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Ren sat huddled on his bed in the corner of the room, hugging his knees. The room was silent and the only source of light was the moon shining through the window.
Morgana left a couple of hours ago saying he had to talk to Futaba about something. Ren never realised how comforting the sound of Morgana lightly purring was, but he missed it.
His entire body ached. His body was covered in large painful purple bruises. It hurt whenever he took too large a breath.
What time was it?
He gently leaned over to grab his phone, his ribs throbbed throughout the entire movement. His fingers wrapped around the cold screen of the phone and pulled it towards him.
1:35AM.
He sighed, then winced at the immense pain radiating through his chest. He caught his reflection in the phone screen as it grew darker. He could still see the large cut on his lip and the bright blue bruise on his cheek. He could also see deep bags under his eyes. When was the last time he had actually got some proper sleep?
It had been a week since that horrific night, but it still constantly haunted him, especially when he managed to fall asleep for a few minutes.
He could still picture the sadistic look in the officers' eyes, he could still feel the cold metal binding his wrists, he could still feel the dull fogginess in his head, he could still feel the needle piercing into his neck.
As all of those memories flooded into his brain yet again, he cringed fearfully. He gasped as tears pricked his eyes and quickly began to stream down his cheeks. He quickly flung himself back into the corner, burying his head into his knees and clamped his hands over his head as he began to sob and tremble uncontrollably.
"Ren?" A voice called out, making their way up the stairs.
Ren instinctively flinched. He had difficulty breathing and it felt like every nerve in his body was screaming.
He cautiously lifted his head to see who his visitor was. He was greeted by the sight of Sojiro, awkwardly stood at the top of stairs with a concerned look on his face. Ren quickly and desperately tried to make himself appear as his normal self.
"What's up?" He croaked out, despite clearing his throat. He wished he was wearing his glasses, they would probably help to hide his tear stained eyes. Sojiro sighed quietly as he began approaching the bed where the raven haired boy was sat.
"I feel like I should probably be asking you that... But, since you asked, I accidentally left my phone in the cafe, and felt a little worried after noticing you left the door unlocked, so I just wanted to check up on you." The adult explained softly, making sure not to raise his voice and startle the poor boy. Ren grimaced slightly.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to leave the door unlocked, I just forgot..." He muttered, trying to mask his panic. Sojiro sighed again and crossed his arms.
"The door isn't the problem... It's you I'm worried about... Are you okay?" He asked gently, furrowing his eyebrows together. Ren was caught off guard by that reply. He turned away slightly, looking anywhere but at Sojiro.
"I'm fine." He lied quickly, fidgeting with his fingers. He stared down at the sheets of his bed, desperate to avoid Sojiro's gaze, which he felt burning into him.
Sojiro didn't say anything, he frowned worriedly at the broken boy sat in front of him. He looked around the room. The room had been completely blank at the beginning of the year, aside from multiple piles of junk. Now, however, there were all sorts of ornaments decorating the room.
The shelf was full of weird and wonderful gifts Ren had received from his many friends.
The wall was proudly displaying the Phantom Thieves flag. While Sojiro was apprehensive at first, he had grown accustomed to the idea of it, and at this point he was proud of the kids for sticking up for themselves and fighting for what they thought was right.
On the desk rested the laptop that Ren and Futaba had spent an entire day fixing. He smiled softly to himself as he remembered routinely bringing snacks and drinks up to them and finding them intensely focused on their task, surrounded by mechanical bits and pieces and wearing determined pouts on their faces.
Next to the laptop were multiple framed photos. Ren had printed and framed some of his favourites from his phone.
One of Haru, Makoto and him tending to flowers together,
One of Ren, Ryuji, their blue haired friend who, if Sojiro remembered correctly, was called Mishima and that small kid Ren had befriended at the arcade playing games together,
One of Ren, Yusuke and that famous teenage Shogi player pulling over dramatic poses,
One of Ren seemingly playing third wheel to Ann and her sweet little black haired girlfriend on a crepe date,
And Sojiro's personal favourite: One of Ren and Futaba pulling silly faces while Morgana sat on Ren's head and sticking his tongue out.
However, Sojiro noticed that one of the photos had been placed face down. It took awhile for him to realise which one it was.
The one of Ren and Akechi playing chess while drinking coffee together.
Sojiro frowned again. He knew that Ren genuinely thought of Akechi as a friend, and hoped that Akechi felt the same way about Ren at some point. But Sojiro understood why Ren didn't want to look at it.
Ren hadn't been acting like himself at all lately. He hadn't been eating properly, he clearly hadn't been sleeping well, he didn't really include himself in the group's conversation and he just seemed plain miserable.
Sojiro stayed silent as he made his way over to Ren's bed and carefully perched himself on the edge, next to Ren.
He reached over to pat Ren's shoulder but quickly pulled his hand away when he noticed Ren flinch away from him. He moved his hand towards Ren's shoulder again, just slower this time.
Ren didn't flinch or move away, so Sojiro gently placed his hand on the boy's shoulder and softly patted it.
"Look, Ren, we both know that you're not fine... You don't need to hide it, it's normal to feel scared and nervous after a traumatic event. I know that I could never understand what happened to you, but I can at least listen to anything you want to say and help you in my own, clumsy ways..." He explained in soothing voice, softly patting and stroking the quiet teenager's back in an attempt to comfort him. Ren giggled nervously to himself.
Noticing that he had managed to get through to him a little bit, Sojiro carried on. "Y'know, it's not healthy to keep feelings like this to yourself, it's a lot better to let it out... So, just let it all out, you don't have to talk to me about it if you don't want to, just let out everything you're holding in, okay?"
Ren froze for a few seconds and looked off into the space in front, clearly lost in thought. He scowled uneasily to himself before letting out a single sob.
That was all it took for the barrier to break and the rest of the feelings Ren had been holding back for a week came rushing out.
Fear.
Pain.
Betrayal.
Loneliness.
Anger.
Bitterness.
All of it.
The tears flooded from his eyes as he wailed like a lonely, lost child with the occasional hiccup.
Sojiro tenderly pulled Ren into a hug, wrapping his arms around the boy's trembling body and comfortingly patting him on the back as he sobbed into his chest.
Ren's sobbing continued for a long five minutes before he calmed down and seemed to have tired himself out. Despite his body being exhausted, he still clung to Sojiro's sleeve, just like a small child.
Sojiro chuckled quietly to himself as he noticed Ren's eyelids drooping. He softly loosened his grip on the boy and gently laid him down on the bed, carefully placing his head onto the pillow and pulled the duvet over him.
"Well, looks like you should get some sleep now, we'll talk about it tomorrow over some curry, okay?" He asked softly, ruffling Ren's fluffy hair soothingly.
The slowly dozing off boy hummed quietly in agreement.
"I'm always here for you, okay? I'll always help you when you need it." Sojiro informed him as he slowly stood up.
"Thanks, Dad..." Ren muttered sleepily as he finally dozed off.
Sojiro's eyes widened in surprise before watering up slightly. He quickly lifted his glasses and wiped his eyes, before whispering fondly in response.
"It's fine. Goodnight, son"