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Letting their leader get captured by his would be murderer as part of an elaborate plan to fake his death was risky, even by the Phantom Thieves’ standards. Even with all their preparations, all the precise planning, they’d failed to account for the level of violence that had been brought upon their seventeen year old friend. And certainly none of them could have anticipated the drugs that had nearly made their plan slip completely from his brain, taking his life along with it. In their debriefing later where they filled Sae and Sojiro in on what had transpired they had put on an air of confidence, but seeing the strongest of them bloodied and exhausted had shaken them all.
The push from the rest of the group to have him take more time to rest and recover was strong, especially from Morgana and Futaba who had seen the immediate aftermath of the interrogation (and unbeknownst to anyone but them and Ren, the during). But Ren was stubborn, so after only a few short days the group found themselves on a Memenots run, a few extra layers of tension tacked on.
Despite the lingering bruises, their leader had stood tall, a cool determination when he informed them he was ready to start preparing to take on Shido’s palace, beginning with some strength building in their favorite mysterious shadowy subway system. The confidence he carried himself with was enough to hold back any reservations they might have.
There are plenty of critical eyes on him all the same, which is why it’s such a surprise to Ryuji that he’s the first one to get a hint that Joker isn’t in as good of shape as he’s projecting, especially because that ‘hint’ is his best friend nearly pitching forward into a wall during one of their breaks. Thanks to his quick reflexes, he manages to keep him upright. “Shit, you okay, man?” He asks, failing to keep the panic out of his voice.
Ren is still upright, but the way he leans into the blonde’s hold and the way he scans to rest of the group to see if anyone noticed paint a concerning picture given the circumstances. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m okay, just got a little lightheaded for a sec, nothing to worry about. I think I just need something to drink. Yeah, that’s all.”
“Look, we can get you a drink and we probably really should, but that ain’t what this is, is it?” When he doesn’t get an answer Ryuji just keeps plowing forward. “Look, man, if this is too much for you right now, we’d understand. No one would judge you after the shit you just went through. But I get that you gotta put on a brave face, be the strong, put together leader you think we all need you to be. So if you need an out, just say the word and I’m your guy. You wanna save face with everybody, I’ll even be the reason we gotta split. Or if you just need someone to lean on while we get this done, I can do that, too.”
“You don’t have to do that. If I’m not strong enough right now…” He hesitates. Ryuji gets it, he does. Ren is probably the strongest person he’s ever known, and to have everyone constantly look to you for that strength and not feel like you have it? He can only imagine. So he’ll step in to prop him up until he can stand tall on his own again.
“Hey, I’m your right hand man, right? That’s what I’m here for. So what you ya wanna do?”
Ren gives him a grateful smile and his own heart rate ticks up for what he is convinced are unrelated reasons. “One more request. According to Mona, it shouldn’t be more than a level or two down. We do that, I’ll call it for today. I can feel good about that.”
Grinning at his companion, Ryuji shifts his hold to a more casual hold on his shoulders. “Then that’s what we’ll do then! You just stick close to me, man, we’ve got this.”
If anyone noticed Skull glued to their leader’s side the rest of their time together, no one dared to say anything. They complete one last request and if Ryuji travels all the way to Leblanc just to see their leader home safely, no one has anything to say about that, either.