Work Text:
Anne’s Room is a safe space.
This has been true for Lucy ever since she was little. Her earliest memory is not of her parents or a caring family, but of Anne collecting her into her arms as sobs wracked her body and wiping her tears away. She remembers a feeling of comfort settling over her shoulders—for the first time in her life, she knew, without a doubt, that she was safe.
As long as she was with Anne, no one would be able to hurt her.
She couldn’t remain in Anne’s Room forever, but it was a temporary escape from all the hurt and suffering. It was the one place she could run to, and the one place where no one else in the entire world could touch her. Because no one can get into Anne’s Room unless Lucy expressly allows them.
And for the first eighteen years of her life, there was no one else she cared for enough to allow in.
Most people are scared of Anne.
Which is fine; she wasn’t intended to be palpable to the masses; she was meant to protect and watch over Lucy as she grew up without a single other soul willing to stand by her side. She’s meant to be scary, in a way—but only to anyone who stands against Lucy. If the enemies of the Guild cower beneath her looming presence, then she is functioning exactly as intended.
But when it comes to Lucy’s allies—the others in the Guild, who are supposed to be working beside her instead of fighting opposite her…
“That’s totally freaky,” Mark says, hiding behind Lucy and peering at Anne over her shoulder. “Can I, uh…go back now?”
Lucy scoffs. “You asked to meet her,” she reminds him, but with a snap of her fingers, she releases the two of them from her ability space. She watches as he visibly relaxes, tension leaving his body now that he’s no longer stuck in a space with Anne.
And it’s not a big deal—Lucy didn’t join the Guild to make friends; she joined because it was her only chance at escape. It was the only path that might lead her to a better life. She didn’t have the money for college; didn’t have the smarts or skills for scholarships; didn’t have a single reference to offer up in any application. It felt like a miracle or a sign from God when Louisa found her and extended an invitation to join the Guild.
She’s not here because she’s looking for her besties 4 life or anything; she’s here because she had no other option.
Still, Mark’s obvious distaste towards Anne hurts. Just a little.
John and James are much the same way, and Nathaniel straight up calls Anne demonic, which is rude more than anything. But Lucy decides pretty quickly she isn’t going to listen to his opinions on any important matter at all. Louisa and Margaret try a little bit harder to hide their discomfort, but Lucy can tell her ability as a whole makes them nervous. And Poe is such a shut-in that Lucy never even has a chance to ask him if he wants to meet Anne.
Francis might be the only one who doesn’t seem outright afraid of Anne, but he makes it very clear from the beginning that he only cares about Lucy’s ability to the extent of which is can help the Guild accomplish their goals. By which Lucy is pretty sure he means his goals, but she doesn’t have all of the private intel on their core objectives like Louisa does, so she’s just making an educated guess based on his general personality.
Lucy tries not to let it bother her much. Louisa and Margaret do still agree to tea parties in Anne’s Room on occasion, and they at least grow accustomed to Anne’s presence. Louisa is still a bit fearful, but that’s sort of just how she is as a person rather than a direct reflection of Lucy’s ability. So, like—it’s fine.
And it’s even more fine when Lucy has to abandon the Guild altogether after they tossed her aside first.
Then, it’s good that she knows her former allies will fear her ability when facing against it. It’s good that they know how easily she can hurt them, and that they’re unsettled by her general demeanor, and that Anne can scare them off without Lucy herself having to lift a finger.
Because Anne’s Room is her safe space, and all of the people who betrayed her trust will never be allowed a kind entrance again.
Lucy meets Gin in the aftermath.
The aftermath the airport battle, that is—not the aftermath of the Guild falling apart. The Agency is finally getting a steady stream of cases again, and the Café Uzumaki is back to its regular flow of customers. Things are normal, mostly, with the exception of the Tanizaki siblings now belonging to the Port Mafia. Lucy misses Naomi more than her brother, if she’s being honest, but mostly because Naomi would gossip with her and introduce her to new music.
It’s a slow afternoon when Akutagawa comes in, trailed by someone Lucy assumes must be a relative given their matching hair and eyes. She greets them both and receives a glower from Akutagawa but a kind smile from the person with him. So, of course, Lucy decides she likes his companion much better than she likes him.
It doesn’t hurt that they’re very pretty, too.
“I haven’t seen the tiger-kitty since lunch,” Lucy informs the two. She gives Akutagawa a teasing smirk. “And what a surprise that you brought company! I didn’t know you were capable of making friends.”
This elicits a silent laugh from the person accompanying him and an even deeper scowl from Akutagawa himself.
“This is my sibling,” he says. “Gin. They insisted on accompanying me.”
“Gin,” Lucy repeats, letting the name settle on her tongue. She grins. “It’s nice to meet you, Gin-kun! You can just call me Lucy.”
Gin gives her a polite nod.
“Do not expect them to speak to you.” Akutagawa glances at Gin, who signs something. He furrows his eyebrows. “It is only Lucy-chan.”
Gin signs the same thing again, with harsher movements this time.
Akutagawa scoffs, and apparently ignores them because he turns back to Lucy and orders three drinks.
By the time she’s finished making his order, Atsushi has come barreling down from the office and launched himself at Akutagawa like it’s been two years since they’ve seen one another rather than two days. Akutagawa grumbles and complains, but he doesn’t push Atsushi off of him, and Rashoumon doesn’t lash out when Gin snickers at the sight.
“I feel a bit sorry for you having to thirdwheel that,” Lucy tells them as she sets their drinks down.
Gin shrugs, still smiling.
Lucy sighs, tucking her tray under her arm as she watches Akutagawa and Atsushi go back and forth with one another. “If you ever need some company or moral support, just let me know,” she offers.
Gin flashes her a thumbs up.
Gin becomes a regular at the café, after that. Or—as regular as someone with an ever-changing schedule of mafia duties can be. Sometimes, they tag along when their brother comes to meet Atsushi after work. Other times, they’ll come with someone else from the mafia.
And, more recently, they’ve begun visiting the café on their own.
They come in alone today, waving in greeting and stripping the mask from their face as soon as they step through the door. Their hair is still up, but they’re dressed casually rather than in their typical mafia attire. Which Lucy has seen on more than one occasion, when Gin has shown up first thing in the morning with a disgruntled partner at their side—typically either Higuchi or Tanizaki—after a night spent out on a mission.
“Hi, Gin-kun!” Lucy greets. “The usual?”
Gin nods. They stop by the counter, looking over the display of pastries while Lucy sets to work making their drink.
“I recommend anything with strawberries,” Lucy tells them, “but I might be a little biased.”
Gin laughs lightly.
They end up going for a chocolate croissant instead, and Lucy gives it to them free of charge despite their attempts to argue. They sit at the bar, listening to Lucy chatter about her day while they eat. Despite not verbally responding, Gin always makes it clear that they’re paying attention—by nodding along and physically reacting, or with barely-there noises of acknowledgement and laughter.
Lucy has been learning sign language too, which makes communication easier.
“Have you eaten today?” Gin asks, after Lucy has finished sharing a story about a particularly rude customer she had to deal with the day prior.
Lucy grimaces. “No? But it’s only—” she looks to the clock. “…Oh.”
“You should take a break.”
“I’m fine,” Lucy waves her concern aside. Three in the afternoon isn’t that late for lunch, and she’s definitely gone way longer without food. “Besides, my manager won’t be back for another fifteen minutes, and I’m alone here ’til then.”
“People can wait.”
Lucy raises an eyebrow. “Would you tell your boss your clients can wait?”
She doesn’t quite understand the next thing Gin signs, but she can guess it’s something along the lines of That’s different! Which, admittedly it is—Gin has a lot more to lose if they fail to complete their job in a timely manner. But they’ve also never had to work customer service, and Lucy has dealt with enough bitchy customers this week.
“I’ll eat as soon as my manager is back,” Lucy promises.
Gin eyes her skeptically.
Then, they carefully tear the remainder of their croissant in half, offering one piece to Lucy. They don’t say anything, but the weight of their stare makes it clear they expect Lucy to take it.
“I’m not eating your food!” she tries to protest.
Gin narrows their eyes.
And, okay, Lucy knows Gin isn’t going to hurt her. They could kill her without breaking a sweat if they were so inclined, but they won’t, because they’re friends. But that doesn’t mean Gin’s glare doesn’t incite a sense of fear that Lucy can’t quite shake away—not because her life is on the line, but because Gin will get their way in this, and Lucy doesn’t know what they’re going to do in order to accomplish that if she continues trying to refuse, but it’ll probably be something like hopping the counter and force-feeding her.
Which, like, wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. If that’s what it takes to get Gin’s hands on her—
Nope. No. Stopping that train of thought right now.
With a resigned sigh, Lucy accepts the croissant from Gin. “Now I wish you’d listened to me and gotten strawberry instead,” she teases before taking a bite.
“Next time,” Gin replies.
Lucy nearly chokes on her food.
Lucy and Gin have been dancing around—something—for months when Gin is first brought to Anne’s Room.
It’s out of convenience more than anything, because they come into the café in a pretty dress with their hair down and tell Lucy, “I need to hide.” And if there’s one thing Lucy is good at, it’s hiding people. So she tells Kyouka to cover for her, and then transports them both to her ability space.
It doesn’t occur to her to be self-conscious about the whole thing until she and Gin are already there.
Because—the thing is, Anne’s Room is like an extension of Lucy’s soul in a way. She doesn’t care what her enemies might think of it, because why would she waste time worrying about what the people who want her dead think of her? But when it comes to allowing her friends inside… It’s usually a more calculated decision.
Atsushi was the exception, but he doesn’t really count because he came here as an enemy first.
She laughs nervously. “Sorry if it’s kind of…a lot.”
Gin shakes their head. “It’s nice,” they say.
Lucy hesitates. “Really?” She looks around, at the bright colors and the vivid sky and the miscellaneous toys scattered about the place. “It doesn’t seem very suited to your style.”
“It’s not,” Gin agrees, “but it is very you.”
Despite her lingering nerves, Lucy breaks out into a grin. “It is! I mean, it’s kinda more tailored to what I liked as a kid when my ability first manifested, but I still really like it.” She hesitates, but ultimately dares to add, “Do you want to meet Anne while you’re here?”
Gin tilts their head. “Who?”
“Anne! She’s a little like Kyouka-chan’s ability, but, uhh…I’ve been told she’s scary. Even though she won’t hurt you unless I tell her to. Which I won’t!”
“Okay,” Gin agrees, which is good, because it prevents Lucy from rambling any further. It’s also bad, because she hadn’t exactly been expecting Gin to give her the go-ahead and if Gin reacts to Anne in the same way as everyone else, she kind of doesn’t know what she’ll do. Like, of course it’s fine for them to be a bit scared at first—Atsushi and Kyouka are both perfectly fine with Anne now, and Louisa and Margaret came around, so it’s fine, but—
But if Gin just doesn’t like Anne—
“Is she like a ghost?” Gin asks.
Lucy hesitates. “Uh… No? Not really? I’ll just…” She calls Anne forth before she can spiral any further about it. And while she does have complete control over Anne, she also still has a bit of her own personality as well. Which means she races over to Gin and comes to an abrupt stop before them in order to study them. Probably because Lucy has told Anne quite a bit about them. Which she’s starting to regret.
Gin waves.
“She doesn’t really talk,” Lucy explains. “I can understand her thoughts and feelings, but there’s no verbalization. And Anne, Gin-kun doesn’t really talk either.”
Anne tilts her head.
Gin giggles. “I guess we’ll get along, then.”
Lucy beams.
She skips over to Gin, linking their arms together. “Does that mean you’ll come back here sometime? Under better circumstances? Also, wait, what are you hiding from?” She drops Gin’s arm so they can respond, although she’s loath to lose the contact between them.
“I would love that,” Gin says. “And nothing serious. Just some creep following me.”
Lucy’s mood darkens instantly. “Can I sic Anne on him?”
“No.”
“Can I tell Kyouka-chan to sic Demon Snow on him?”
“No!”
“Hmph.” Lucy crosses her arms. “Fine. I’d better go check on her, though. Will you be okay here alone for a bit?”
Gin nods.
And then, so quiet it’s barely audible, they say, “Thank you, Lucy-chan.”
Anne’s Room has always been Lucy’s safe space.
For a very long time, no one else could see it in the same way she did. And, yeah—that had a little to do both with the fact that Anne is her protector, and the fact that she did use it as a weapon against her enemies. But she never wanted Anne’s Room to be a hostile environment for every other person on earth besides herself.
When she was little, she would imagine having a friend she could bring into her ability space with her. Someone who would play with her and Anne, who would have tea parties with them, who would look around the amazing space that exists in Lucy’s soul and love it just as much as Lucy does.
She got a little of that with Louisa and Margaret—the tea parties, at least, though she had Anne keep her distance from those for the sake of her friends’ comfort. And then the Armed Detective Agency began using her ability as a safehouse rather than a prison or a scare tactic, and it really felt like that was what Anne’s Room was meant to be used for. Lucy’s ability manifested as a haven first and foremost; she turned it into a weapon because she didn’t know how else she could possibly exist in a world that had always been set up against her.
But it isn’t until Gin comes into her life that she finds someone who connects with Anne herself.
She watches fondly as Gin teaches Anne color signs, her cup of tea set aside and long forgotten. She thinks she could probably watch Gin and Anne interact forever and be perfectly content with her life—they’re her two favorite people, after all, and it’s still a bit surreal to her that Gin not only tolerates Anne but also gets along with her. From the very first day Gin was brought here, after Lucy checked in on Kyouka and the café and threatened the man who had been following Gin, when she returned to Anne’s Room to collect Gin, she found them silently teaching Anne signs for the various objects lying around.
“Table,” Gin signed, and then pointed at the table.
“Table,” Anne repeated, movements clumsily but obviously mirroring Gin’s.
That was the moment Lucy fell utterly and completely, no-turning-back, head-over-heels in love. She’d been rendered speechless, frozen in place until Gin caught sight of her and greeted her with a shy wave, cheeks flushed pink.
“Lucy-chan,” Gin says softly, interrupting her train of thought.
“Hm? Yeah?”
Gin laughs. “You looked distracted. Are you feeling alright?”
“Yes!” Lucy nods emphatically. “I was just thinking!”
“About?”
Anne tilts her head too, as if also inquiring, as if she and Lucy aren’t psychically linked and she surely knows exactly what Lucy was thinking about.
“You,” Lucy admits, face growing warm.
Gin raises an eyebrow. “What about me?”
Lucy stammers for a moment, fumbling out some barely-comprehensible non-answer, until Anne signs that she’s a liar and Gin starts laughing again. And even though it’s at Lucy’s expense, she can’t even be mad, because Gin is just so pretty when they’re like this—when they’re somewhere they’ve deemed safe enough to let their guard down and speak freely. When they laugh audibly, and Lucy gets to hear it, knowing she’s one of very few who has such a privilege.
“You don’t have to say,” Gin assures her.
“Maybe some other time,” she mumbles.
“I will hold you to that,” Gin promises, a teasing glint shining in their eyes.
They’re laying side-by-side on the floor of Anne’s Room a few weeks later, gazing at the pink sky overhead, when Lucy tells Gin, “It means a lot to me that you like it here.”
Gin makes a vague noise of confusion.
“In Anne’s Room, I mean,” Lucy explains. “And that you like Anne. Most people…don’t. It’s nice to have someone I can share this space with. I always thought it was too much to hope for.”
“It is a nice place,” Gin says carefully. “I find it…safe.”
Lucy turns her head to look at Gin. “Safe?”
Gin nods.
“I do, too. It’s always been my safe place.”
Gin frowns, eyebrows pinched. “If it’s your safe place…why do you allow so many others into it?”
Lucy shrugs, as best as she can while laying down. “I want it to be safe for other people too. And, well, for a while, it was only safe for me and dangerous for everyone else. I understand why people are afraid of Anne; I haven’t always let her be kind.” It isn’t something Lucy is ashamed of—especially not in front of someone like Gin, who understands that many times, you are left with no choice but to turn to cruelty and violence in order to continue surviving. Lucy wishes things had been different, but there’s no use contemplating all of the what-could’ve-beens, and she doesn’t believe utilizing her ability to hurt people while with the Guild has tainted her soul in any way.
Not when the embodiment of it is still a pretty, vibrant, pink.
And not when Gin can lay here beside her, calling it safe.
“Plus, the tiger kitty was kind to me while we were still enemies, and while my supposed friends were all treating me like shit. I owed it to him to help out when I could, and I realized I like using Anne’s Room as a safehouse much more than some sort of torture chamber.”
Gin hums. “That…makes sense.”
“Besides,” Lucy grins, “it’s still my ability; I have complete control over it. I’m okay letting people use it because I know they can only get in if I allow them, and I can kick them out just as easily.”
Gin chuckles softly. “That’s why I find it safe, too.”
“Really?”
They nod. “Because I know no one else can reach us while we are here together.” Their hand moves, bridging the short distance between them to link their fingers with Lucy’s. Lucy’s heart skips a beat, breath catching in her throat. “When I’m with you here, in this space, I know undoubtedly that it is just us.” They hesitate. “Well, I suppose us and Anne. But I do not mind if she hears me speak.”
Lucy squeezes their hand. She means to say something sweet and meaningful, but her feelings have been bubbling up for so long that what spills out of her mouth instead is, “I think I’m in love with you.”
Gin blinks, eyes growing wide.
“I mean—”
They reach out with their free hand, pressing their index finger to Lucy’s lips. She quiets obediently, watching in silence as Gin turns onto their side. They cup Lucy’s cheek, bridging the distance between them and pressing their mouth to Lucy’s.
They don’t say anything, but they don’t need to. Lucy hears everything she needs to in Gin’s actions—in the way their thumb strokes along her cheekbone; in the way they kiss Lucy slow but sure, letting her meet Gin’s rhythm. In the way they break apart for only a moment and Gin smiles against her lips.
“Yeah,” Lucy breathes against them, “definitely in love.”
Gin laughs, and kisses her again.
(Anne’s Room is a safe space. This has been true for Lucy ever since she was little.
And now, it’s true for Gin too.)