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Futaba awakes with tears streaming down her face, and she doesn’t know why. The lights are on, bathing the interior of the Phantomobile in blinding brightness, and Futaba grimaces as the light sends pain shooting through her eyes.
“Oh, sorry, Futaba-chan,” Haru says as Futaba flings her arm across her face to shield her eyes. “We should have warned you the light was on.”
So the others are awake too? She has no idea what is going on, other than she woke up suddenly with tears in her eyes, and the lights being on must make it the middle of the night. Risking the brightness, Futaba moves her arm and raises her head, studying her surroundings.
She’s still in bed in the RV, with Haru in bed beside her just like when they settled down to sleep. But Haru looks exhausted and worried, her hand resting on Futaba’s shoulder. Makoto is nowhere to be seen, but Ann stands on the other side of the room in just her pyjamas, hand still hovering over the light switch. Futaba shivers, finally noticing the huge drop in temperature, obviously caused by the open door. Has Makoto left?
“What’s going on?” she mumbles, her voice thick from crying, but honestly more confused than upset despite the flow of tears.
“You had night terrors,” Ann says, shivering violently from standing by the door. “It woke us up. And you said if it happens to wake you, so Haru shook your shoulder and then… you woke up.”
Futaba blinks. “Oh…” is all she can say, finally understanding the tears.
Like most of the Phantom Thieves, Futaba has nightmares a lot, waking sweaty and shaking and breaking down crying in humiliation. But she alone suffers from night terrors, not that she has had any since she was twelve. Back then, they happened all the time, terrifying Sojiro when he awoke to her screaming and thrashing, and leaving Futaba exhausted and crawling into his bed for the rest of the night. None of the Phantom Thieves have ever seen it happen, and, whilst she hoped they never would, Futaba told them what it looks like just in case. But it did happen. They saw her in her weakest, most vulnerable state…
“Shit,” she mutters.
Across the room, Ann opens a cupboard and fumbles through it, eventually pulling out a box of tissues. She hurries over and perches on the bed, holding out the box with a gentle smile. “Here, to dry your eyes.”
“Th-Thanks,” Futaba says, aware of the heat burning her cheeks, and she prays she isn’t blushing. And as she pulls a tissue from the box and raises it to her face, she hears something outside.
For a moment, her heart leaps and Futaba almost screams. But instead, she manages to listen hard, and recognizes several familiar voices.
“Shit, is she okay?” Ryuji asks, panicked and groggy at the same time.
“That remains to be seen,” Makoto says, her voice shaking.
“Oh, Mako-chan went to get the others,” Haru explains. “Is that okay?”
Futaba wipes her eyes, using the moment as thinking time. She can never find the right words at the best of times, and this is certainly not one of those times. She wants to explain her complex feelings about everyone seeing her in such a vulnerable state, and that now the girls have all seen her like this, it doesn’t matter if the others do too, but… in the end, all manages to say is, “Guess so.”
With all his usual grace, Ryuji bursts into the RV first, nearly tripping on the steps in his haste. He must have gotten hot sleeping in the tent, as Ryuji doesn’t wear a shirt, and the goosebumps covering his skin show he probably regrets not putting one on before he left. Ryuji stops dead when he sees her, eyes wide and mouth slightly open, and his voice comes out as a shaky whisper when he says, “Futaba?”
Makoto appears next with Morgana perched on her shoulder, followed by Akira, who forgot to put his glasses on and now has to squint to see properly. Akira has a strong grip on Yusuke’s wrist, and Futaba wonders how much is to help him see, and how much is to steer Yusuke, who can barely keep his eyes open, yawning into his hand. But Yusuke does manage to shut the door behind him, before almost tripping over everyone’s shoes.
Futaba barely has time to process their arrival before Ryuji flops down onto the bed, making the springs creak and Haru let out a shriek.
“Shit, what did I do?” Ryuji cries, horrified.
“Y-You sat on my foot,” Haru says, voice hitching with pain, but she still maintains her usual, lovely smile.
Ryuji grimaces, shifting on the bed to free her foot, and he grabs Haru’s hand, squeezing hard. “I’m so sorry, Haru.”
Haru gives a little giggle, squeezing his hand back. “It’s okay, really.”
Makoto clears her throat, making Ryuji and Haru shut up, and snapping Yusuke out of almost falling asleep standing up. “Guys, can we remember why we’re all here.”
“Futaba had a nightmare, correct?” Sophia says, and Akira turns his phone around so the screen faces outwards, allowing Sophia to look right at Futaba.
“Correct,” Makoto says, nodding. “And I woke you all so you could help Futaba feel better.”
“I reckoned you’d all feel awful in the morning if you slept through Futaba being upset,” Ann says, and she gives Yusuke a gentle kick in the shin.
“’M awake, I’m ‘wake…” Yusuke mumbles, yawning so hard his eyes water.
“Makoto, you said she was crying,” Morgana says, hopping down onto the bed and approaching Futaba. “But she’s not. She’s smiling.”
Indeed, when Futaba finally pays attention to herself again, she realizes Morgana is correct. The tears have dried up, leaving her eyes red, but a weak smile spreads across her face. She didn’t even notice when the tears stopped, too busy taking in the sight of her exhausted partners and friends crowded around her, exhausted and worried and wanting to help.
Still, having them all staring straight at her is a bit too much, and Futaba ducks her head, face flushing a humiliating shade of red. “Uh, guys… bit embarrassed here.”
“Sorry,” Akira says. “Are you… feeling okay?”
Futaba sniffs, nose still running from crying, and nods. “Y-Yeah. I, I didn’t remember it when I woke up, but it must’ve been a nightmare. It’s stupid, isn’t it, to be scared and crying when you don’t even remember the dream that upset you, huh?”
“That isn’t stupid,” Morgana says. He jumps onto Futaba’s shoulder and nuzzles his soft fur against her cheek. “I sometimes wake up happy even though I don’t remember my dream, so it makes sense.”
“Yeah, there’s nothin’ stupid about that, Futaba,” Ryuji says. This time being very mindful of the positions of feet beneath the blankets, he leans closer and gives Futaba a kiss on her tearstained cheek. “You were still upset, and we, we want you to feel better.”
“Is there anything you need?” Makoto asks. “A drink? A snack?”
“We are here if you need to talk about anything,” Sophia says with her hands pressed against the inside of the screen. “Right, Akira?”
Akira nods and gives Futaba one of his loveliest smiles; he doesn’t need to say a word for her to understand.
“We’ll do whatever you want,” Ann says, offering a hand. Without speaking, Futaba takes it, relaxing as Ann’s hands envelope her own.
“Perhaps… we should be quiet to allow Futaba to respond,” Yusuke says through a yawn; trust Inari to be the only one to notice how overwhelming all the lovely words are becoming.
“Oh… are we overloading you, Futaba-chan?” Haru asks.
“A bit,” she says, finally looking up. Futaba scans the inside of the Phantomobile, staring at them all, part of her still amazed this many people care about her wellbeing and want to help her. “I, uh… can you just… hold me? I… I feel like… having you all around me.” Futaba grimaces. “Sorry, did that sound weird?”
“Nope,” Ryuji says. “Makes perfect sense. Group hug time!”
And before Makoto has time to tell Ryuji off for shouting in the middle of the night, Futaba finds herself wrapped in a wonderful group hug. Arms surround her, squeezing her with the perfect deep pressure she always craves, and although they all keep their voices down to not hurt her ears, everyone whispers about how they love her…
And Futaba manages a real smile for the first time, surrounded by warmth and happiness.