Work Text:
The sky glowed an overwhelmingly bright orange as the ship burst into flames and a loud bang echoed throughout the entire area. The thieves stared up at the empty area their teammate was hanging with horrified eyes as an unbearable wave of heat permeated through the air.
"No way... It can't be... C'mon, What the hell, Ryuji?" Ann murmured in disbelief, clinging desperately to the side of the lifeboat.
"RYUJI!!!" She screamed hysterically, hoping that Ryuji could somehow hear her.
'Oh god no... please no... no no no no no...' Ren's head was swimming as he squeezed his eyes shut.
He had no idea how to process what had just happened.
He was just desperately praying that it was some sort of nightmare.
He would wake up in a little while and everything would be back to normal.
He would be on the school rooftop with the rest of the group and Ryuji would laughing at him for falling asleep during lunch.
Everything's fine. It had to be, right? Everything's fine.
Of course, it's fine. It's fine. It's fine. It's fine. Fine.
Fine.
When Ren opened his eyes, he was back in the real world, outside the diet building. He scanned his eyes across everyone who was stood with him.
Morgana. Ann. Yusuke. Makoto. Futaba. Haru.
No Ryuji.
Where was Ryuji?
Where the hell was Ryuji?!
The raven haired boy's heart began to rapidly as his chest and throat burned and an acidic taste flooded his mouth. Panic swept through his entire body as he desperately looked around the entire area for the slightest glimpse of his best friend.
"We're back..." Ann gasped out tiredly before flinching and twirling round.
"Ryuji?!" She screamed, causing the rest of the group to search for the blond.
"He didn't... make it out..." Haru muttered dejectedly.
"We gotta go back!" Futaba yelled with a determined frown.
"That's impossible..." Morgana sadly informed her.
"Ha... Haha... This isn't funny at all..." Yusuke let out a broken chuckle.
"He was our fastest runner too...!" Ann choked, staring down at the ground in disbelief. Yusuke watched her until he noticed something on the ground near his feet.
"So, this is the Treasure..." He remarked quietly, as he picked it up.
"It's a legislator's pin." Makoto informed the group with a disappointed expression.
Everyone looked down at the floor with dejected spirits as Futaba began to sob. Ann quickly joined her, hiding her face behind her hands as tears streamed down her cheeks. Ren bit his lip as he felt a lump in his throat and his vision began to blur.
"Maaaaaan, that was close..." An all too familiar voice groaned as the sound of footsteps approached the group. Everyone flinched at the voice and quickly turned in the direction it came from, as a certain blond walked into the centre of the thieves.
"For real though, why do Palaces gotta explode so much? Can't they disappear normally?" Ryuji huffed, shaking his head. It took him a few seconds to notice that everyone else was staring at him in shock.
"...What?" He awkwardly asked as everyone ran towards him and surrounded him.
"Didn't you... die?" Haru asked worriedly.
"What?!" Ryuji yelped in surprise. He pouted thoughtfully before explaining what had happened to him.
"I got blasted out from the explosion... When I woke up, I was lyin' on the grass... I mean, ain't I alive?" He mumbled in confusion as he glanced around at the others, stopping when he noticed Ann's puffy red eyes.
"What's this? Your cryin' face is so not cute." He joked lightly, crossing his arms. His joke didn't work. It just irritated all of the girls.
"It's your damn fault!" The pigtailed girl snapped as she stepped forward and slapped Ryuji across the face.
"What'd I do?!" Ryuji shrieked as he collided into a lamp post.
"We were worried about you!" Haru choked out in a distressed tone, grimacing at the blond.
"You troublemaker!" Futaba growled, standing on her tiptoes in an attempt to intimidate Ryuji.
"Wait, what's this about...?" Ryuji asked, completely unclear as to why the girls were so angry at him. The girls didn't say anything, they just glared at Ryuji with seething rage.
"H-Hold on... Okay? C'mon, I-I... almost... k-kinda died...!" Ryuji begged as he flailed his arms around in front of him in a panic. The girls continued to slowly walk towards.
"U-Uh, guys...? C'mon, don't do this... It... It's been a long night, so w-why don't we just head back? Ryuji's here, and he's fine, so, shouldn't we be celebrating instead?" Ren awkwardly spoke up, desperately trying to calm the girls down.
They froze as they considered Ren's suggestion before sighing and stepping away from bruised blond.
"You're right... We've been through a lot tonight and we're all on edge..." Makoto huffed stressfully. Ryuji slid his back down the lamppost until he was sat on the ground with a sigh of relief.
"What do you say we have a small celebration dinner?" Yusuke proposed with a small smile.
"I suppose we could quickly stop by somewhere before heading home." Haru commented gently, her anger completely dissipated.
"Then, I want sauteed foie gras!" Futaba cheered with a grin.
"We're in reality right now, you know?" Makoto chuckled, shaking her head slightly.
"Do you really think we could afford that?" Morgana asked as the group began to walk off. Ren stayed behind, glancing back at Ryuji worriedly.
"Ren, you coming?" Ann called out as Morgana leapt onto her shoulder.
"I'm not that hungry... I'll catch up with you." Ren quietly replied, shoving his hands into his pockets.
"Alright... See ya later." Futaba answered nonchalantly, skipping next to Haru.
Ren watched them until they had walked around the corner and he could no longer hear their chattering. He looked back at Ryuji who was groaning quietly to himself as he stayed sat on the ground next to the lamppost and began to walk towards him. Ryuji glanced up at Ren as his shadow blocked out the light from the lamppost.
Before he had a chance to say anything, Ren smacked him across the face, causing his cheek to sting and turn a bright red.
"Ow! What the hell was tha-" Ryuji was cut off by Ren flinging his arms around him and carefully straddling his lap.
The blond didn't know how to react until he noticed Ren's trembling shoulders. He couldn't see Ren's face but he realised what was happening when he felt something wet on his shoulder.
"Don't scare me like that, you asshole..." Ren muttered with a shaky voice, clinging to Ryuji even tighter.
Ryuji was frozen by guilt after hearing the fear in Ren's voice. He grimaced as he slid his own arms around Ren's waist.
"I'm sorry, man..." He apologised softly as he patted Ren's back.
"You better be..." Ren retorted with a huff. Ryuji couldn't help but snicker quietly.
"We should prolly get going, people'll get suspicious if they see us around here after that huge calling card, right?" The blond stated as he carefully pushed Ren off his lap.
Ren just nodded with a sniffle as he lifted his glasses and rubbed his eyes. The boys awkwardly pushed themselves back onto their feet and dusted themselves off.
"So, uh, guess we should head home now, huh?" Ryuji mumbled, scratching the back of his head.
"I'm gonna walk you home, make sure you get there safely." Ren told Ryuji bluntly.
"No, you really don't hafta to do that, dude." Ryuji protested, surprised by Ren's statement.
"Too bad. I thought you died, so I'm making sure you're safe." Ren refuted with a straight face, but Ryuji could see a slight hint of worry in his eyes.
"Fiiine, if you wanna, go ahead..." Ryuji sighed as he began walking towards the train station. He was actually pretty flattered that Ren wanted to do that, especially since everyone else had left already. He smirked bashfully to himself as the duo made their way to their required platform.
After a short train ride, the boys wandered through the dark streets until they reached Ryuji's apartment building. Ren stood timidly at the bottom of the stairs as Ryuji walked along to his apartment door.
"Thanks for walking me back, Ren!" Ryuji called down to him with a big grin on his face.
Ren just flashed a quick smile and adjusted his hoodie so it hid his face. He was technically still dead, after all. The raven haired boy waited and watched until Ryuji had gone inside before slowly walking back down the street, towards the train station. He pulled out his phone to check the time only to discover that the battery was dead. He huffed dejectedly as he shivered, shoving his hands deeper into his pockets.
"Ren!" A voice suddenly called out, causing Ren to flinch and turn around. Ryuji had exited his apartment and was waving at the glasses wearing boy. Ren tilted his head, unsure of what Ryuji was doing.
"Mum just said that the trains have stopped runnin' for the night. She said you should come in and stay the night." The blond called out, gesturing for Ren to come up to his apartment.
"U-Uh, no, it's fine, I'll just walk home." Ren awkwardly declined with a wave of his hand.
"Yeahhh, we're not taking no for an answer. Get your ass up here." Ryuji persisted.
Ren sighed, trying his best to hide his smirk as he wandered back to the building and up the stairs. The punkish boy grinned as he slid his arm around his best friend's shoulders and dragged him through the front door. Ren sighed contentedly as a wave of warmth enveloped his frozen body.
"Come on in, boys. There's some dinner here to warm you up." Ryuji's mother called to them from kitchen.
"Thanks, mum!" Ryuji answered, leaning on the wall as he waited for Ren to take his shoes off.
"Thank you very much, Ms. Sakamoto." Ren stiffly responded, unsure of how to act. He'd never been to Ryuji's house before, after all.
"I've told you before, no need to be so formal, just call me Tsubaki. Besides, I doubt you've heard Ryuji be that formal to anyone." Tsubaki chuckled lightly.
"Hey! The hell's that supposed to mean?!" Ryuji protested childishly.
"Point proven." Tsubaki replied with a cheeky grin and sarcastic hand gesture as she sat down at the table. The two boys followed suite, Ren giggling quietly and Ryuji pouting. Ren hummed in excitement as the sight of a hot bowl of ramen. He placed his hands onto the bowl to warm them up.
"Go ahead, dig in." Tsubaki offered, picking up her own chopsticks.
"Sure thing!" Ryuji cheered, instantly dipping his chopsticks into the bowl.
"Thanks." Ren responded, still feeling a little awkward as he copied Ryuji's actions. Tsubaki smiled softly as she watched the boys happily munching on their food.
"So, um, I've got something I wanna talk to you two about." She spoke up, taking a bite out of a piece of pork.
"Yeah?" Ryuji asked with a mouthful of noodles.
"Yeah. Did you two see that calling card video for Shido earlier tonight? It was pretty crazy, right?" She commented casually, taking a sip of the broth. The boys shared an anxious glance with each other.
"Yeah, it was pretty insane hearing that the leader is still alive. I mean, why would the police lie about him committing suicide?" Ren lied, suppressing his memories of the interrogation.
"Yes, it is very strange, but that's not the main thing that peaked my curiosity..." Tsubaki dismissed him gently before staring at the two teenagers with serious eyes.
"I recognised the voice of the thief with the skull mask... And I'd recognise the leader's fluffy hair anywhere... I'll be blunt: You two are Phantom Thieves, aren't you?" She interrogated them, resting her chin on her hands.
Ren froze.
Ryuji choked.
They both looked at each other with worried expression.
"U-Uh..." Ren mumbled, trying his best to hide his panic.
"T-That's... Um..." Ryuji stuttered, glancing over at Ren. Tsubaki watched both of them carefully before sighing quietly.
"I don't mind and I'm not going to report you. I'm actually very proud of you for being brave enough to fight for what you believe in. But, you have to promise me that you're not doing anything too dangerous and getting yourselves injured... Okay?" She told them in a stern but caring voice.
Ren stared at her in surprise. He didn't expect her to be so understanding. Ryuji was just as shocked.
"W-Wait, so, you- you're cool with it?!" He exclaimed, jumping up from his seat.
"Quiet down, sweetheart. I told you, I'm fine with it. Do you know just how proud I am of you? You've brought that bastard who broke your leg to justice! You took down a mafia boss...! What you've done is amazing, and I'm so proud of you." Tsubaki reassured them soothingly.
Ren unconsciously let out a shaky breath he didn't realise he was holding in.
"Th-That's awesome to hear, mum! We've kinda been through a lot, so uh, it's great that we've got another ally!" Ryuji cheered as he hugged his mother.
"It's okay, sweetie. Now, I want to know everything that happened. Tell me everything about the Phantom Thieves, your targets, how you did it, the other members, everything. Oh! But, make sure you remember to eat your ramen before it gets cold." Tsubaki commanded them with playful smirk as the three of them dug into their meals.
The two thieves explained everything to the woman: How the Phantom Thieves were formed, how they changed the hearts, how every member joined, how the escaped Shido's plan, every last detail.
Tsubaki was appalled by the story about the interrogation room and instantly noticed how Ren clammed up during that conversation. After she comforted the fluffy haired boy and scolded both boys for taking such huge risks, she let the two of them go to Ryuji's bedroom.
"You okay, man?" Ryuji asked as he shut the door behind him.
"Yeah, I was, uh, just caught off guard, that's all." Ren murmured quietly, sitting politely on the floor.
"You can sit on the bed if you want, you know that, right?" Ryuji chuckled, raising an eyebrow as he sat down on his bed.
"Yeah, yeah, sure. Hey, um, can I borrow your charger? My phone's dead." Ren asked, pulling his phone out of his pocket.
"Sure thing, go ahead." The blond replied and threw his charger over to the glasses wearing boy.
"Thanks." Ren answered as he plugged the charger into his phone. Yawning tiredly, he pushed the power button and waited for the phone to turn on. It had been a couple of hours since everyone had split up, so he probably had at least a few messages.
"Whoa...!" He gasped as he stared at his now turned on phone.
"What's up?" Ryuji asked, looking up from his manga. Ren just showed him his phone screen, which displayed:
[45 Unread Messages, 5 Missed Calls]
"Holy shit! It's only been, like, two hours?! How?!" Ryuji yelled, throwing his manga to the side. As Ren was about to respond, his phone began to ring, causing both boys to flinch at the sudden sound.
[Incoming Call From Futaba]
Ren quickly pressed 'accept' and lifted it to his ear.
"Hel-"
"Ren! Oh thank god, you finally answered!" Futaba gasped.
Ren frowned worriedly. Futaba was speaking much faster than usual and she sounded like she was crying.
"Futaba, what's wrong? Is everything okay?" He asked anxiously.
"Sojiro's gone!" She shouted. Ren's eyes widened and his mind went blank.
"...What?"
"I got home, and I went to Leblanc 'cause, y'know, I thought I'd wait for you with Morgana, and I got there and everything's messed up, all the chairs are all over the place, there's paper everywhere, and- and Sojiro isn't anywhere! I've been looking everywhere and calling for him and he won't answer! Ren, I don't know what to do, what am I supposed to do?! Please tell me what to do!" Futaba stammered, almost talking too fast for Ren to understand.
Ryuji watched him worriedly as Ren desperately tried to think of a way to calm his panicked sister figure.
"U-Uh, okay, Um, just, uh, take deep breaths and try and clear your head. Morgana, help her calm down." He instructed them, feigning composure.
Ren could faintly hear Morgana soothing Futaba in the background as the headphone wearing girl took slow, deep breaths. "It's alright, Futaba. I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation. Just breathe. It's okay."
Ren bit his lip and anxiously tapped his foot against the floor. What the hell was going on? Where was Sojiro? Did Shido go after him?! He could feel his heart pounding uncomfortably against his ribcage.
As he desperately tried to think of a solution, he swore he heard the sound of a bell through the phone's speaker.
"Sojiro!" He heard Futaba yelp.
"I-Is Sojiro back?!" He asked her urgently. Ryuji leaned forward, staring at Ren with a serious frown on his face.
"Y-Yeah! He's here! He's home!" Futaba gasped out in relief. Ren could tell that she had started crying again.
"Hey, what's with the tears?" Ren could just about hear Sojiro talking.
"You're the same as Ryuji!" Futaba shrieked indignantly.
"Hey!" Ryuji pouted in protest, while Ren could just make out Sojiro saying,
"...What?"
"Put me on speakerphone!" Ren demanded, his voice cracking slightly. Futaba complied and Ren could hear Sojiro perfectly. A wave of relief coursed through his body.
"Shido's goons barged in and took me someplace. I was blindfolded, so I've no idea where they took me exactly... They let me go a little while ago. I'm guessing that was thanks to you guys." Sojiro explained with a small chuckle. Ren felt a lump in his throat as he heard Sojiro's voice.
"Are you okay?" Ren asked him worriedly.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Hey, Ren, where are you?" Sojiro responded softly.
"I'm at Ryuji's. I walked him home and the trains had stopped for the night, so I'm staying here and coming back to Leblanc tomorrow." Ren informed his guardian.
"Alright, I'll see you later then. For now, though... Futaba and I have gotta clean up the shop, since those bastards wrecked the place..." Sojiro sighed.
"Fiiiiiiiine... See you tomorrow, Ren!" Futaba replied, much more cheerful than she was earlier.
"Yeah, see you guys tomorrow morning. Bye." Ren answered and then hung up, placing his phone carefully down on the table.
"Oh, thank god..." Ren gasped shakily, burying his head into his hands.
"Dude, you okay?" Ryuji asked him urgently, rushing over to Ren's side and wrapping his arm around the raven haired boy's shoulders.
"I-I'm just so glad he's okay... So much shit h-has happened and I'm not s-sure how much more I-I can take..." Ren admitted through the streams of tears falling from his eyes.
"You wanna talk about it?" Ryuji asked with a whisper as he rubbed Ren's shoulder soothingly. The black haired boy hiccuped quietly as he continued anxiously sobbing.
"I-It's just... Y'know... Everything..." Ren muttered with a vague hand gesture.
"Is there... Anything in particular...?" Ryuji persisted, trying his best to get Ren to open up.
Sure, Ren was his best friend and he loved basically everything about him, but he hated how he kept all of his problems to himself. So, if helping him meant that he had to coax those problems out of him... That's what he was gonna do.
"I-I guess it started after th-that damn night in the interrogation room... I haven't... really had a good night's sleep since then..." The glasses wearing boy eventually admitted, avoiding eye contact.
"Yeah... I get that... I mean, that's why we suggested that you should go to therapy..." Ryuji replied softly.
"How the hell is a guy who is supposed to be dead, supposed to go to therapy?" Ren snapped bitterly.
Ryuji flinched, worried that he caused Ren to shut himself off even more.
"Yeah, that makes sense... But, just think, as soon as Shido confesses to everything, you are 'alive' again, then you can get help. How's that sound?" Ryuji suggested, attempting to lighten Ren's mood.
"I suppose you're right..." Ren mumbled, staring down at the floor.
"Damn right, I am! So... Uh, is there anything else you need to talk about...?" Ryuji continued, trying to squeeze as many problems out of the withdrawn boy as he could.
Ren's eyes flitted about all over the room as he considered whether he wanted to talk or stay quiet.
"I mean... Akechi... Just... He was right there, in front of me... A-And... And I couldn't do a damn thing to save him... I was just... stuck there... staring at that damn partition wall..." He opened up, slowly but surely. Tears flowed down his cheeks as those words left his mouth. Ryuji frowned and pulled Ren against his chest, ruffling his hair gently.
"Ren... I know exactly how you feel. I mean, all of us felt exactly the same way." The blond told him in a mellow tone.
"Really? How do you know? You almost did the exact same thing. Do you have any idea how damn terrified I was when you got caught in that explosion?!" Ren grunted fiercely, shoving himself away from his best friend as hot tears continued to stream down his face.
"L-Look, I'm sorry... I know I scared you guys, trust me, I noticed that when you guys almost dogpiled me at the Diet Building! It's just... It's cause of what happened to Akechi, too..." Ryuji snapped back and grabbed Ren's wrist, keeping him close.
"What...?"
"When I saw that lifeboat while the ship was sinking... I thought about Akechi and how... we couldn't save him. And that made me think, I couldn't lose anymore of my friends to Shido... At that time, I wasn't even thinking about myself, I just wanted to keep you safe, that's it. So, I'm sorry for scaring you..." The punkish boy explained genuinely, squeezing Ren's hand gently.
The raven haired boy looked to the side, trying to figure out how to respond. After a minute of silence, Ren leaned into Ryuji's chest and wrapped his arms around his waist and shoulders.
"That was really dumb." He mumbled, hiding his face in Ryuji's chest.
"Yeah... I guess it was..." Ryuji chuckled quietly, wrapping his own arms around Ren.
“It’s very you.” Ren joked softly.
“Shaddup…” Ryuji huffed in response, holding back a quiet laugh. The two of them stayed that way for a few minutes until Ryuji noticed Ren's eyes drooping.
"C'mon... It's been a really long day, we should probably get some sleep, yeah?" Ryuji spoke up, nudging Ren slightly.
"Yeah... I guess so..." Ren murmured sleepily, nuzzling his head against Ryuji. The blond giggled at the adorable sight before shifting his position and lifting Ren onto the bed, making sure he had somewhere comfortable to sleep.
The moment his head hit the pillow, Ren began snoring softly. Ryuji stared down at him with a tender smile, slipping the glasses off of the raven haired boy’s face and placing them on a nearby shelf. As Ryuji shoved himself onto the remaining space of the bed and turned off the bedroom light, he whispered,
"Night, Ren-Ren..."