scribbled his ideas for this reality off to the side, lest his buildup of thoughts begin to fade. In the midst of him jotting down notes, it hit him: why was he investing this much thought into an idea that he wasn’t even sure that he was going to execute, let alone have the ability to? He still had plenty of possibilities left to explore, with many of them reaching beyond the limit of his own imagination.

Science fiction, restaurant, wild west, time travel, the possibility of different realities felt endless, and once he had freed himself from the concept of being logically possible, Maruki went wild filling up pages upon pages with possible directions to take the relationship of Ren and Akechi. He had found himself quite invested in the two of them, as something about their tragic blossoming relationship and unique circumstances bought so much joy to him. Though he was watching them from the sidelines with practically the seat of an almighty god, he found entertainment in leaving both sides alone to stray on their own tragic path. If it were not for them, Maruki would’ve bought the reality they once knew to ruins quite some time ago. His own morbid curiosity led him to waiting perhaps a little bit too late, and in an unfortunate twist of fate, Akechi sacrificed himself for his newfound group of friends.

This, however, was no big worry for Maruki. Just write him back into the story that was his reality, and continue toying with him and his beloved Ren as he pleased. And why should he settle on just one idea? One clear word of acceptance from both of them was enough to grant him all the power he could possibly want to lead their lives astray in different ways, subtitle to them, yet drastic from Maruki’s perspective. Now that’s what he was talking about.

All he had to do now was convince them to accept his reality as their own. He already promised them a perfect life with all of their wishes coming true, yes, but what about all of these…bonuses? Proposing these alternate paths was indeed an option, though if they were aware of how much power Maruki actually held over them, it would make them far more likely to decline. Perhaps he should only mention his little “tricks” should the situation become dire and he was on his last hope for convincing them to accept his reality.

Looking at the sheer number of ideas that he scribbled down, Maruki sat back in the chair and began to think to himself. Perhaps he did indeed allow himself to get a little carried away with this brainstorming. After all, considering how rebellious Ren was, there was a chance that not even his love for Akechi could convince him to succumb to his perfect reality. Akechi was no easy soul to convince either, as after the treachery of his life, there was the distinct possibility that his sole desire was to be left to rest.

Maruki was already investing a lot of effort into something that was so easily shut down with a simple word of rejection. He, however, was going to make sure both Ren and Akechi accepted no matter what.

The world would soon be his playground, and he wanted to assure his grasp on reality with just a tad bit of bribery for the pair who posed him the greatest threat.

#persona 5 #p5 #persona 5 royal #goro akechi #ren amamiya #shuake #fanfic #fanfiction #akeshu #happy 2/2 lets all sob violently together lmao

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icespur · 4 months

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Akeshu meeting as infants

I've seen the admittedly very wholesome fanart of Akiren and Goro meeting as children, or the tiny fanfics (I've only really found one, if anyone knows of the existence of more, don't hesitate to link them)

Childhood AUs are adorable.

But might I add my own twist??

What if our fated Persona user rivals originally met when they were----tinnier.

Babyhood AU, if you will.

The Phantom Thieves have canon birthdays and birth years, although Akiren's isn't listed, he obviously has to be born the same year as Ann and Ryuji since he shares a school grade with them. As for his month and day, I headcanon all the Persona Protagonists (P3, P4, and P5) birthdays are the day their game first released in Japan. Since canonically P4s Protagonist, Yu Narukami, shares a B day with his game release (All the Investigation Teams scooter license numbers are of their birthdays, and Yu's happens to be the day his game released). So if P4 follows that logic, why not P3 & P5? It's the best evidence we have to go off of 🤷‍♀️.

Point is, that would make Akiren's birthday, September 15th 1999

We know from Atlus Twitter birthday announcements and P5 character biographies in Japan, all the other PTs birthdays easily (excluding Morgana)

So we know Akechi's is June 2nd 1998.

Goro was a year and 15 months old when Akiren was born.

So let's imagine a scenario where---Akiren and Akechi's mothers both decided to take their infants to the Park. And they just so happen to be sitting on the same bench.

In Japan, the seasons to visit parks are Spring or Autumn, apparently. So let's say it's Mid-Spring, April.

April of 2000.

Mamakechi and mama---whichever you headcanon Akiren's surname to be. I haven't seen anyone combine his surname so I don't know which one to use to satisfy both parties.

Anyway, both mothers take their sons to the park since it's a nice day. They can't obviously play on any equipment since they are too young, so they would just be laying in their mother's arms, or if a bit older, exploring the greenery but still sticking close.

Goro would be 22 months, so would be more mobile, while Akiren would be 7 or 6 months depending if this is before or after April 15th. 6-7 month olds can roll over and maybe start to crawl at that time, and maybe babble.

So Akiren wouldn't be able to do much, or "play" like 22 month old Goro could. But since toddlers are usually pretty interested in younger infants, and try to interact, I could see Mamakechi and protagmom introducing their babies to each other, and trying to get them to interact.

"Goro, look! It's a baby. You used to be that little once. Can you say 'hi'? Be gentle, don't pinch or poke him."

Akiren stares back, with innocent curious eyes, and being cradled in his mother's arms. She tells Mamakechi that he's not very talkative. Not "shy" persei- he just prefers to watch people quietly, and tolerates one sided interactions with fellow infants fine, he's just a "little man of few words".

Mamaprotag gently puppeteer's one of Akiren's pudgy arm to wave back at Goro.

I just find baby Goro and Akiren meeting and interacting concept to be so wholesome and precious. You could even headcanon it more as possibly being canon, because---honestly, who remembers being 7 month or 1 year olds? Our memories and "awareness" doesn't kick in until a couple more years. The earliest memories I can recall was at four years old.

And you could write this as a one off chance meeting. Maybe one of them happened to be in the same city and place at that moment, but they move around alot so didn't exchange contact info to keep in touch for future interactions and playdates so their sons could grow up together.

Just----wholsome baby Akiren and Goro! Give me some fanart and one-shot fics of this!

#persona 5 royal #persona 5 #ren amamiya #akiren #akira kurusu #goro akechi #akeshu #shuake #wholesome #childhood au #baby au #fanart request #fic request #fanfic writers away!

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andtheyreonfire · 6 months

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all to make you mine

ao3

WC: 4,500

AN: yo why's there a little guy in my coffee wtf

Ren’s grappling hook misfires, throwing him into freefall.

He jolts, twists, flailing just for a second. It’s odd: every time he falls, the borrower’s reminded of the cartoons Ryuji shows him. If he doesn’t look down, he won’t fall. His stomach has never churned at the sight of a drop before him, but he decides to follow that rule the best he can. He keeps his eyes towards an innocent-looking desk, with an innocent looking figure hunched over it. His goal, for the evening.

Because the laws of physics hate Ren, he falls. The hard, wooden floor rushes up to meet him. He sighs, aims his grappling hook at a tome resting on said desk, and fires in the blink of an eye.

He flies—tiny legs narrowly scraping the floor—before planting his feet against one of the desk’s legs, hanging by his own thread. Dammit, his target probably heard him. He was trying to be sneaky. But if a massive, looming hand happened to grab him while he was dangling off the desk...

Ren waits. Coughs. Looks up. Nothing.

He reactivates his thief mask, scaling the leg of the desk with an inhuman, borrower precision. He wouldn’t be so distracted if hadn’t just gotten off the demon device—as he heard Sojiro call it, an accurate assessment to the magical fucking brick his human friends gave him—with Ann. He can still hear her friendly, ribbing tone. The plans they made—that of course Ren never gave a definitive answer to. What if he needs to scurry around the apartment floor at that time, instead? His schedule is always a toss-up.

But, she’d understood. They shot the shit. Ann talked about her date with Shiho. Ren talked about the rat who’s been committing psychological torture on him for the path month. They’d talked about the cycle of nature, the ever-marching threat of death, what boba tastes like. Ren giggled and kicked his feet like a human girl in a movie.

Ren’s good at copying things, and his humans seem much more relaxed when he has a mask on. He doesn’t mind. It’s nice to be appreciated. Nice to sit and talk with Ann, let her call him cute and muse about his looks, even though he still doesn’t know what a modelling gig is. There’s nothing of note behind his mask, anyways. Maybe that’s why not one of them know his name.

He doesn’t mind. He loves his friends, them and their strange, human ways. Just—well.

He has a lot of masks. Switching between them can leave him a little dizzy, especially when it’s a drastic change. Especially with whose apartment he lives in.

Senses alert, he heaves himself onto the desk. He retracts his hook the second his feet meet the hard wood. His target sits just around the corner, hunched over some work or other. Ren waits, for a second, to see if he’s spotted him, but the form remains focused as ever.

Damn—wait. Phew. That’s what Ren means. He channels his instincts, thinks of every single ancestor that never let a human spot them for a solid 30 years before they died a valiant death via crow, and resolves to not meet the same fate.

With a silent, steadying breath, he darts out from behind the books, and takes cover behind one of the humans tools: a sharpener for their writing utensils.

He tenses, ready to bolt, to scratch and bite if needed, but there’s no use. Even though he ran directly in the human’s line of sight, he hasn’t reached over and grabbed him.

Without a single second of hesitation, Ren peeks around the device to see what, exactly, is so important that his human is ignoring him completely.

Akechi Goro sits with perfect posture, typing something on one of the larger magical fucking bricks he uses for his work. A cup of lukewarm coffee sits by him—instant, if Ren’s nose is correct. Akechi doesn’t look exhausted, just a bit high-strung. Absently, he chews on his bottom lip.

He’d never do so in public, lest he ruin his perfect, plush lips. Most of his behaviors he attempts to lock behind a fake-ass smarmy bitchboy—to use Ryuji's words—persona. Only Ren—a persistent rat in his apartment, he tells his neighbors after a noise complaint—is privy to what lies beneath.

The question of if Akechi’s still pretending when he drops the “Detective Prince” is one Ren can’t answer. That’s okay. Ren couldn’t answer the question, either, regarding his own personas.

Whatever mask Ren puts on is fun, though. He can be confident that it’s only a mask. He’s a wonderful person underneath. Really.

That’s why he strolls on up to Akechi, rolls up his sleeves, and drinks directly from his coffee mug.

Stealing food from Akechi is how their relationship began. They have fun. Akechi will spot Ren doing something borrower-y, and immediately try to whack him with a broom, or perhaps a rolled-up newspaper. They’ll chase each other around the apartment, Akechi screaming profanities all the while. It’s like that cartoon Futaba likes. What was it? Tom and Berry?

They have an understanding. A warrior’s bond. Futaba’s instructed him not to use that term anymore. The masks they wear are ever-present, but here, they’re thin enough to not exist. Almost.

Ren slurps, loudly, at Akechi’s coffee, looking up at the towering figure of his human, waiting for a disgusted glare. Any second now...

Nothing. The only disgust is Ren’s, after drinking that low-effort stuff after Sojiro fed him so well. It tastes like dirt, after someone dunked it in a pile of sewage water. And set it on fire. He’s being melodramatic. He can’t help it. Akechi hasn’t spared a single glance at Ren since he strolled onto his desk.

So, Ren strolls forward, hands in his pockets, bag hitting against his back with every exaggerated step. He meanders towards Akechi’s hand, it resting adjacent to his magical fucking brick. His fingers tap against the desk, in rhythm with whatever thoughts are flooding through his pretty little head. Every tap sends the ground vibrating beneath Ren’s feet.

He stops, not four inches away from Akechi’s hand—the length of his entire body—and looks up.

Akechi Goro, for all intents and purposes, is ignoring him completely.

Ren, like the mature, talented borrower he is, vaults himself directly over Akechi’s forearm, and lands square in the middle of his device.

Instantly, Akechi’s gaze snaps down to him, genuine annoyance pinched in eyebrows longer than Ren’s forearm. Ren calls up, not a shred of self-preservation instinct, “What’re you doing?”

Akechi’s annoyance sharpens into a glare. “Get the fuck off my keyboard.”

Ren pushes a button with his foot, one of dozens scattered around him. It yields under his touch, making a satisfying click. Ren holds his foot on it, unable to stop a grin as it stays under his weight. Human technology is so fun—!

He’s reminded why, exactly, he doesn’t interact with human technology as Akechi uses it. A massive hand snatches him in a fist, forcing the breath out of his lungs. Akechi all but yanks him away from his doo-dad. He rests his fist next to his computer, grip firm as Ren squirms. His brow pinches as he types away, likely erasing whatever contribution Ren made.

Ren waits for Akechi’s shadow to fall over him, for that massive face to overtake his vision. For Akechi’s hot breath to dance across his skin, for him to lean in and tell Ren what a pesky, troublesome little mouse he is...

Absolutely nothing. Akechi continues working, eyes glued to his glowing box. Ren huffs, and sinks his teeth into the flesh of Akechi’s thumb.

For a second, the grip around him tightens, before Akechi’s gaze finally, finally lands on him. His fingers retract, to the point where Ren’s dangling over them, more than anything. “Oh, you’re here.”

He—he forgot about him? About Ren? He kicks a leg out. Akechi’s fingers retract completely, leaving him standing on the open desk. He’s not even trying. What the fuck?

He opens his mouth, about to call up to him, when he notices Akechi’s attention has shifted entirely back to his device. Completely ignoring him.

Ren stomps back over to the keyboard, stands directly on two of the buttons, and glares up at Akechi. The human’s glare would make a lesser borrower curl up and never leave their house again. “Did you fucking hear me?”

“You didn’t answer my question.” Ren crosses his arms. “What crawled up your ass and died?”

Akechi’s glare is acidic. Ren could imagine, all too easily, the red rings around his pupils. The steam pouring from his ears. Akechi grits his teeth, visibly restraining the urge to hurl Ren at the nearest wall. “Get. Off.”

Ren steps onto another key, never looking away. Make him.

It’s no surprise when Akechi yanks him up by the back of his shirt. Ren chokes, hands flying to his collar, legs dangling some half foot off the ground. With his other hand, Akechi rummages around the bottom of his desk, every jerk sending Ren swaying between his fingers.

“Since you wanted to know so badly,” Akechi growls, sparing a second to sneer at him before he pulls something out. “I have a report due tomorrow, at noon. About a case that I've already given a report on. With no prior warning from the director. As you can imagine, I don’t have time for any games.”

“Who says I wanted to play anything?” Ren gasps. Akechi, reluctantly, shifts his grip. “What if I just want to see my favorite detective?”

Akechi’s glare recedes, just the slightest amount. “You never want to see me for the sake of seeing me, Joker.”

“Maybe I do.” Ren dons an innocent look. The best he can, while Akechi’s a hair’s breadth away from crushing him in his fist. “Maybe I just missed you. Wanted see how you’re doing, you know? You must be so lonely without me around.”

Akechi smiles. The fake, forced grin that he gives to reporters, or anyone who’s pissing him off. “As you can see, I am absolutely dying without your presence.”

Akechi’s face shutters off into a sneer. Ren forced to look at the object in his hand. He blanches. “I'm sure I'll survive a little longer.”

Without another word, Akechi drops him, face-first, into a glass jar, and caps the lid.

Ren yelps as Akechi jostles him, his hands scrabbling for purchase on the smooth glass. He sets him on his desk, ever so slightly out of reach. He wants to yell back up to Akechi, to ask him what the hell he’s doing to such a poor, defenseless creature. He’s stuck trying to decide which knife of his three to pull when he notices Akechi is—

Ren gasps. Akechi’s ignoring him. Again.

Fine. Fine! Joker does not stomp his foot, because he is a grown borrower and he’s better than that. He paces in the small, circular space of the jar. He doesn’t look at Akechi. He’s not even bothered. He’s fine. Perfectly fine. He—he doesn’t care in the slightest.

He plops down, cross-legged, sparing another glance up at Akechi. The human hasn’t even given him a second glance.

What a dick.

Joker cranes his neck back, body itching to move after just a single second. Makoto called it a survival instinct. His brain is always telling him to move, as that’s how someone like him has survived for so long. Futaba compared him to one of her Pokemans—Spoink, if he recalls correctly. If he stops moving, his heart will stop, too.

Ren’s heart is currently beating out of his chest, a wonderful side-effect to spending longer than a minute in Akechi’s presence, so he’ll be fine on that front. He does stand up, pacing around the small, transparent space he’s trapped in. He knows humans use these for all sorts of things. Turns out trapping borrowers was one of its uses, too. The jar’s walls are hard, and even if he was taller than half its height, he wouldn’t be able to unscrew the lid.

Well. There’s always the self-destructive strategy. He walks over to the glass, looking up at Akechi’s massive, looming form, and asks, “Do you treat all the pretty boys you bring home like this, or am I just special?”

Nothing. He shifts an arm, crosses his legs, leans against the glass. The perfect balance between annoying and flirty. “Usually the guys I’ve been with aren’t this forward, but I don’t mind. If you wanted to keep me that badly, you should’ve just said something.”

Nothing. Nothing at all. The glass must be muffling his words—or, rather, Akechi finds it much easier to ignore him when he’s like this. For all intents and purposes, he might as well not exist.

It’s not a feeling he’s unused to.

Ren huffs. What is he, a moth? Getting defeated by some common, household object? He liked Akechi a lot better when he was trying to whack him with a broom. Ren’s better than this. He will beat this. He’ll make Akechi treat him the way he deserves.

He looks up. If he had a flat piece, he could probably, maybe, pry the lid open. However loose it is, it’d still be too tight for him to shoot his hook at. Even with some parkour, he’s too small to be able to reach it...

Ren stops. He peers over the edge of the desk. He recalls the time Sojiro broke a mug, the day when Ren willingly revealed himself. The way it shattered into a million pieces upon impact, scattered at their feet. He recalls how humans handle fragile things with such grace, as if the magic that makes objects fall will take even giants’ things away from them. He recalls how they handle him, his tiny, four-inch tall form, in the same way.

It’s unnecessary. He’s fallen before, from heights that would, relatively, injure a human. He’s walked away with only a few bruises. If he pushed this jar off the desk, it’d probably react like any other glass.

It doesn’t matter that he’s never fallen from this high before. He has his grappling hook. He’s too cute to die. Everything should be fine, right?

It’s either this, or waiting indefinitely until Akechi finally looks his way.

Joker takes a breath, and slams his shoulder into the jar.

it budges, a little. He does it again, harder. It warbles as it slides against the wood, scooting closer towards the edge of the desk. He can see the full drop, now. He slams again. If heights scared him, he wouldn’t be hanging around humans, now would he?

He tackles the jar once more, hand flying to his hook. He’s a master escape artist. A thief. A borrower with a perfect record—discounting the fact that his presence is known by at least 10 humans. He tackles it again. The jar is dangerously close to the edge. A single inch more, and it’ll teeter right off.

Joker looks up, watching Akechi’s massive, looming face. What he can see through the tangle of rope-like hair is impassive, neutral. Like he doesn’t care.

Joker body-slams the jar one, final time. It teeters, flies over the edge, and Ren yelps as he’s thrust into sharp, terrifying weightlessness.

His hand clenches around his hook, watching the swell of the floor come up to meet him, body curling and clenching as it braces for impact—

A few things happen in rapid succession.

First, the human looming above Joker, who reportedly wouldn’t fish him out if he somehow found himself in his blender, notices the tiny scream and jar falling beside him.

The second, is that his hand shoots out, catching the jar in a white-knuckled grip.

The third, is that Akechi’s face comes up to meet Joker at break-neck speed. His eyes are wide, frantic, crawling over every limb with frightening precision. He snarls, “What the fuck were you thinking?”

Ren opens his mouth, chest stuttering, “I’m fine—“

“Do you have a death wish?” Akechi continues, bringing the jar closer, inspecting Ren even as he yelps. “Are you insane? Do you particularly prefer to be skewered by shards of glass like a late medieval king? Of course, if the fall itself didn’t fucking—“

“Sounds like my type of date night,” Ren rasps. Slowly, he peels himself off the back wall, only to be thrown to his stomach as Akechi's hand flinches.

He looks up, seeing the white-hot fear on Akechi’s face gone, replaced with something like resignation. And smoldering anger. He says, flat, “What, exactly, was your grand plan with throwing yourself off a drop 10 times taller than you, Joker?”

Ah. Cutting straight to the point. Without a second thought for Ren’s poor, fragile well-being. How cruel. Though, the tone of voice suggests that he should answer honestly, lest the jar be thrown across the room—Ren included—like a rubber ball.

Because Joker fears no god and certainly no man, he answers, “I wanted to see if the stories about the strong, daring prince catching the poor, defenseless maiden from her tower were true. Though, I don’t think said princes had the social skills of a paper straw—”

Ren lets out a very mainly squeak as Akechi shakes the jar. He bounces Joker once, twice, three times, sending him flying and tumbling against the glass walls with every jostle. He stops, leaving Ren splatted against the bottom. He peels himself off with a grimace. Sun above—ow.

Ren looks up in time to see Akechi pause. His fingers tap against the jar, a sound like the patter of rain. He looks away, for a second, before smoothing his expression out into an awkward smirk. Good, let him feel guilty. Ren’s poor, wounded soul. “I don’t supposed said maidens would lose a fist-fight with a housefly, either.”

“I'll have you know, my prince,” Ren huffs, leaning against the wall in a dignified, not-at-all dizzy splay of limbs. “That I've won my fair share of fights against houseflies and grasshoppers.”

“Is that so?” Akechi looms in, smirk shifting into something more confident. He’s close enough that his breath fogs the glass of the jar, obscuring, for an instant, the sight of his massive, plush lips. “My hero.”

If there wasn’t a jar between them, they’d be close enough to touch: a small, inhuman body, pressed against lips the size of his chest.

Joker backs away. Akechi leans back, too, adverting his gaze to the jar’s floor. He sighs, tired. “Was that really your grand, daring plan for getting my attention? You couldn’t have done anything that, I don’t know, wouldn’t have killed you?”

Joker grins. He finds his grappling hook—lying on the floor, somewhere between falling and Akechi shaking the jar—and tucks it away. “You know that’s not my style.”

Akechi’s mouth twitches. A familiar movement, like he wants to smile, but doesn’t want to debase himself to such lowly instincts. He runs his thumb down the jar, covering Ren’s chest in its shadow. “Just—why?”

Well.

Akechi has been a good sport. He has, actually, paid attention to him, and his near-death experience of the day wasn’t because of the human. Ren supposes he can have this truth, no matter how embarrassing it is to admit.

Ren twists a lock of his hair, adverting his eyes. “Just...” This close, he can’t hide himself in the knowledge that he’s too small to see. Akechi’s far too close to ignore the cracks of his mask. “We haven’t seen each other since the last break your—learning-establishment gave you.”

“Golden week.” Akechi says, then blinks. “Is that all?”

“Yes?”

“That was hardly a week ago. I haven’t seen you since, either. You could’ve called.”

Ren shrugs, not sure how to express that such an action was the coward’s way out—and also violated every borrower code in existence. Breaking such rules for Akechi’s sake vs. his friends would be against their game.

A smirk dons Akechi’s face, like he’s found Ren’s hiding spot after a chase. “If you wanted to hang out, in the vernacular, you could’ve just asked.”

It feels like he’s treading on rocky ground, that the path will snap under him the second he takes another step forward. It’s not that it’d break the rules of their game. It’s not even that Akechi’s a human. It’s just—Ren can’t be too honest. “You’re busy. I didn’t want to interrupt.”

Goro rolls his eyes. “Don’t lie to me. You love to interrupt.” He flicks the jar, a hard, strong punch that sends Ren flinching back. “And I'm always busy—but you didn’t even have to interrupt. Not everything’s about you, you know.”

Ren begs to differ. It’s not every day a human’s blessed with Ren’s presence. But—

As much as it physically, violently pains Ren to admit, Akechi is...right.

He’ll die before he admits that to Akechi’s face. He braces an arm against the glass, steeling himself in case Akechi flicks his prison again. “Where’s the fun in that?”

Akechi rolls his eyes. He glances back to his computer, what must be a subtle action for a human, but what’s as clear as day to a borrower. “If you’re going to stick around and bother me, I'm afraid I actually can’t allow you to do that. I do need to complete this. My schedule is quite full, Joker.”

Ren raises an eyebrow. “And mine isn’t?”

Akechi raises one back. “I once saw you spend an entire day trying to domesticate my Roomba.”

“I know a spark of life is in that creature.”

“I—look.” Akechi sighs, scrubbing at his face with his hand. “If you’re going to continue to be a little shit, I have no problems about keeping you in this jar under supper.”

“Who the fuck says supper anymore—?”

“You’re the size of a key. What the fuck do you know? Just—if you want to leave, then say so. I'm not going to wait on your time.”

Ren presses his face to the jar, staring up, up, up into Akechi’s own. He swallows.

Nothing to be gained if you don’t jump, his aunt had said, before she fell down a sewer pipe.

“Put me in your pocket,” Ren says.

Akechi blinks. Slight disbelief paints his face, as if wondering if he hallucinated the words. “Pardon?”

“Your pocket.” Ren gestures to it, the massive patch of fabric below him, because he’s helpful like that. “Your hands are busy. You’re being too feisty to talk. You’ve deemed your computer more important than me. Put me inside. I'll be out of the way, and you’ll still be graced with my presence. It’s a win-win.”

Ren’s palms swelter. He’s donning an odd mask, but it seems to do its job. His chest flutters when Akechi brightens. “First, I'm sure you can imagine why I might favor my computer over the pest that keeps breaking into my fucking umaibo. Second, I wouldn’t call myself graced. Third, how, exactly, would you be winning?”

A flush creeps its way up Ren’s cheeks. “Uh—“

But Akechi doesn’t wait for an answer. With a sharp pop, he uncaps the lid to Ren’s prison. He jerks the jar down, sending Ren tumbling towards its mouth.

Ren does not scream, thank you very much.

He lands in Akechi’s hand only a few inches down. His palm is mercifully soft, a sharp contrast to—everything. He huffs, glaring up at the human’s face. Akechi only smirks down at him, and, like the scum of the earth he is, blows a gust of air at Ren’s face.

Ren sputters. Akechi’s fingers curl around him, the slightest amount. “I suppose I can keep an eye on you, while you’re in there. Try anything and you’re returning to the jar.”

Ren gathers his composure. He leans against a thumb half his height, fluttering his eyelashes. He refuses to lose here, in Akechi’s hand, surrounded by his form and heat and soft flesh...focus. “What’s the matter? Scared you couldn’t keep your eyes off me?”

“Just of losing my last single, working braincell. Do you want to go in, or not?”

Ren...does. He doesn’t think about what this means, the prospect of being so close to Akechi, so—vulnerable. He’d be right up against his chest, probably next to his heartbeat, enveloped by his warmth.

He’s—he doesn’t think about it. He’s gracing Akechi with his presence, that’s all. Absolutely nothing more.

Ren nods. Akechi sighs, and moves his hand towards his pocket. Ren finally takes note of his grey sweater, the small, slightly ratty fold of fabric over his chest. He holds Ren above its lip, gifting him a view of a dark, soft, cramped area.

He can feel Akechi’s warmth: from his fingers, from the slight heat emanating from his chest. He catches a faint whiff of cinnamon, undoubtedly from the human holding him. He’s so close. He’d just have to burry into his chest, pick up his thumb and press his lips against it...

Sun above, it’s a miracle the borrower’s survived for this long.

Akechi drops Ren into the pit. He flails, tangling his limbs in the fabric as he slides down. Ren huffs. Honestly. Beasts, humans are.

He lands in a soft corner, limbs splayed out in the bunched fabric.

It is warm.

He can hear Akechi’s heartbeat—pumping steadily, despite the claims that he doesn’t have one. The weight of his pocket stifles his brain’s constant urge to move. Akechi breathes in, and Ren moves with the rhythm, rocked against the human as he resumes work. Slowly, Ren rights himself, relaxing into Akechi’s pocket.

It’s...nice.

Akechi’s voice reverberates around him, accentuated by the clacking of his keys, “I meant what I said. Try anything, and I'm chucking this thing across the room with you inside. I wonder, would the Roomba continue if I set you in its path?”

Ren huffs, for lack of projection, he bangs his fist against Akechi’s chest. It flutters against him—a slight, stifled laugh.

It’s nice.

Akechi goes silent. For a second, Ren can’t even hear the clacking of his magical fucking brick. He thinks he’s about to fill the silence before his typing resumes, like nothing ever happened at all. Ren settles into his pocket, bunching a tiny pillow for his head and curling up. He knows he needs to figure this out before it kills him, to find what mask to wear so Akechi believes him, to figure out how to tell a human, of all creatures, the truth, but...

Later.

He hasn’t seen Akechi in so long, after all.

Ren closes his eyes, relaxes in his rival’s pocket, and very pointedly does not drift off to sleep.

He won’t let Akechi steal this victory, too. Not when he’s already stolen his heart.

#persona 5 #persona 5 g/t #g/t writing #g/t #giant/tiny #g/t fanfiction #shuake #akeshu #my writing

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unlucky-leek · 1 month

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(Check reblog for the rest of the photos)

Did I spend a large portion of my day taking silly Nendoroid pictures? Yes. Was it worth it? Also yes.

I spent most of this morning trying to find Joker's box so I had all his accessories to hand. Where did I end up finding it? Behind a framed picture of Akechi on our manga bookshelf, because of course where else would it be? 😆

In the meantime, I tried to see if Nendoroid heads would fit on any of the other small dolls I have. They did, but... Only on the girls. I don't think I've ever seen a doll want to kill me more than tiny Akechi did in that moment.

Anyway, then I ended up taking random photos and felt like sharing some, so enjoy! (I'll post most of them below a cut so as not to spam people).

EDIT - I HAVE JUST DISCOVERED THERE IS A 10 PHOTO LIMIT. I'll try to find a way to post the rest of my weird photos lol.

EDIT 2 - I reblogged it and it worked or something idk

Pure. Unadulterated. Rage.

#persona 5 #persona 5 royal #goro akechi #akechi goro #kurusu akira #akira kusuru #amamiya ren #ren amamiya #persona 5 nendoroid #nendoroid photography #nendoroid #good smile company

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marasschino · 8 months

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hi! I noticed that aigis looks taller than minato in your drawings. might I ask about your height headcanons regarding SEES + Ryoji pretty please 🙏🙏 love all your doodles btw! akechi looks stunning in your art style. you have such a good feel for using expressions & colours to set a mood (sorry for my wacky english, good god)

oh anon I am so sorry it took me forever to get to this. I forgot this was in my inbox 😭 BUT YES I can give you my height headcanons.

Putting this under a cut bc I used hikaku sitatter to compare my headcanon heights months ago + my reasoning

so I'll start out with the ones that didn't change from their canon heights: Yukari, Akihiko, Ken (he is a child and also I couldn't fit him on the chart. it was max 10 people unfortunately), and Koromaru (dog). For Yukari and Akihiko I feel like their canon heights suit them in my very biased opinion.

For Junpei: He just gives tall guy that just had a growth spurt and doesn't know what to do with the extra like 6cm he's acquired. so I went with his height that is canon for P4AU (177cm) instead of his P3 canon height (170.5cm).

For Mitsuru: Her canon height is actually 166cm, but I refuse to believe that. She's still shorter then the guys (excluding Minato) but she is their height by proxy because she always wears heels and boots. It adds to her aura I think.

For Aegis: she is physically a battle robot, built to fight supernatural beings born from the heart. and also her hooves. I actually always thought she was taller than average instead of 163cm just because she was a robot (I've played more P3P then P3fes so I always imagined her to be tall). She was built to be a protector and a tank. There is a lot of juxtaposition in her being a tall robot made of metal and her soft human heart underneath that. Also she needs to be taller than Kotone AND Minato. It's a requirement.

For Fuuka: she is canonically 150cm. I think I made her 154cm because I felt bad that she was so much shorter then everyone... she is still the shortest (not including Ken) but its a smaller gap.

For Shinjiro: his canon height is 177cm. I don't know why I made him 178cm. maybe because I felt he deserved to be at least 1cm taller than Junpei. But you can come to your own conclusions for this.

For Kotone: I never imagined her as being super tall but at least taller than Fuuka and Yukari. And she is a short menace but not a 160cm short menace to me. She stole 5cm from Minato as comeuppance. Also I think it's funny when Minato and Kotone are the same height. not because of the twin headcanon but just because

For Minato: Kotone stole 5cm. and he needs to be shorter than Aegis or its Incorrect. Also considering how inconsistent P3 character heights are displayed (looking at you P3DAN) I kind of default to the way Sogabe draws Minato. Tiny.

And for special-est boy Ryoji: as far as I know I have never found a canon height for Ryoji (which is fine) and I often go off vibes for character heights anyway + I used screenshots from the P3 movies just to get a general idea of Ryoji's possible height. which is probably about 180cm to Minato's canon 170cm (for the movies). I thought it was funny if I kept Ryoji the same (approximate) height despite making Minato shorter. Also there's something endearing about Ryoji being ridiculously tall AND taller than the rest of SEES. godspeed to him. he has probably knocked his head on plenty of doorframes in the span of two months.

And that's all!!! again sorry for taking so long to get to this anon I love getting asks like this but the executive disfunction sometimes makes me forget that people actually send me asks. I'll do better next time o7

#txt #persona headcanons #persona 3 portable #persona 3 #I'm not tagging everyone good lord #asks

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sushispider1212 · 8 days

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Okay! I think I have a general idea of how Akira and Shigeru’s powers work in the Metaverse, and no, they do not have personas (yet 👀)

So basically Igor and the Velvet Room let the two have a tiny fraction of their godly powers, and that basically translates to the equal amount of power nerfed level 99 persona would have, the two are powerful as hell.

Shigeru and Akira’s powers are basically light and dark, as well as some other powers their God forms have, like Shigeru can use the 7 deadly sins as watered down status ailments/physical attacks, and Akira can use almighty attacks.

Shigeru actually likes making light constructs, if you remember me saying a while back that Shigeru could summon a bird construct, that’s basically it, they summon a light construct of a bird, and Shigeru sends it to help the pt’s sometimes when the two are at too far of a distance.

Akira can work with shadows, like darkness, not Shadows lol, his attacks are more brunt force and power house, while Shigeru’s are more accurate and more hits he gets in.

I’m really bouncing around here because It’s really hard to explain how their powers work for me, but just imagine persona 5 mechanics but they got nothin to summon.

And also, Shigeru 100% awakens to a persona when they go face to face with their godly counterpart in the final battle. Idk when Akira awakens to his…probably either in Shido’s palace or Maruki’s. But Shigeru awakens to theirs because they come to terms with what they did and admit to it, and they finally become “Shigeru Ochida” instead of “Yaldabaoth”

Akira’s is similar, he comes to terms with the fact that he’s his own person now, and is not just a part of Ren, but is Akira Amano instead, and learns to accept that.

Shigeru is also the navi for the duo, and he’s JUST like Akechi during 3rd semester, constantly making sarcastic remarks, insulting Akira whenever he gets knocked down or affected with an ailment (“Did you REALLY just get knocked out?! I KNOW you did not just leave this fight to me asshole! Did you even SEE that Shadow RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOUR EYES?!”) Akira can get a bit emotional about this, but he refuses to cry about it.

also you’ve probably noticed by now, that i ship these two fucking losers around 75%, I’m a sucker for dumbasses who are forced to work together, and besides, they are forced to share a braincell the moment they go in a 5 mile radius of each other, what’s not to love? If you don’t like that, tell me and I’ll 100% stop talking about them that way 👌 (that sounded sarcastic/rude whenever i say it in my head😔)

Anyways, got any thoughts on this? I definitely know I was all over the place for this one lol

This is actively fueling by brain rot. I love this so much.

The opposing concepts thing, and! The ailments Shigeru can provide works well with his role as the navigator. I’m imagining some kind of sick ass finishing move involving those bird constructs.

Also,

You: *talking about your plans for the end game*

Me: *Looking nervously at the pile of notes for my end game. Shoves them a little bit further under the desk.*

And about the shipping. As of this point in time I am considering Shigeru to be the name shared by our Yaldabaoths. My Shigeru Ochida is a high schooler who really really Does Not Like hanging out with people and begrudgingly helps. Your Shigeru Ochida is the legal guardian who is forced to be in proximity with people and therefore acts different.

Our characters are different in my perspective. You can ship your guy, I will be not be shipping mine at this point in time.

I sure hope this is a cohesive answer my brain is currently a warm soup.

#bananabread108

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boypussydilf · 2 years

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i just think its funny when people misinterpret stuff in p5 or mischaracterize akira based on the assumption that akira is. like. normal. some people will go like “he keeps getting Forced by the others to put himself in danger” “his relationship with akechi isnt equal” etc etc i could elaborate and explain this better but you get the idea. anyway its like. You think he was coerced into taking a risk? You think he was caught off guard by being in danger? the same persona 5 protagonist who after getting beaten & drugged still takes a moment to do a smug little pose and expression purely for his own amusement bc the plan worked? the same persona 5 protagonist who literally will not even hesitate a tiny bit when the guy he knows is planning to kill him asks for a no holds barred duel? are we talking about the same guy who silently comes along on mafia business as insurance & drinks random experimental medicine without a second thought & willingly hangs out with someone who’s trying to get him arrested & does showy moves while in life threatening danger for his own entertainment & walks around in the life threatening danger Perpetually Grinning? did you see ANY of the opening scenes of this game? did you even see his awakening? Look. Look. Like, maybe around 80% of the time, if Akira is in danger, he knows he is in danger, he decided to walk into the danger, and he is having fun in the danger. You need to understand this. He blatantly does not have the self preservation of a normal human & if you assume that he does you will walk out of this game with the wrong idea of what happened. Unironically.

#akira kurusu is completely conscious of the fact that he is A Protagonist and he loves it #this was set off by a tag on another post #saying they’d seen people say the PTs pushed akira into doing the Self Sacrificing Mission #and they were like ‘he’s the MC he has to do MC things’. which IS true #but also even without the holds of ‘it has to happen this way for the narrative/the game’#he would just do that #akira goes ‘can i do a flip when i jump out the window’ and everyone else goes please take this seriously #and then he does it anyway #basilposting #beneath the mask

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megaderping · 8 days

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You know that RP chat you linked on one of my asks. I have been spending a lot of time reading the RPs and debating on if I should try to get in on the fun.

Though If do, I will either RP a base Yu or a Ren based on the Timeline of 'The Phantoms of Gotham' fanfic both sound like it would be fun though I'm leaning towards Yu because of the sheer amount of Ren/Akira's even if Trying to navigate Tokyo or any of the Japan locations when Ren is from the Crime capital of the dc universe, and having the other people I'm RPing with having to decide if the DC comics exist in their universe and if so react to the fact that this Ren goes from being accused of assault, to being pretty much adopted(unknowingly) by Batman, to Phantom thief within the span of a month or two. Would be stupid levels of fun. Ren would be so godamn lost

But anyway, I have to say the RP with Tiny Baby Ren was freaking cute, adorable, also very cringe on behalf of older Ren. Also for the life of me can't find the RP where Raven gets Loki been searching it for the past three weeks I know it has something to do with Sparrow's shadow because accidentally got spoiled. Can you help pleeeeeease???

No worries! I can get that thread. It's a fun one. First, context: Meeting with the Shadow of a Maruki Ending Akechi. And the BIG THREAD that includes him awakening to Loki and also a lot of cute and stupid stuff between both the P4 and P5 versions of my Akechi and Magpie (Vashti's canonkechi). But thanks for the interest! As far as joining goes, it is invite-only mostly to keep the community from ballooning outta control (easier to moderate), but I brought up your interest in the mod channel, and we're discussing how we ought to handle interest via tumblr and other outside spheres, since a lot of our player recruitment has come via Discord servers we're a part of or just people we happen to know. We don't want to seem unwelcoming to interested parties, but we also want to make sure we coordinate and are on the same page, since we're a rather small group. Once I have a better idea of how we're handling things, I can give you an update! What I will say is that when it comes to RPing from someone else's fic or fanwork, you'll wanna ask the author first and get a screencap to prove you got the okay. It's mostly just so we avoid issues because we have a few fic authors in our community, and we never know who will wanna join us, etc.

#goro akechi #p4 akechi au #rp shenanigans #asks

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wispexists · 1 year

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P5R PMD AU because i am insane!!!

So I have many a thought in my head and with Spike Chunsoft dangling the idea of a new Mystery Dungeon entry in front of my face this past week I have more thoughts. Especially about the Mystery Dungeon AU's I create with every fandom I join.

So um Persona 5 PMD au (with some visuals).

Also this will contain major spoilers for Persona 5 Royal and Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon.

First, this is a rewrite of PMD Super, because I will not write a new story for this and also because I always see Explorers get the crossover au/rewrite treatment (as it should tbh) and we gotta switch it up!! Now with the main plot not really changing we can jump into the characters.

1. The Heros

The hero role is filled both by Akira Kurusu and Goro Akechi, both being human and both losing their memories respectfully after being isekai'd into a foreign world. These bitches gay, so I think it's funny to throw them into another god killing situation.

The role stays true to the plot, get chased by Beheeyem, get adopted, join the guild, etc. it would just have more banter between characters in between.

Akira:

At first you may think, "Wouldn't Zorua fit better? Isn't that the black and red trickster Pokémon that fits the overall aesthetic really well? Wouldn't it have been cool for an Akiren that could summon fake illusion personas???" Because I thought the same things until I realized I cannot draw Zorua!

I also think even though Floragato doesn't really fit aesthetically, it fits in every other aspect of joker persona. Silly little jester cat.

I also thought Zorua would be too much of an awkward fit in the group just, vibes man, he's too small. Once you see my other picks you'll get it. You get silly little jester cat take it or leave it.

Goro:

STUPID BIRD!! THE CHOICE IS OBVIOUS!! FUCKIN,, CROW MAN!! CORVISQUIRE SWEEP!!

I also made him shiny because it matches his color pallete. Literally easiest decision in the world. I was originally going to go with rookidee but again, too small.

2. The partner

You thought these bitches were doing this shit alone?? NO!! THEY NEED A SILLY FRIEND!! WHO ELSE TO PUT IN THE ROLE OF THE WEIRD ADOPTED ORPHAN THAN WEIRD ADOPTED ORPHAN FUTABA SAKURA!! Also going forward no other character is human, very important pmd shit.

Futaba:

Similarly to the p5 plot, Futaba is still grieving her mom while getting adopted by Sojiro. Wakaba died in an "unfortunate accident" while doing research for a guild on the grass continent. The last thing left in Futaba's possession is her harmony scarf. Unlike p5, Futaba didn't actually see her mom die since she was in Serene Village while her mom was doing research. She still somewhat blames herself for her mother's death but is motivated to find the truth behind it.

Futaba's social anxiety would prevent her from joining a proper exploration team, until of course she gets two new neighbors that are reminded of someone in her and feel obligated to help (THE HEROS FROM BEFORE IN CASE YOU DIDNT GET THAT). Also in Super, the partner doesn't join a team because everyone fucking hates them and I thought wow! That's way too mean! And not in character!! So I changed that.

Anyways JOLTIK FUTABA, SMALL CREATURE. The only one allowed to be teeny tiny.

I originally was planning to go with a Dewpider since I knew for a fact that I wanted her to be a bug type but then I saw Joltik and thought "wow, this bitch has so much mischievous energy" and it stuck.

She'd probably run a support build of some kind in preparation to be backup.

3. Nuzleafs replacement

Takuto Maruki.

If you thought anyone but him I would tell you to replay Super Mystery Dungeon BECAUSE I THINK IT FITS SO WELL.

Also because it's weird that Nuzleaf was like unemployed, I also made Maruki Audinos replacement as the school nurse. He can be in a weird cult and work at the school at the same time.

Yes Maruki is the one who sends our protagonists to hell! After his childhood friend Rumi never truly recovered from an accident, Maruki turned to the help of Yveltal, believing that the limbo-like state is better than suffering for a lifetime. This happiness can be easily achieved if only he had a human that could destroy the barrier on Revelation Mountain, then their plan would be foolproof..

Also important to note that actualization doesn't exist because personas and the metaverse wouldn't exist in Pokémon.

FURRET MARUKI SHAKES YOU. His ass looks normal until he STABS YOU IN THE BACK!!

4. Classmates

Ok I got a little burnt out at this point so I don't have references for these ones but the gist is they're literally just the Shujin guys. None of them would join the exploration team (sorry :() but they would still get little side stories. I also tried to match certain characters with their metaverse powers as a little silly.

Ann: Braixen. Literally makes so much sense. Strong girlboss fire wizard like get it queen!! Fuck yeah!

Ryuji: Luxio but specifically with rivalry instead of intimidate purely because it's funny.

Makoto: Houndour. Honestly went with this because of vibes and also because she counters and covers Haru's weaknesses because I am a Makoharu stan frfr.

Haru: Galarian Ponyta. See Makoto.

Mishima: Please suggest a Pokémon for Mishima. I do not have one.

Shiho: also up for suggestions

Sumire: Eevee. Since actualization doesn't exist, she still knows she's Sumire, but is still strongly advised by Maruki to follow in her sisters footsteps considering she trained her entire life as a performer, why shatter your dreams and pursue something that has the chance to bring you pain? Specifically replaces Espurr in this au since she's being manipulated by Maruki.

Yusuke: Alolan Vulpix. Not part of the school, he lives in Lively Town with Madarame, but he gets included on this list because I have no where else to put him.

Morgana: Purrloin. Isn't in this story like at all because he got arrested for crime. Thought I'd include him anyways.

5. Extra thoughts

I have a few more characters that I know for sure are going to be here. Every change of heart is going to happen but they would most likely get arrested instead (cause no metaverse).

This really is just a self-indulgent mashup of P5 and PMD. The characters still generally keep their arcs even if they aren't as important, the overall plot is just that of PMD Super.

And that about wraps it up for now! If you made it this far, I love you, mwah. Also please please please send any questions because I am writing this in the middle of the night and I KNOW I probably missed something and I really just want to share this silly au. Thank you for reading!

#persona 5 #pokemon mystery dungeon #persona 5 royal #p5 pmd au #au #crossover #pokemon #pokemon super mystery dungeon #my art #long post #this took two hours to write

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louaseau · 8 months

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Keep 'em guessin'

Whew! I went kinda nuts with it, but I wanted a final hurrah so I could finally draw something ELSE from now on. Seriously, I've filled pages and pages of this guy, and although there's no denying how much he inspires me, I would like to MOVE ON please (at least so I can go and draw his other forms and shapes).

Anyway, here's Akechi's homebrewed not-cat household parasite, whose name is Gun. They met in a dream.

He starts off as a classic - an animal mascot suffering from amnesia. There's just one tiny twist to this formula: it doesn't affect him. Or, more accurately, he's not driven to go and find the missing pieces of his Self. In fact, he's not driven to do much of anything! He's easygoing to a fault, borderline indolent, as likely to playfully banter in turn as he is to just let people decide or speak for him. He rolls with the fact that he's now on four legs with an open, hungry mind rather than literally any other possible emotion. It's kind of off-putting. Observant, collected, and devilishly opportunistic - now why does that sound familiar?

#My art #Fanart

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sixteen-juniper · 6 months

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hii!! i've read & caught up with rose & rot in 2 days. i'm loving it so far it's made me insane: i want a pet crow now and i want to go off the grid and the slowburn is killing me and augh fics always do this to me BUT anyway. robinhood & mordred just hit me like a fucking truck. shido is arthur, mordred is akechi, robinhood & his merry band of thieves is akiren & the phantom thieves. i love to think about if the personas could have human forms or shape shift (especially for ones that were in reality at some point or are canonical shapeshifters, like william kidd/captain kidd and loki) so like.. robinhood as goro on tv while goro recovers from momentos. goemon painting with yusuke. etc. but i've been thinking of mordred & tamino's human & persona forms because i can't quite imagine them at all, besides a sword and a flute. i've been thinking of my human-robin design and a blank faced mordred laying in the forests surrounding tokyo, reminiscing for some reason.. idk they're so shuake to me. definitely gay in some way. but i also love the idea of the personaians reading their persona's myths, learning their persona's native languages, because it makes me so happy. akiren eventually becoming fluent in french, goro splitting out words in norweigan (and now german, in r&r thanks to tamino), etc etc etc, so thank you for showcasing that SOSOSOSOSO much it makes me so happy. i love your use of munin & hugin, the relation of their myths makes me so so sos so so happy.. the connection of persona's myths & the persona users always make me happy: canon stuff as loki being chained down and trapped until the ragnarok, and goro most likely being buried under rubble & in water during shido's palace until he somehow gets out & goro being the one who was supposed to cause his world's own ragnarok. i like to call him the catalyst of chaos. but thank you so much. i had more to say but my phone died the first time i tried typing this all out so i can't even remember

Hi anon! Thank you so much for reading, I’m so glad you’re enjoying the fic so far. This ask made my day! I love this story a lot so it means much that it’s resonating with you. <3 I also sometimes really want to go off the grid and live on a tiny island in the middle of nowhere.

I never even thought of that parallel between Loki and Goro, but it’s so good and true! I have a few scenes of Goro watching Die Zauberflaute and some soon where he’s reading Le Morte d'Arthur.

As for the crows, I’m glad you brought them up! - Hugin who in norse myth represents thought/knowledge is usually with Goro when he’s doing quests, trying to help him. Munin watches because he is the one who is gathering memories and using the forest magic / abilities to create the statues Goro finds in chapter 13. So he’s literally carrying the memories of the ghosts and creating a way for them to be remembered in the forest. Also, Goro has two bird companions which is similar to how Tamino in Flute goes through the forest with Papageno the bird catcher.

I’m terrible at designing Personas! But, I always picture Tamino as having a Japanese influence in his design with flowing robes while holding a flute. So kind of like this. Also if you’ve seen the Julie Taymor holiday version of Flute (I have! it’s ok?) I have some elements of that in my head. In my head the flowing robes are really beautiful, especially when he sends the spirits away. And Morded is more medieval english in his design, a lot darker. I love them both.

I really hope you enjoy the things I have planned for this fic! Currently at almost 200k, I never thought it would be so big.

#the ask and the answer #rose and rot

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writerofjourneys · 2 years

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Can I give my two cents on Yoshizawa? Coming from someone that just finished Royal and also likes Aigis and Rise (and can understand why people hate her as well, it takes time to warm up to her). Sorry, english isn't my first language. This isn't also a hate message, just giving my honest opinion.

As someone who always struggled with depression and self steem issues, I really liked Sumire's portrayal and her wishing to be another person (in this case, her "better" twin).

I'll first adress the points in which I agree with you. First, her clothes. You're right, she shouldn't wear black clothes. I think, as she had her true awekening, her clothes could change and have similar colors as her third awakening.

Ok, back to the arguments. I shall tackle them in order.

The only time she helps Joker in the real world is to get him out of jail. - I could say the same about the other confidants. Only Ryuji stuck up to him against Kamoshida, and Shido on the elevator scene (and you can also defend him back if you have enough guts).

Her appearances never feel normal. - I played Vanilla before, so I knew whenever a new scene was popping up with Sumire, Akechi and Maruki. Maybe you think they're shoehorned because you already know she's a new character? Like, that feeling that "oh she wasn't here before".

Overly attached to Joker. - Think about it this way. She just lost her sister (in her mind, Kasumi lost Sumire). And while she behaved as Kasumi, everyone knew who she really was. Talking to her was awkward and like walking on eggshells. Joker, because he didn't know about this situation, he acted normal around her and even helped with her depressive episodes. So, she respected him. Sometimes we need this person to remind us that it's okay to have doubts but we can't let them win. But you said it, she ACTS like a extroverted socialite. She isn't one.

The thieves love her and she ignores them. - Hm... no? She respects all of them equally, specially Futaba and Mona. I do think she least interacted with Yusuke and Ann, but she and Ryuji did talk as well (but well it's Ryuji).

She does not contribute to the plot until the 3rd semester. - She was busy trainning and going on competitions. There's even a whole week she isn't around because of it. That's the same reason she doesn't join the Thieves at first. She's busy. Simple as that. Just like Akechi joined you because of his goals, she couldn't join you because of her goals.

Her first ranks and her "slumps". - Depression does this to a person, you can be happy one time and suddenly a tiny obstacle creates this wave of "I'm not good enough I shouldn't be here I shouldn't be happy." Cognition or not, she had suffered the loss of her sister and wasn't getting results while trainning. Anything could put her down. I've been there myself and I still struggle with it sometimes.

The social link doesn't reset/You only know Kasumi, not Sumire/ her perky attitude didn't change/her awakening doesn't make sense - We know Sumire. Sure, she's pretending to be Kasumi, but deep down she's still Sumire. There's an event where she makes a bento for Joker, and it looks atrocious, but when he tastes it it's just curry. In her mind she should be a bad cook, but her food comes out alright anyway. Plus we get snippets about the plot twist, the phone never working, we never saw a picture of her sister. Also, we know her when she was depressed for being her sister's shadow (cutscene with the car accident) but we don't know how she usually acted. We know, thanks to her trainer, that she was quieter and more graceful than Kasumi. Doesn't mean she wasn't perky at the time, and she has as much talent as her twin. In her eyes, Kasumi was better because she won all the time, but Sumire got just as much trainning as her. And Shujin, when Kasumi was alive, wanted BOTH of them enrolled with special status. Self doubt and depression made her underperform, even before losing her sister. Knowing this, her awakening DOES make sense, specially when you consider what her persona was saying. Ok we have Sumire/Kasumi, her sister just died and you're carrying the dream for both of you. You get enrolled with special status, all students are talking about you (we see scenes about the gossip right at the start of the game), the school is expecting great results and in your mind you're "the best of the best". But come competition after competition, you can't perform well. The students that praised you now badmouth you, and even after a third place the higher ups aren't satisfied. No wonder she would almost snap at the palace, SPECIALLY after seeing her sister dying AGAIN (remember, she doesn't know about cognitions yet so it was just like seeing her die again). Her persona says "You strive towards splendor... you know the risk... well if these were the shoes that you chose." You know the risk = she's a fake, and deep down she knows it (self doubt, depression); the shoes that you chose = continue pretending to be Kasumi. On her TRUE awakening, her persona even says "such tenacity, it seem to fit you better than ever before. The glass slippers are a sign of glory." Right at the start of this exploration, Sumire was still faltering due to her self sabotage. But now, NOW she's ready to fully commit and accept who she is. The glory of being herself and being proud of it.

Why did she dance at the school festival. - she's a famous athlete. Students love famous people. She was called because she was recognized.

Why did her father show up? - well we DID help choosing his glasses. jokes aside, it's to foreshadow even further about Sumire's true identity. He says her name, but it gets cut off. We only hear "... re" something like that. Also, two reasons. One, Maruki was making this series of "perfect and happy coincidences" between the characters, so much so that even them commented on it. Her father showing up is also one of those happy coincidences. Two, this man lost one of his children in a tragic accident. I wonder how come he didn't show up MORE. Picking her up from school, from trainning. He should be a little paranoid about her safety.

Why Cinderella/Cendrillon? - Cinderella suffered out of jealousy, ok. Sumire suffered out of jealousy, for her SISTER. Plus, remember, Cinderella had one key aspect: she wished to go to the ball, have the best night ever, maybe meet the prince but she wanted to get out of the shadows. Sumire's biggest wish is to get out of Kasumi's shadow and "go to the ball" so to speak. In this case, to be acknowledged, just as Cinderella was. From ashes to glass. I do think it's quite fitting for her, other fairy tales like Ugly Duckling and Little Mermaid could fit as well.

She suddenly accepted her sister's death. - she got a reality check, had her persona beaten, got in a moody and depressive state. She DID run away from the fact for almost a year. She rralized she had to stop running at some point.

We could've known other patients he helped. - I think the game implies he only helped Rumi and Sumire. He was busy working on his research, and then counseling at Shujin. If he had a chance, he should have helped other students there. Plus the game explicity says that he changed reality because WE the Phantom Thieves asked for it.

She loves Joker no matter what you do. - so does Haru. And Ann.

She stalks you into the palace. - she's worried about her friends after you implied you had an important job. I'd tag along as well just to be sure. And Lavenza went to the nurse's office as the butterfly. She probably saw it as well, IT'S A GLOWING BLUE BUTTERFLY.

Why everyone talks about how much she eats? - it's a trope, probably like Goku or Luffy. It's a japanese game after all.

She doesn't have a reason to join! - She does. It is "stop Maruki and his weird reality". When she joined Joker and Akechi, neither of them knew what was going on as well. They were the only ones with their memories and that's it. They joined up to solve the mystery. She joined up go help. After that, to stop Maruki.

She has Marinette vibes - ... I don't see it? And I watched a lot of Ladybug, got a bit out of hand yikes. But Marinette is a lackluster character I'll give you that.

AAAAAAND I guess that's it? Wow I wrote a lot. If you read it, thank you so much. Once again I'm not attacking you or anything, I'm giving you my honest opinion.

But I'm gonna say: I hated her goodbye scene in Royal. Maruki left you at the station (Billy Kametz c.c), the gang had an awesome farewell and she just... stumbles across you? What was THAT Atlus?

Those are some details, and I appreciate you being polite about them.

I might need to reinstate my thoughts, points, and counters regarding yours:

I can’t say I’ve totally understood the way the game portrays Sumire’s mental struggles… I mean I’ve also hit a really hard time in my life in high school where I was alone in going through these struggles for some time. And the way people go through their own mental hardships can be different for everyone. But Sumire never emphasizes what her “slump” is, or explains the cause for it. She says it like she doesn’t know the reason, and makes it sound like it’s only a simple slump throughout the first five confidant rankings. She’s been pretending to be Kasumi for some time so maybe it was a mind block from tying her back to who she really was? It’s really her confidence that’s shaky, and Joker repeats the same method of saying a phrase to encourage her, and she goes right back to being perky again without pause. Her slump is always dealt with in the same way the first half of her confidant. She seems to just take it as face value like a compliment.

Even with people feeling awkward about her acting and calling herself Kasumi, it’s not a valid enough reason for avoiding her like the plague. Shujin students I get, but her other fellow gymnasts would be the closest thing to interacting with her and having at least a simple conversation, like Makoto with the student council members. She probably wouldn’t have had to lean on him all the time if her parents or her.. teammates? club members? or maybe a single person talked to her and weren’t so set off about her identity issue. It’d be something like Ann and Shiho, Makoto and Eiko, and Mishima with the guys, or just an acquaintance. I don’t know.

I do find your point of her social link interesting over what she could’ve been feeling herself. But it all feels up for interpretation from before she came to Shujin and when she was Kasumi. Joker did what he always does, helping someone because he was somehow out of the loop about her actual identity when none of the thieves, from Shujin, talk about it. I mean I know it’s for the reveal but this detail was something so simple that could easily be solved. Maybe it’s because they thought Joker was calling her Kasumi for her own sake but he could’ve been informed about it, it feels like a loophole.

I had forgotten about her phone. And it doesn’t really makes sense as to why it’s broken only that Sumire’s or Kasumi’s was damaged and she either kept her phone or taken Kasumi’s. The explanation for that is weird. Did she really need Kasumi’s phone to be her sister?

The thieves love her after meeting her how many times outside the Metaverse without brief meetings like she had full conversations with them every time? Futaba and Mona are taken with her right off the bat because of her politeness for being the same age as Futaba with a different personality and interest for being a Persona-User and an athlete. She’s a Persona-User, that’s usually what catches other Persona-Users’ interest, especially the thieves. The most it feels like she interacts with them is in the Metaverse in Maruki’s Palace. Just because she respects them doesn’t mean they have something close to a max 10 rank up up of a powerful bond like the whole team sorta has. Respect can be different from willingly choosing to make close connections because one likes to have a bond with another. Respect can be broken down in many forms.

Her awakening shows no real form of rebellion for an oppressed society that has personally and wrongfully affected her. She has verbally stated that she does not care for people’s opinions and understands the consequences of losing her honour status as a result for ranking lower instead of first place. She did the best she could with what she was already doing and the outcome was what it was. I figured that time she saw her cognitive self was a sort of reminder of her she really was. Like a clue. Considering that her other self from the other world said that it’s her fault, the other self, felt strange and out of place because we don’t know the reason why. If it was just self discovery then that would fit. But she shares nothing that fits with the themes of Persona 5 as a Persona-User. Altus breaks those rules for her. There shouldn’t have been a point for her to have a Persona with such weak reasoning. Her second awakening still has nothing to do with rebellion. And to awaken again the second time with no changes? Hypocritical for the point of the Persona series. It would’ve made sense whether or not she had to even be a Persona-User in the place. Her growth, realization, and moving on from her past would’ve still been affective like the other confidants who reached a point in their lives where the change is known, yet didn’t need a Persona to showcase that. I feel caught in the middle about it.

Her being busy is one thing, but to be out of the story so much with only gaps in between from her appearances just doesn’t feel like a character that can connect the player so strongly as opposed to everyone else. Everyone has responsibilities. Haru has to work on her family company, Yusuke tries to find stability as an independent artist after Madarame, Makoto deals with the student council and doing well with her grades, Ryuji goes back to training as an athlete while working on recovering his leg, and Ann has to deal with the struggles of making it out as a model for her career. Akechi goes through crap with Shido as the Black Mask, being a detective, keeping appearances, and being a student. That’s kind of the point, her goals clash with why she doesn’t need to join the thieves outside of dealing with Maruki. Other than that, she’s got no stakes. She has a life for gymnastics that takes her on a more divided path from others. It’s a lazy excuse of writing to bother even including a character and deeming them important when they deliver no reason of significance to the viewer and backfire their involvement. Akechi doesn’t really count as his reasons and motives are intwined with the thieves’.

The whole school dance and she’s a famous athlete and all is one thing. But is she really the only well known athlete in the entire school for students to be talking about her all the time? It makes me curious about that. And if it’s a school dance, why aren’t any of the thieves who attend Shujin be there? I think I’ve forgotten as to why. But Atlus could’ve come up with any scenario and they chose a dance to bring the obvious ship of her and Joker.

I can really see other fairytale folklore characters that fit her, too, like what you’ve previously mentioned. Though none really fit P5’s themes of fighting for a cause for others and themselves. But I still get the vibe that while her jealousy is shared with Cinderella’s stepsisters, and she becomes someone else to be something than more than what she was, nothing changes about her after that. Her only freedom was through the prince, who took her away from her household and live a happy ending. And while her circumstances are understandable as to why she couldn’t achieve it alone, Cinderella seems like she doesn’t really change. And it’s someone else who does everything for her. To her stepfamily they could’ve perceived her differently, but Cinderella’s character doesn’t appear to change. It feels like a bit of a static character situation, maybe even more. I suppose it’s because she’s acting good in spite of her situation. But I can get behind why Cendrillon fitted her but also not, it just leaves the impression that her and her Persona stays the same. Cendrillon could at least look a little different to bring more evidence of growth instead of giving lines. I think that may be just me..?

The whole eating trope is ridiculous for having it be stated all the time. It feels overused, and to have it be stated every time she eats becomes an unnecessarily boring mention. Especially when the thieves have Ryuji, an athlete himself who they should know exercises a lot. It’s like they don’t know what being an athlete even means.

You can avoid a romance with Ann and Haru by choosing choices that aren’t actually responses to love confessions. Example: when Ann says she’s about to cry on Rank 9, you can comfort her platonically by saying she has the others. It’s the same with EVERY female confidant love interest. There’s an implication for a romance, but you can at least avoid it if you want to.

Your point with her father is something I can agree on. But does getting new glasses with her really deserve a confidant rank? And her tie with Maruki feels loose, and from the time she acted as Kasumi, it didn’t feel like her story expanded to how close of a connection she has to him. Maruki is just far more interesting.

We really didn’t get a chance to see how her student status affected her. But at the same it feels too similar to Makoto’s situation as well in a writing standpoint.

Sumire probably didn’t realize the process of losing her sister for almost a year. She did have her cognition be to probably think and act like Kasumi where their processing of grief is different. Perhaps she didn’t feel the impact of what Kasumi might’ve felt and if the roles were reversed and she wasn’t too heartbroken over herself because of her subconscious? She could’ve only just been processing her thoughts fresh as Sumire because she finally gets to truly be herself again. BUT, part of that just doesn’t sit right, because she said it herself that she knew deep down that her sister was dead (one of them had to be) and that pretending was wrong. That basically confirms that she is actually aware of what she has been doing this whole time. She really did want to be Kasumi. This is just my interpretation.

I did not mean about Maruki’s change in reality. I meant to wondering about the amount of time he has had since obtaining his Persona and what he’s done with his powers that had led up to the moment of his Palace.

She stalked Joker out of just sheer curiosity and not about minding his privacy that had nothing to do with her? Especially the important job that could’ve meant anything that was of no matter to her. Sure, it makes sense for her to care, but to just blindly follow and stayed in the Metaverse for who knows how long does explain much to me. I’m not sure if I’ve missed out an a detail or something. And what friends? She’s only behaved courteously with the thieves like what a professional relationship would be for a workplace. Nice but nothing deep behind it. And their relationship remains the same. The blue butterfly in the office is an iffy one. Other students were there and they didn’t see it. It’s like when some of the Velvet Room Attendants had gone through a veil of invisibility to the outside world accept their guests. Like the various locations of the Velvet Room in the real world and the Metaverse. Not even the thieves, or any team from P3/4 see the doors accept the guest. This could’ve went in a similar route. Like with Marie where she found support with all the members of the Investigation Team whereas Sumire only had that from Joker.

I had also meant something different as to why she had no reason to join the thieves’ cause. It’s obvious that she’d join to stop Maruki because she was personally affected by him and wanted to help. But as a writing standpoint, joining to simply help without having the shared standard goal of a group who strive for betterment from injustice, who personally experienced injustice and have it affect their lives deeply as motivation doesn’t work.

That’s what I mean for the most part when I inputted that Sumire gave the vibes of a similar lacklustre character who goes with seeking someone as their main person of attention. Marinette was the only character I could think of that gave even remotely a similarity. The two are portrayed as good characters despite their actions that leaves a lot of room for questioning why that even is.

#persona 5 #p5 protagonist #p5 joker #akira kusuru #ren amiyama #persona 5 royal #persona 5 violet #persona 5 joker #persona 5 protagonist #phantom thieves of hearts #p5r #p5 royal #ramblings #opinions and commentary #inbox response #inbox #p5 violet #sumire yoshizawa #kasumi yoshizawa

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andtheyreonfire · 9 months

Text

ev'ry mem'ry i'll keep - 2

2 - that i could die

ao3 Part 1

Wc - 5481

AN: Happy hug a tiny day! Idk why I'm mentioning this. No one gets hugged in this chapter. Kind of the opposite tbh

Sumire was captured, Amamiya tells Goro, looming over him like the sword of Damocles.

Goro remembers the stadium, the palace, Maruki gazing at them with an expression of pure pity. He grits his teeth, forces himself to stop shaking where he’s cornered in the subway alley. He asks the giant what happened after, how badly they lost.

An ultimatum, Maruki gave them. Spend winter break watching Amamiya’s friends in pure, artificial bliss. Tell him, in a week, how they’d like to see that happiness shatter.

And, of course, Goro's situation. Amamiya recounts Goro going unconscious next to him, some muttered comment from Maruki about “forgetting a wish.” He recounts Maruki disappearing, just as Goro's newfound curse was bestowed upon him. He recounts walking out of Maruki's palace, the tiny form of a serial killer in his hands.

A wish. That was lead to this, hm? Goro having to clutch his ears every time a train enters the station; having to crane his neck back just to see a glimpse of Amamiya's eyes; having to steady himself every time Amamiya moves, because even the slightest shift jostles Goro like an earthquake. Being powerless, completely at the world’s—at Amamiya's mercy. All because of a single, fucking wish.

Amamiya’s voices faces into a dull roar. Goro’s hands ball into fists. If he thinks Goro will sit there and be a good little instrument to their savior complexes, he's dead fucking wrong.

Goro will make sure of that.

Akechi Goro stumbles off Ren’s palm, knees slamming against the wood of his desk.

Ren winces, hand twitching forward him—but, no, he's the reason Akechi flung himself off so quickly, isn’t it? Akechi doesn’t seem to mind the bruises. His tiny arms brace under him, and he blows a microscopic—to Ren, anyways—strand of hair out of his eyes. In one fluid motion, he stands, shuffling back so Ren’s completely in his vision.

Akechi cranes his head back, and Ren schools his face into something resembling indifference. It’s still—a lot, to see Akechi look up at him with visible fear.

Ren hunches down, trying to put himself near Akechi's eye-level. All it succeeds in making the boy jerk back like he’s been burned.

Ren opens his mouth. Nothing slips out. Akechi only looks at him, impossibly tiny eyes narrowed in distrust. Not even a comment about catching flies escapes him. It’s too quiet, without his stream of comments.

Ren sighs. He stands, ignoring the violent flinch Akechi gives at the motion, and walks over to his shelf of nick-nacks. He calls over his shoulder, “What do you want to sleep on?”

A beat passes. Two. Ren looks back towards the desk. When their eyes meet, Akechi calls out, “I don’t care.”

Ren bites his lip. He doesn’t know the right thing to say, or what would stop Akechi from looking at him like Ren’s some kind of predator. And yet, it’s still easier to fil the silence. “In the event this doesn’t wear off, we should probably set something up.”

Akechi's eyes harden. “In the event this doesn’t wear off, sleeping arrangements are the last fucking thing I care about, Joker.”

Ren’s fingers drum against his shelf. “Alright,” he says. “Hang tight for a minute, I'll be right back.”

Ren hears a huff behind him, almost lost to the wind. Akechi's still there when he returns from the bathroom, carrying the fluffiest washcloth LeBlanc owns. It’s just—odd, for Akechi to be stagnant, to do nothing but stare. Ren expected him to be halfway off his desk, sliding down a makeshift rope, by the time he came back.

Akechi only watches him, watches as Ren dumps some bracelet from a shallow box. Watches as he rummages around for a blanket and pads it inside. Watches as he sets it down on the desk, inches away —but what must feel like the length of a room—and folds a makeshift pillow, laying the washcloth flat. For lack of a finisher, Ren gives a pair of jazz hands.

Akechi flinches away from the movement, and jolts like he’s been electrocuted when Ren’s phone—resting on the edge of the desk—vibrates.

“Shit—sorry.” It’s Ryuji, tone weirdly—artificially—fake as he offers Ren an invite to hang out with his track team. Guess Ren’s found a target to try to break through to, but...

“I need to get my friends back,” Ren says. Akechi's gaze snaps up from where he’d been considering the box. “I don’t know if...No, what do you want to do?”

He expects Akechi to put his foot down and take the reins that Ren’s giving him, as he’s always, always done. Akechi only gives a brittle smile, and his voice turns sour. “It’s up to you, is it not? Whatever’s in your best judgement, Joker.”

Ren sits down, not particularly feeling like crouching. His floor’s too hard for him to kneel comfortably on. Maybe it would’ve been easier for Maruki to have shrunk them both. “I want to hear your opinion, too. I'm not the deciding factor in this scenario. We’re still a team.”

“Are we? Are we really?” Akechi backs up further, his steps barely putting a few inches between them. He bares his teeth in a grin. “Excuse me for not seeing the level playing field here, Joker. Or did you forget which one of us is the size of the other’s finger?”

“Just because you’re—“ He gestures at Akechi's reduced scale. The boy’s sneer sharpens into a snarl. Ren can’t find the energy to do more than sigh. “It doesn’t mean your autonomy’s been thrown out the window.”

Ren thinks he can see Akechi's hands fist at his sides—it’s, admittedly, a little hard to tell. Akechi licks his lips. “So, if I wanted to walk out of LeBlanc right now, find my way through the streets of Tokyo on my own, you would let me?”

He winces. “I...don’t know if that would be the best idea—“

Akechi raises a hand, cutting him off with a laugh. “And there you have it. Don’t fucking lie to me next time, Joker. You’re better than that.”

Of all the things to respond to, that’s the easiest. “Why do you keep calling me that?”

Akechi doesn’t answer him, hands moving to untie his scarf. His movements are jerky, at least one eye still trained on Ren. Ren leans back, exhaustion washing over him like a cold shower, and mutters a warning before standing up and leaving for the bathroom to change.

He’s messed up—he knows that. This situation is messed up, but he needs some sleep before he can begin to unravel his thoughts. He’s tired. They both are.

When he comes back, Akechi's already sitting in the makeshift bed, curled into the corner with his back facing the wall. His tiny hands clutch his knees. He flinches, just like he always does, when Ren approaches.

This time, Ren kneels.

“I'm sorry,” he murmurs, “We’ll talk about this more in the morning. I just...” Don’t want to lose you again. “I don’t want to see you hurt.”

Akechi shakes his head. He seems to subconsciously huddle into the fabric, as if shielding himself from the world. Ren’s heart tightens. “What did I tell you about lying to me, Joker?”

His eyes drop to his knees, and that’s the end of that. Ren’s brow crinkles, but he stands, turning off the light and draping the covers over himself. Even with exhaustion clouding his thoughts, he finds it difficult to fall asleep.

For once, the blare of Tokyo is silent, absent of even the sounds of another body. Akechi’s breathing is too tiny for him to hear. Unlike with sleepovers with his friends, he can’t tell if the other party is unconscious. There’s nothing to fill Ren’s ears.

It’s awhile before Ren drifts off, but when as does, he wonders if Akechi’s still capable of dreaming.

Ren pulls himself out of bed to meet a pair of tiny, narrowed eyes, scrutinizing him from his desk.

He blinks. The memories of yesterday flood back to him—trying to get through to Makoto, Akechi finally waking up, watching the boy flinch every time Ren so much as breathed. Akechi didn’t run, which is great, because the thought of him trying to brave Tokyo's foot traffic makes Ren’s stomach churn. Hell, Ren doubts the boy would even end up a smear—

“Are you going to keep staring at me all fucking morning?” Akechi snaps, voice barely reaching Ren’s ears.

Ren reaches for his glasses, if only to prevent Akechi from noticing the next time he spaces out. Although, it’d be...fairer, in a sense, to take his mask off. Akechi never thought of his gaze as intense, right?

He stands up, stretches his back, and caches the perfect glimpse of Akechi flinching away from him, as far back as his make-shift bed would allow. His expression oozes with fear. Ren schools a grimace, and slides his glasses on in one fluid motion.

He crouches next to the desk. Akechi's neck probably hurts from staring up at—god, Ren’s probably the equivalent of a skyscraper to him, isn’t he? He’s so small. Ren hesitates, and Akechi growls, “What?”

Is this real? Ren doesn’t say. Is your reaction? Do you hate me? Ren doesn’t say. I'm sorry. Ren doesn’t say.

Instead, he murmurs, “We need to talk.”

Akechi bears his teeth, like a Pomeranian attempting to be territorial. “About what?”

“A battle plan,” he says, in lieu of something Akechi'd scoff at. “Maruki gave us a week.”

Akechi mutters something under his breath, voice too quiet for Ren to make out anything but a mocking tone. “In case you haven’t noticed, this is a public restaurant. There are people here.”

“I'll deal with them.”

Akechi stares at him. His body is still, but tense, like a bird poised to flight. Ren’s not stupid enough to think he wouldn’t run the second he could.

Akechi was the best at acting, out of all of them. He wonders where his masks have gone, now.

Ren counts the seconds in his head. After 20, Akechi says, “Fine.”

It takes him longer to climb onto his hand, and even longer to slide into the breast pocket of Ren’s shirt.

Ren keeps his steps steady as he descends the stairs, one hand clinging to the rail like a lifeline. He can’t help but watch his feet, wish for the lithe grace of Joker to carry through. He almost runs straight into Morgana, his too-blue, human eyes sparkling. He blinks when their eyes meet.

“Futaba missed you last night,” Morgana purrs. Ren schools a wince. It’s like looking at the mid-way point between a shadow’s human form and transformation. Ren keeps having to slide his eyes off him, wanting to look but struck by a visceral wrongness every time he does.

And yet—this was still his wish. Tall; broad; handsome; with opposable thumbs, and a rich baritone instead of a meow. To stand on eye-level with the rest of the Thieves, to be every bit the human they didn’t care he wasn’t.

He’ll buy Morgana so much fatty tuna once this is over.

But, first— “I think Haru's been missing your presence,” Ren says.

The-thing-that’s-kind-of-Morgana perks up. “Oh?”

“Yeah. You were the first one she knew. I know she’s been spending a lot of time with her dad—“ Ren steps forward to hide the violent flinch from his pocket. “—But she probably misses you, too.”

“Yeah, you’re right! I should hang out with her. Ren, you should—“

“What about a sleepover?” Ren searches for a mask. Joker? No. Wingman? Uh. Helpful, logical friend, who only wants what’s best for his other friends? It’s something. “Winter break’s almost over. Why don’t you take the week to stay at her place?”

“I mean,” Morgana responds, uncharacteristically hesitant, ”I wouldn’t want to impose...”

“I think she liked your help with gardening more than she liked mine.” He yawns, stretches, switches masks as he assesses the former cat before him. “‘Sides, it’s winter break, there's so much time. A guy needs his privacy, y’know?”

“Gross.” Morgana wrinkles his nose, but it seems to do the job. “Alright. I'll talk to her about it. No funny business while I’m gone, lil’ bro, alright?”

Ren stifles another grimace. “Aye, aye.”

Morgana pads out, the door jingling behind him. Soiro, thankfully, is an easier job. All it takes is putting on an apron, a wistful mention of Futaba and her mother, before he’s out the door, his keys in Ren’s hand.

There’s no customers. Ren flicks off the stove, the TV, and the kettle. Subconsciously, his free hand drifts to his pocket, over the tiny, curled form against his chest, moving—

Moving?

Moving. Vibrating, really, against his fingers. It’s a small action, repetitive, existing even as Akechi stays still. It gains in intensity as Ren’s hand stays.

Akechi’s trembling.

Ren snaps his hand away like it’s been burned.

After flipping the sign to ‘closed’, shuttering the blinds, and locking the door, Ren bites his lip. His hand hovers over the pocket. He’d let Akechi climb out on his own—but, with what? It’s faster to bite the bullet. Ren approaches the counter.

“Brace yourself,” he mutters, before plunging in and sliding his fingers around Akechi's form. Akechi goes rigid in his grasp.

Slowly, he sets him down on the counter. He tries to put Akechi’s feet under him, but he stumbles to his knees the second Ren’s hand leaves. Ren winces, hand twitching forward to help him up, but stops when Akechi shoots him a withering glare.

He takes his own seat, adjacent to Akechi, leaving him the long, wooden expanse of nowhere to run.

“I'm not going to hurt you.” Ren exhales through his nose. He’s starting this, if Akechi's unwavering glower is any indicator. “I just want to fix this, please.”

A beat. Two. Akechi's glare burns more intense. Eventually, he grounds out, “Why should I believe you?”

”We’re trapped in this together. You’re the only ally I have right now. I—“ Ren’s brow furrows. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

Akechi scoffs a laugh. “Try again. Why the fuck should I believe you?”

Ren’s fingers clench around his seat. He stuffs his building frustration in the same place he shoves his doubts on the front line, leading a group of high schoolers to the one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. “I want to help you.”

“Of course you do.”

Ren waits for more. Akechi picks at the skin around his nails, his glare never leaving Ren. When his gaze slides towards the near-microscopic digits, they still. Ren feels like he’s having this conversation halfway underwater, “What does that mean?”

Akechi stares at him in disbelief. “Are you really too much of a coward to even admit it?”

Going a million miles at once, and absolutely nowhere. “Goro, please.”

“Don’t fucking—! Maruki granted everyone’s pipe-dreams.” He grounds the words out, as if speaking to a toddler. “He could defy reality, the very laws of nature to do so. Everyone’s dreams, Joker.”

Ren finally picks up the damn cue. His stomach drops.

He rasps, “Are you saying my wish was to shrink you?”

“Don’t deny you wouldn’t like it.” Akechi prowls forward, eyes absolutely livid. His four-inch tall form seems to shake with either anger or fear—no, both. “Me, tiny and helpless in the palm of your hand. You could do anything you wanted. No one’s watching us, correct? No one cares, if you keep me as a pet, or take out the trash, or use me as some kind of—“

“Akechi.” Ren interrupts him, stomach churning. “Do you really think so little of me?”

Akechi looks away, silent. His body trembles as it did in Ren’s pocket.

He takes in the terrified, livid form in front of him, starting to curl in on himself. Before Ren can think twice, he stands up—ignoring Akechi's flinch—and runs up the stairs.

He returns with a tiny, thin piece of metal. One end wicked-sharp, the other dull and smooth. It's about half the length of Ren’s thumb. He was lucky to find it, almost tempted to use a shard of glass before he looked in his forgotten pile of infiltration-tool failures. He holds it out to Akechi, who stares at it with unrestrained suspicion.

“If you ride on my shoulder, under my collar,” Ren blurts out, “You’ll have the perfect access to my vital veins. You’ll be hidden, too.”

Akechi continues to stare.

“If you feel like I'm about to do something to you, take this and kill me before I can get the chance.”

It takes 10 seconds, this time, before Akechi wraps his hands around the makeshift weapon. He scurries back the second he’s done, away from Ren’s hand. He strains to hear Akechi's mutter. “I'd hardly be able to kill you without getting killed, myself.”

Ren forces a grin. “Well, I don’t think Iwai sells tiny guns. You can’t shoot me in the head, again. You’ll have to do it the old-fashioned way.”

Akechi looks away, running his hands over the piece of metal. Ren begins, “Akechi, I don’t know how to convince you that this isn’t my wish. I just want to figure out what’s going on and fix it—But, to do that, I'll need your help. You’re my only ally. You’re smarter than me, your deduction skills are unparalleled, and you know the Metaverse far better than I do. You were a star detective. I need you.”

“My work was largely fabricated,” Akechi points out. He shines a little at the praise, either way.

“The second this is over, we never have to see each other again. I don’t want you to live like this.” Ren hunches down, keeping his distance from Akechi, but contorting his body so he's eye level. “Can you help me?”

Akechi runs his fingers over the point of the weapon. He stares at it, at his hands, at Ren.

His gaze hardens. He holds the weapon at his side, and nods. “Fine. deal.”

Ren bites back a grin, and the inane, instinctual urge to hold out his hand to shake.

Ren had just finished talking with Makoto when Akechi awoke, he tells him. Akechi hesitantly perches on his shoulder as he leaves, Ryuji decided as their next target. Ren removes his scarf so he has room to hide under his collar. He prays Akechi doesn’t decide to stab him on a whim, and sets off.

They do Ann next, then Morgana, then Yusuke.

Morgana takes a little more convincing, both for his memories to shine through, and to convince him to stay at Haru’s for as long as possible. After Yusuke, he treats Goro and him to oden. He bought Goro his own, separate bowl, and offered to help him, so he didn’t have to struggle with picking up his chopsticks. Goro looked sick at the idea. It wasn’t until Ren turned away from him, keeping his eyes trained on his phone, that he heard the boy begin to eat.

Reluctantly, Akechi teaches him how to comb government databases. Ren’s learned a few tricks from Futaba, which means he doesn’t need to go breaking into Akechi’s apartment just to access his computer. The police database is theirs, too. He manages to find Maruki’s past, his research, and his failings. Most of which he already knew, but Akechi’s questions leave Ren with a half-dozen floating around in his own head.

They also discover that, by all accounts, Okumura and Wakaba are completely alive. This and then some is why they save the conversation with their children until the end.

Wakaba is every bit the person Ren imagined her as, and Goro shudders against Ren’s neck every time she speaks. Akechi clams up when their group walks away, remaining silent and stiff for the rest of the night. It hurts, to see Futaba fighting against giving up her own happiness, to have to move on once again. Ren can’t help but feel sympathy for Wakaba’s murderer, having to process the blood re-appearing on his hands.

Today’s target was their last: Haru.

Ren thinks it went well.

Ren’s greatest skill is lying to himself, and it certainly hasn’t failed him yet.

Ren winces as Goro, again, slides off his hand like he’s been burned.

But it’s—progress, in a way, how Goro doesn’t immediately back himself into a corner. It might be their negotiation, or the aftermath of the week they’ve spent together, or a sign that Goro's becoming less terrified.

Goro flinches when Ren sits at his desk, his hands spasming from where they were untying his scarf, and that hope is thrown out the window and right in front the oncoming train that is this situation.

Ren turns away. It feels weird to talk about Haru, but even stranger to deflect and pretend that he didn’t just show a murderer the still-breathing corpse of their victim—Hey, Ryuji isn’t here, someone’s gotta be blunt. For lack of anything to distract himself, Ren drums his fingers against the wood of his desk.

He realizes his mistake when he looks back to see Goro frozen, watching Ren’s fingers—inches away from him—like they’re made of the same dynamite in a Showtime attack.

Ren pauses. “Sorry. I—forgot you’re still getting used to things.”

Goro’s face settles into a sneer. “Oh, forgive me for not using the adjustment period that you’ve so graciously blessed me with.”

Ren blinks. Okay—he deserves that. He leans in, only to freeze when Goro backs up a few steps. Ren sighs, and asks, voice low, “What can I do to make things easier?”

Goro’s hands tighten from where they’re wrapped around his sides. “Stay at least 50 yards away from me—you’re awfully good at distance, aren’t you, Joker?”

Ren takes a breath. Don’t rise to his bullshit—it’d be a distraction, at least, to ask him what the hell he meant by that, but no shut up—and keep calm. Ren wills his voice to stay level. “I'm sorry, you’re stuck with me until we fix this. Is there anything I can do to make you more comfortable, at least?”

Goro snarls up at him, “For as self-centered as you are, I would’ve thought you’d take the goddamn bait.”

Ren’s fists clench in his lap. “What bait?”

Goro throws his arms up. If he were normal-sized, the action might’ve been wild enough to clock Ren in the face. Ren can see the slightest tremble in his hands. “No, you know what? Use your fucking brain, Joker. Stop lying to me.”

Ren sighs, taking the silence Goro offers him as the smaller boy picks at his nails. He’s tired—something about the artificial sunlight, about seeing his friends so happy, of facing a terrified face every time he checks his shoulder is getting to him—

And that’s it, isn’t it? This isn’t about their day, or Okumura, or even Maruki. Goro spat out the word bait like it was—

Personal.

Ren looks at Goro, at a frame barely the size of his finger, and shoves away his frustration to murmur, “I'm not going to take advantage of this, Akechi.”

Goro cranes his head higher, fists clenching at his sides. He seems to grasp at whatever regal composure remains. “Do you honestly expect me to believe that?”

“Akechi—“

“No, tell me exactly what’s stopping you.” His eyes are burning, body tensed, taut like a drawn bow. It’s painfully easy to imagine how he would snap the second Ren tries to approach. “I don’t want to play this game anymore, Joker. Stop lying to me.”

Ren stays still, makes his voice level, keeps his hands secured in his lap. “I'm not lying to you. I'm benefitting from this as much as you are.”

“Bullshit!” Goro snarls, stumbling back a few steps. There’s the black mask, the traces of Loki hovering behind him. “You know what this is, don’t you? Don’t say things like that with a straight fucking face! You know how this world works as much as I. Tell me—“

Goro unsheathes his weapon, pointing the tiny piece of metal at Ren. The fire in his eyes is on full display, the heat of a distant supernova. He growls more than speaks, “Tell me what you fucking want from me!”

He doesn’t even fill a fraction of Ren’s desk.

“I want you to co-operate with me.” Ren steels his voice. Maybe that’ll make things easier, for one of them. He’s so tired. “I've said this already. I want to fix things, with you. I don’t want to see you—I don’t know, dead in a ditch somewhere.”

“Why me?” His teeth are still bared, as if they were even capable of breaking flesh. With how violently his makeshift weapon shakes in his grip, he doesn’t think that would fare any better. “After all the things I've done to you, why the hell would you waste a single tear over my well-being?”

“Because I don’t want you to go through that,” Ren pleads.

“Aren’t you a harbinger of justice?” He’s grasping at straws, even if he doesn’t realize it. The best actor out of all of them, but hardly the most composed. “Believer in a grand world where everyone gets their just desserts? You’re a noble Phantom thief, a hero. I—I don’t see how you could possibly ignore the monster before y—“

Ren closes his eyes, bites the bullet, and cuts Goro off with a soft, “I wanted to kill Kamoshida.”

Goro makes a strangled noise in the back of his throat, the disposal of whatever he was going to say. Ren creaks an eye open to see him staring back with tiny, wide eyes. He doesn’t open his mouth, so Ren continues, “He was a piece of shit. He hurt Ryuji, Ann, Shiho. We found Morgana trapped in the dungeon of his palace. He made people’s lives a living hell.”

Ren smiles, an echo of the mask he wore when he awoken Arsène. He mutters, staring at nothing, “I wanted to kill him.

“But it wasn’t my choice to make, so we changed his heart. Now, thanks to us, he’ll suffer for the rest of his life under the weight of his guilt. Every day he’ll wake up in agony and every night his deeds will haunt him until he falls asleep. Heroic, isn’t it?”

Goro doesn’t interject, so Ren continues. “You never asked me if I cared. You asked if I thought we were just, and I said yes. You never defined your terms.”

Ren takes a breath. Something wiggles past the depths of his heart, slips past his lips. “I never said I didn’t want our targets to suffer.”

A beat passes. Two. Goro asks, voice barely drifting to Ren’s ears, “How does that make you any better than me, in your eyes?”

Ren shakes his head. “It doesn’t.” A brittle smiles splits his lips. “There was just—nothing stopping you, from pulling the trigger. I got lucky.”

“...And why didn’t you? Pull it, I mean.” Goro shifts, interest replacing the heat in his eyes. If he wasn’t so obviously apprehensive, he might’ve taken a step closer. “When it came down to it, why didn’t you finish the job? Kamoshida was yours.”

“It wasn’t my choice to make.”

Ren slides off his chair and shifts into a crouch, back against his desk and head resting on the surface. He looks straight up at his ceiling, deciding to ignore Goro's presence beside him. He can’t see Goro's tiny, fearful eyes like this. It's an adequate bonus.

Ren continues, “Ann was the deciding factor, but everyone was on board with just changing his heart. I’m their leader, not their dictator. You’re the first person I've met who wanted—planned for the person who wronged you to die.”

Ren can hear the mirth in Akechi's voice, even with how quiet it is. “You’ve met him. I don’t think I was entirely in the wrong.”

“No,” Ren whispers. “You weren’t.”

It’s painfully calm, in Maruki's reality. Any other time, the streets would be filled with the blaring of horns, with shouting, with the rush and chaos of Tokyo nighttime. There’s nothing to fill the air between them but the hum of Ren’s heater. It’s far from enough to drown out Ren’s thoughts.

When Goro speaks, his voice is closer, as if he decided to take a few steps forward to the boy twenty times his size. “So, underneath that honest, pure-hearted exterior, you’re just as rotten as me. Is that right?”

“Did you expect me to be better?” Ren asks.

Goro huffs a mirthless laugh. He shuffles, and a flash of tan appears at the corner of Ren’s vision. “I guess not. So, then, do you think I deserve to suffer as much as the people I've wronged?”

Ren closes his eyes. Honesty’s worked so far, so he snaps the bullet between his teeth. “In my opinion, you deserve to suffer far more. More than I could give you, whether you were willing or not.”

There’s the faint, small sound of shoes against wood. Ren allows Goro a second to catch his balance, before he asks, “Were you willing, Akechi?”

Goro's voice is steel. He’s lived with his crimes longer than Ren’s even been aware of them. He knows his answer. “I was.”

“And there you have it.” Ren opens his eyes, but keeps them trained on the ceiling. “Whatever your circumstance, it doesn’t change what you’ve done.”

Even after everything, the air is, somehow, more bearable. Ren resists the urge to jolt when Goro walks completely into his line of vision. He asks, a tiny eyebrow raised, “So, why aren’t we having a conversation with me in a jar? Why aren’t I a smear on the pavement, if my just desserts are long overdue?”

“Because, that’s...that’s not for me to decide. That’s Haru's decision, and Futaba's, and yours’.” Ren gives a strained smile. “We only ever responded to explicit requests, y’know.”

Hesitantly, Goro steps forward. “Even so, there’s...no one here but us. No one’s been present to stop you since I shrunk.”

“You’re right.”

When Ren doesn’t continue, Goro huffs a laugh. “So?”

Ren takes a breath. Slowly, he swings his gaze over to Akechi. The boys stands—more than close enough to touch. It’s...

It’s the face of when Goro was recognized on their first meeting. It’s the face of Futaba as she stares into a crowd, of Ryuji after their confrontation with the track team, of Haru every time she recalled how her company’s treated her. It’s the face of a kid—of a boy that didn’t deserve anything that happened to him—staring into the darkness of their closet and trying to be brave.

“You killed dozens. You hurt countless individuals. You hurt my friends, but...” Ren’s eyes crinkle. “You were my friend, too. If things had been different, you could’ve been one of us. The game was rigged from the start.”

Goro's hands flex at his sides, minuscule skin twitching. Eventually, he rasps, “I tried to kill you, too.”

Ren can feel the bags under his eyes deepen. He tilts his head up towards the ceiling. “Yeah. You did. So listen to me when I say I don’t want to see you hurt, alright?”

Ren knows he is fucked up. He can’t put a name to all the complexes he’s seen this year, but he knows one of them is dampening his feelings towards Goro. Ren’s tired, he’s a dead man walking, but the idea of doing anything to the tiny, fragile form of the boy who killed him sends nausea shooting up his throat.

Goro gives something that could be a nod—it’s hard to tell, with him still barely in the corner of his vision. Ren doesn’t hear him move until a head of chestnut-brown hair appears next to him, and a tiny, warm weight rests against his temple.

Is he—sitting against Ren? He doesn’t dare shift to check, not when Goro's slowly relaxing against him, not when it’s the closest he’s willingly, freely been since he woke up in Ren’s palms.

They sit there, while Ren tries to get his heart rate back under control. Goro murmurs, the sound almost at normal-sized volume with how close he is. “Nothing about this is fair.”

“‘Course not,” Ren breathes, “What better pawns to play the game than us, huh?”

Goro snorts. He’s fully relaxed against the side of Ren’s head. After a beat, he asks, “You said you wanted to know what you could do to, ah, accommodate me, Amamiya?”

Ren whispers, “Yeah?”

“I—“ He struggles to imagine Goro's face crumpling, of him losing his composure. After a moment, that tiny voice gains its steel. Ren lets the ghost of a smile split his face. “If you truly don’t want to hurt me, there are a few things you could keep in mind...”

#g/t #giant/tiny #g/t writing #g/t fanfiction #persona 5 g/t #p5 g/t #gtjuly2023 #g/t july 2023 #this was supposed to be for day 14 bc i was gonna have a line about goro refusing to be an instrument for ren's savior complex #and i completely forgot to put said line in there #if i feel like it i might add it in but i really don't so y'know #my writing #edit: i added the line. yippee

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