#what i had in mind though was..recent cases of thieves | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

cha-melodius · 3 years ago

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38 - "Everyone thinks we’re already dating, but we’re just best friends- oh wait" for napollya? if that sounds as fun to you as it does to me? :D

(It's been more than three months, but I am still writing these lol! Thank you for the prompt, anon! It just seemed ripe for an outside observer, so you get a brand new OC. It actually switches between an outsider POV and Napoleon POV, and runs just under 5k. I hope you enjoy it!)

That's What Other People Do

Read it on AO3

“McHenry! My office!” her boss calls out, his voice carrying easily across the desks that fill this corner of the Federal Building’s 14th floor.

Robin sighs and grabs her glasses from where she’d thrown them amongst the files littering her desk in a fit of pique. The summons could feasibly be about anything, but she has no doubt that Wilston wants an update on the Case From Hell. Good thing she has absolutely nothing new to report. If this goes on too much longer he’ll pull it from her, and then she’ll have to endure idiotic comments from the Andys about how it was too much for her to handle and maybe she’d like to return to the secretarial pool. Never mind that she has a PhD and didn’t come out of the secretarial pool to begin with.

Right. Just get this over with, and she can go back to pouring through shipping manifests for clues that don’t exist.

Wilston waves at her to close the door when she gets into his office, which isn’t a good sign. Then again he’s perfectly happy to chew people out at maximum volume with it open, so it’s hard to guess what might happen.

“About the Caraglio case,” he starts, predictably.

“I have a good feeling about this batch of manifests, sir,” Robin jumps in, trying to come up with a way to make a whole lot of nothing sound exciting. “There’s a company—”

“This is a lot bigger than White Collar Division,” Wilston continues, as if he hadn’t heard her at all. “I just got off the phone with UNCLE.”

“Sorry, uncle who?”

“Not a who,” he grunts. “United Network Command for Law Enforcement. Don’t worry,” he adds, with something that she’d think was humor if she didn’t know better, “I’d never heard of them until ten minutes ago. They’re a multinational intelligence agency.”

Robin blinks at him, utterly confused. “What, like Interpol?”

“To be honest with you, I was not read in to the details,” Wilston says, sounding unmistakably disgruntled about that fact. “But yes and no. They’re made up of agents with official designations from their home intelligence orgs, all working together. Apparently the most recent print that showed up has ties to a case they’ve been working.”

“So they’re taking my case? Can they do that?” Robin asks as a heavy, cold weight settles in her gut.

“No,” he answers firmly. “They want to collaborate. You’re going to be working with two of their best agents, I’m told. Agent Illya Kuryakin, KGB,”—Robin’s brain stutters to a halt at this, but her shock is somehow quickly outdone as Wilston continues—“and Agent Napoleon Solo, CIA.”

For a long moment, Robin just gapes at him, waiting for the other shoe to drop, or for Wilston to explain that it’s all a joke. Which is absurd, given her boss’s aforementioned lack of a sense of humor. “Let me get this straight: you’re trying to tell me that I’m supposed to work with an actual KGB agent��and one of the most prolific art thieves in the past twenty years?”

Most people, even in White Collar Division, might not have recognized the name, but Robin is well aware of who Napoleon Solo is. How could she not, when he was the one who’d stolen the print she’d been studying in Florence, while she was in the middle of studying it? She had her own suspicions that he’s still active, even, though on a much smaller scale. She hadn’t brought it to Wilston or anyone else because she wasn’t sure yet, but she was working up to it. And now, this.

“He’s on some kind of work release with the CIA. Has been for ten years,” Wilston says dismissively, ignoring the whole KGB thing entirely.

“Last I heard we’re still in a cold war. Does Counter Intelligence know about this?”

“No. No one except you, me, and the Director. And it stays that way, is that clear? No one else can know anything about this operation. If anyone asks, you’re no longer working the case.”

“But sir—”

“Is that clear, McHenry?” he repeats forcefully.

Robin swallows hard and nods.

~~~

They find their new FBI contact chain smoking under a bridge, staring out at the Hudson.

“I think she might smoke the whole pack if we do not go soon, Cowboy,” Illya remarks, his voice pitched low.

They’ve been watching her for the last five minutes. Not because they’re worried about the meet, or intentionally trying to psych her out, but because you learn a lot watching someone who’s waiting for you. Like how Agent Robin McHenry was apparently a woman. Napoleon’s pretty sure there aren’t very many of them in the FBI’s White Collar Division, and wonders how she managed to get looped onto this case. She doesn’t look particularly young or particularly old, but it’s a little hard to tell at this distance. As they watch, she shakes another cigarette out of the pack and uses the smoldering remnants of her previous one to light it before she flicks the butt off into the river.

“Think she’s nervous?” Napoleon guesses.

Illya hums uncertainly. “Maybe. How much did they tell her about us?”

“Dunno. One way to find out, though.”

She clocks them pretty quickly as they approach, by the way her shoulders tense, though she doesn’t turn to look at them until they’re standing right next to her. Up close, her brown hair is shot through with the occasional streak of grey, but the lack of lines on her face suggests that they’re premature, and also that she doesn’t care about her appearance enough to dye it. She’s wearing a sensible, if poorly tailored, grey pants suit, which is pretty much what Napoleon would expect from a Fed.

“Agent McHenry?” he says mildly, extending a hand toward her.

McHenry stares down at it for a minute with an expression that borders on disdain, then takes another drag on her cigarette. “It’s doctor.”

“What?” “It’s Dr. McHenry,” she says. “The ‘Doctor’ supersedes ‘Agent’.”

Napoleon blinks at her. She still hasn’t taken his hand, so he drops it and tucks it into his pocket. “Ok,” he replies gamely. “Well, Dr. McHenry, this is Agent Kuryakin, and I’m Agent—”

“I know who you are,” she interrupts. “Quite familiar with your mug shot.”

“Ah,” Napoleon says, his smile going tight.

“You stole a Marcantonio print I was studying.”

“Sorry?” “In Florence. 1953,” she explains. She briefly stares at the shrinking butt of her cigarette as if trying to decide whether to light another. “I was analyzing it for my research, and overnight it disappeared. That theft was attributed to you. You stole it.”

Napoleon remembers that job. It had been a pretty easy one; the archive’s security had been next to nonexistent. He’d stolen some other stuff too, made a tidy sum, then had thoroughly enjoyed himself on the Amalfi coast for a month. He clears his throat and carefully replies, “Allegedly. That was never proven. But if I had stolen it, and that disrupted your studies, then I would be sorry about that. Hypothetically, that is.”

McHenry snorts in what almost seems to be amusement, then turns her piercing gaze on Illya, who’s been watching the whole exchange. Napoleon can see that he’s certainly amused, and will no doubt be giving Napoleon endless shit about it later, though to anyone else his face looks as stony as ever.

“You’re actually a KGB agent,” McHenry prompts, not quite a question, as she squints up at him.

Illya quirks an eyebrow at her. “Last time I checked.”

“How do I know this isn’t part of some elaborate plot to infiltrate the FBI?”

“If I wanted to infiltrate FBI, I would not start with White Collar,” Illya returns coolly, which is probably not the best tack to take. Napoleon watches as McHenry’s lips narrow into a hard line.

“What Peril here means to say is that we’ve no interest in the FBI, specifically. We may officially be KGB and CIA, but our mandate and orders come from UNCLE, which has no interest in governments squabbling with each other,” Napoleon tells her. “We’ve been partners for the past two years. Surely that must mean something.”

“This, coming from a convicted art thief,” she says, clearly unconvinced, but now eyeing them with some other evaluating look that he can’t quite interpret.

Not for the first time, Napoleon wishes Gaby was around for this one. Something tells him that their third partner would have a better chance of gaining the trust of the FBI agent, but she’d gone off to London following a tenuous but time-sensitive lead on a different case, so they’d have to get by without her.

“Look, you’re obviously a deeply mistrustful person, and I respect that,” Napoleon sighs. “But can we please move past this and get to the saving the world part? Those missile plans aren’t going to find themselves.”

That, at least, breaks through the defensive exterior; McHenry’s eyes go wide and her mouth falls open for a moment before she tries to collect herself. “What do you mean, missile plans?”

~~~

Solo and Kuryakin aren’t anything like she expected.

On the surface, the two of them seem like they’d never work as partners, beyond the obvious problem that they’re supposed to be on different sides of the Cold War. Solo talks, a lot, all smooth charm and winning smiles. She can see why it took the authorities so long to nail him down, because the man can probably talk his way out of nearly anything. Kuryakin, though, is the icy, silent type, at least at first. Not that he ever really relaxes fully, but after a couple of days his constant guard lowers a bit. Still, she’s not sure she’d have ever come around to trusting him if she hadn’t seen him when he’s around Solo.

Two days after their first contact by the river, Robin is supposed to meet them at a diner in Hoboken. Why here, she has no idea, and she doesn’t ask. She’s quickly learned that, although they’re pretty open when it comes to the case itself, any other questions about UNCLE or their histories is shut down quickly. When she arrives, she’s surprised to see Kuryakin sitting alone in a booth and no sign of Solo anywhere nearby. He looks up as she slides in opposite him and offers a nod of acknowledgement, but nothing else.

“Where’s Solo?” she asks, grabbing the menu just for something to do. She doesn’t assume they’re actually eating.

“Late,” Kuryakin grunts, somehow encapsulating fondness and exasperation in the single syllable. It’s a tone she’s become familiar with over the past two days.

A waitress stops by, and Kuryakin surprises her again by ordering the almost painfully American combination of a cheeseburger, fries, and a strawberry milkshake. She hasn’t actually looked at the menu, but she stammers out an order for a tuna melt and a coke, and wonders what the hell is actually going on today.

Solo, it turns out, is very late, but Kuryakin gives her an update on their progress; they’d checked out several of the shipping companies she’d suspected of being the transport for the forged—and apparently secretly encoded—Caraglio prints, though without much success. The CIA agent still hasn’t arrived by the time their food does, and after hesitating a moment Robin digs in, because she’s actually pretty hungry. For his part, Kuryakin eats a few fries and drinks the milkshake, but the burger remains untouched.

The answer to that puzzle comes a few minutes later, when Solo finally slides into the booth next to him. Kuryakin wordlessly pushes the plate of food over to him, and Solo grabs the burger with no shortage of enthusiasm.

“You know me so well, Peril,” Solo says to him before taking a huge bite. He briefly looks, somewhat bizarrely, like a chipmunk.

“I know you are somehow always hungry,” Kuryakin returns. “And you get as excited about greasy diner food as gourmet restaurant.”

Solo swallows and grins broadly. “Sometimes there’s nothing better than greasy diner food. If I’m gonna have to go to Jersey for this mission, I might as well indulge. Gimme some of your milkshake, would you?”

Kuryakin lets out a put-upon sigh, but his mouth is unmistakably tugging up at the corners as he slides the half empty glass over toward his partner.

Robin chews slowly as she watches them continue to banter about the food as if she wasn’t there at all. Kuryakin stretches an arm out along the back of the booth behind Solo’s shoulders, and when Solo finally polishes off the burger he settles back against it, almost but not quite tucked against Kuryakin’s side, looking immensely satisfied.

“So did Peril bring you up to speed?” Solo asks her eventually, his eyebrows arcing upward with the question. It had taken her a bit to get used to the cutesy nicknames, but by now she can actually keep a straight face when Kuryakin calls him ‘Cowboy.’

“Yeah,” she answers with a bob of her head. “Sounds like not much has panned out, though?”

“That’s not entirely true anymore,” Solo says with a sly grin.

Kuryakin frowns. “What have you done, Cowboy?”

“I met up with an old contact of mine. That’s why I was late. Skittish guy. But if someone was going to know where the counterfeit Caraglios were coming in from, it would be him.”

“You went to a meeting without telling anyone?” Kuryakin hisses, his frown somehow getting even deeper.

“I was fine,” Solo insists. “I didn’t say anything because I knew you’d just overreact. Like you’re doing now. You worry too much, Peril.”

“I do not—”

“You got something from him, though?” Robin jumps in, before they can get any farther. “A lead?”

“I did,” Solo confirms, sitting forward again.

He quickly runs through what he’d learned, his words rapid with excitement at the—admittedly substantial—lead, and even Kuryakin eventually gets over his disgruntlement as they start talking about the next steps. For the first time in weeks, Robin feels like this case actually getting somewhere, which she has to reluctantly admit is down in large part to the fact that she’s working with an art thief. Her PhD advisor would have a heart attack if he knew, but they wouldn’t have gotten that lead without Solo’s contact.

The conversation falls into a lull as the waitress stops by with coffee, which Solo gratefully accepts before pointing back at Kuryakin and adding, “Oh, and he’ll have a slice of apple pie.”

“Cowboy—” he starts to protest.

“A la mode,” Solo finishes with a grin, ignoring him.

“You did not have to do that,” Kuryakin grumbles as she walks away.

Solo just grabs his cup of coffee and settles back against Kuryakin’s arm again, and this time Kuryakin’s hand slides onto his shoulder. It’s not that unusual a sight, really; she’s noticed that Kuryakin is fairly handsy around him. Nothing too overt, but here and there a hand pressed to Solo’s lower back, or resting on his knee. The kind of casual affection that makes her want to warn them to be more careful, which is stupid. Obviously they know better than anyone the danger of what they have. How could they not?

“But Peril,” Napoleon is saying, a teasing lilt to his words, “I consider it my solemn duty to make sure you’re hopelessly addicted to this disgustingly extravagant American lifestyle, so that you’d never dream of leaving us. Ordering you delicious pie is a burden, to be sure, but one I will happily bear.”

Robin can’t help but think, based on the impossibly soft way that Kuryakin is currently looking at him, that Solo doesn’t really need to try that hard.

~~~

Like these things so often do, once they have a substantial lead, the rest falls together pretty quickly. The tip from his contact had paid off, and if everything went well they’d soon be taking possession of the last of the forged Caraglio prints. The shipment isn’t due to arrive for another hour, but they still need to be watching in case something changes. The waiting around part of this job, Napoleon thinks, never gets any more fun.

They’ve already been there for several hours—Napoleon and Robin in a nondescript sedan while Illya is perched in a sniper’s nest on the top floor of a nearby building—so they’re starting to run out of conversational topics. It had been surprisingly easy to talk to Robin; once she’d gotten over the whole art thief thing, they had a decent amount in common. Napoleon’s pretty sure he’s never been able to have that in-depth of a discussion of early Italian Renaissance printmaking techniques with anyone, though that shouldn’t really be a surprise given her background. It was funny to think about how he’d very nearly run into her in Florence, all those years before, and how their paths had brought them here. He’d even ended up telling her about getting caught, and how he ended up working for the CIA.

“God, I’d love to convince you to switch to the FBI,” she sighs. “Someone with your expertise would be invaluable in White Collar Division.”

Napoleon laughs softly at that. “I appreciate the sentiment, but I think it’d be a cold day in Hell before art crimes would consider making a full agent of an art thief. Besides,” he adds as his gaze sweeps out the window to the building where he knows Illya sits, “I’m pretty happy where I am.”

He can feel Robin watching him, but he can’t quite pull his eyes away. Illya is probably up there in that weird meditative state he gets into, where he can just sit for hours and do nothing and not go insane out of boredom.

“How long have you been together?” she asks after a stretch of silence.

“Oh, like I said, UNCLE’s been around for about two years now…” he starts, not really paying attention.

“No, I mean, like, the two of you. Together. Since the beginning?”

Napoleon’s face snaps toward her, then, and he can feel his jaw fall open but he can’t really seem to close it. “We’re not— that is— we’re not,” he manages eventually. “We’re just partners. Work partners. Best friends, now, I guess.”

“You guess?” Robin echoes, her brow creasing in confusion.

“Yeah, yeah. Yes,” Napoleon confirms, perhaps a little too vehemently. “He’s my best friend. That’s all.”

“Oh.”

“‘Oh’?” he repeats. “What, ‘oh’? What does that mean?”

“Nothing, nothing,” she says, putting up a hand. “I misread things.”

“Right, well, I can be pretty affectionate with my friends, is all,” Napoleon blurts, and Christ why does he not shut up? Clearly she was going to let the matter go, but now he’s thinking about it—that deep well of feelings that he works so hard to ignore—and if she’d seen it on his face in knowing him less than a week, then… then that could be a problem.

Except then she shrugs and says, “Not just you.”

“What?” he croaks, his voice just barely above a whisper.

But she doesn’t say anything more, not immediately, just stares out the windshield with a frown on her face until finally she rounds on him. “Do you know, I actually wanted to warn you?” she says, nonsensically. “That day in the diner. I thought, ‘man, they should really be more careful.’ But I decided that saying something would be stupid, because you must know what you’re doing. You’d have to be idiots not to, and you clearly aren’t idiots.”

“Thanks?” he manages, more than a little flabbergasted.

“I’m revising that assessment,” she returns dryly. “Seriously, no one you work with has said anything to you about this?”

Napoleon doesn’t entirely know how to answer that, so he shrugs. “They’re used to it, I guess. It’s just how we are.”

“Jesus,” she swears under her breath.

“Look, as you yourself pointed out, relationships like that are dangerous, especially in our jobs, so—”

“The thing is,” she interrupts, “that dangerous part is already out there. The part where you look at each other like the other one hung the fucking moon? Like you’re very deeply in love? I hate to break it to you, but that one’s already escaped from Pandora’s Box. So if you’re holding yourselves back from being together because you’re worried about the danger, let me be the first to tell you that that ship has sailed. I see it, your enemies are gonna see it, and I guarantee you that your colleagues see it too, they’re just too polite to say anything.”

“You haven’t met our friend Gaby,” Napoleon counters, and that thought is oddly comforting. They’ve been working together for two years now, and there’s no way Gaby would have resisted giving them shit about it if there was anything actually to tease them about. “I guess I can appreciate the concern,” he continues, “but I can also guarantee you that whatever you think you’re seeing isn’t really there. Yes, we’re close. Which is why I’m certain that there’s absolutely no way that Illya feels that way about me.”

He realizes too late what he just implicitly confessed in using Illya’s lack of feelings as an excuse instead of his own, and clenches his jaw as he very resolutely does not meet Robin’s eyes. Fine, it’s fine. It doesn’t matter if she knows, because this case is almost over and it’s unlikely that they’ll have reason to work with the FBI again.

“Or you could kiss him and find out for sure,” Robin murmurs next to him, and when Napoleon gives in and looks over at her she’s staring out the windshield with a smirk on her face. Then she shrugs. “Just a suggestion. Oh, I think our shipment’s here.”

Napoleon thinks he’s never been happier to walk headfirst into potentially life-threatening situation, so long as it gets him out of this conversation.

The final bust goes off without a hitch. They seize the fake prints—and the last of the missile plans encoded therein—before the men at the handoff hardly know what is happening. Taking the shadowy organization ultimately behind the whole setup is a much, much larger, ongoing operation, but for now, UNCLE is happy that no one’s getting next-gen weapons plans, and the FBI White Collar Division is happy that very high quality forgeries are off the market. It’s a win all around.

Napoleon is also able to completely, blissfully forget about the conversation in the sedan for nearly a full day, what with all the wrapping up loose ends and paperwork to keep him busy. It’s not until the next evening, when Illya automatically shows up at his place for dinner even though neither of them mentioned such a thing at any point, that Robin’s words come slamming back into his head.

Having let himself into Napoleon’s apartment with the key he’s had ever since Napoleon complained about him always picking the lock—so, less than a month into their partnership—Illya finds him in the kitchen chopping up vegetables. He’s already discarded his jacket and brought a tumbler with him along with the decanter of Scotch from the bar in the other room, and he tops up Napoleon’s own dwindling glass before pouring his own. It’s not a surprise that he then steps close, his body only inches from Napoleon’s as he peers idly down at what Napoleon is doing, nor that the hand that’s not holding his drink ends up resting almost possessively on Napoleon’s hip. It’s not unusual, which should say something right there, but for the first time Napoleon lets himself consider all of it and what it might mean.

Illya is talking about something to do with a mission—Napoleon hadn’t really been listening, honestly—when Napoleon sets his knife down and turns slightly to better face him. Illya’s hand falls away from his hip as he moves, which he immediately regrets before he reminds himself that he really, really shouldn’t.

“Peril, what are we doing?”

Illya frowns, his brow furrowing as he stares down at him. “Having… dinner?” he ventures.

“I mean what is this?” Napoleon says, making a small gesture between them. Not that he has much room to do so, because Illya is still standing so damned close.

“I am not following, Cowboy. How much have you had to drink?” Illya asks, a teasing smirk playing on his lips.

Napoleon huffs. “Not nearly enough for this conversation,” he mutters under his breath before looking back up at Illya. “It’s just something Robin said. She thought we were… together. A couple.”

Illya freezes, an expression on his face like he just got caught, which is… really something. Napoleon’s heart is pretty much thundering in his chest right now, and he feels stretched to a breaking point, torn between his considerable ability to read people and what he was so sure he knew about his partner.

“That is…” Illya starts. Napoleon waits for him to say something like ridiculous. Absurd. The most idiotic idea he’s ever heard. Instead, Illya forces a tight smile and doesn’t finish the sentence. “Did— did she say why?”

“Something about the way we look at each other,” Napoleon answers. For some reason, the more flustered Illya gets, the more clear-headed he feels. He carefully slips a hand onto Illya’s waist, waiting for Illya to flinch or pull away, but it doesn’t come. “I told her she was seeing things, but now I’m not so sure. So I thought I’d get your perspective on the matter.”

The tips of Illya’s ears are red, and there is a steady flush climbing up his neck. “Cowboy, I—”

Napoleon decides he’s heard enough. He closes the narrow gap between them, reaching up to press their mouths together, and Illya immediately surges against him. What starts out as a gentle movement of lips rapidly deepens into something involving tongues and teeth when Illya’s other hand comes up to cup his jaw, tipping his head to better fit their mouths together. Napoleon feels consumed by it, on fire, like everything that had built between them over the past two years was so much tinder that someone had casually tossed a lit match into. The hand is back on his hip, gripping tightly as Illya tries to tug him even closer, and Napoleon’s fingers dig into the softness of Illya’s waist in response, dragging a low moan from his partner’s throat.

“I think she’s onto something,” Napoleon gasps when they finally part, unable to keep himself from grinning like an idiot. “Or did you have something else you wanted to add?”

“Shut up, Cowboy,” Illya growls, then captures his mouth in another kiss.

They don’t get around to dinner until much, much later.

~~~

Robin has to admit that after all of the excitement in the past week, the day-to-day at White Collar leaves something to be desired. At least with the Caraglio case she always had something big to work on, but now that it’s closed she’s stuck with check fraud and some idiot who tried to forge a shitload of buffalo nickels as if that would actually net him a profit.

Then, one day she comes in and there’s large, flat folio sitting on her desk. She looks around, but everyone is apparently absorbed in their work for once. It’s possible that it’s related to some kind of new case, but that seems highly unlikely. Evidence doesn’t just get deposited in their laps.

“Cartwright,” she calls, drawing the attention of the idiot at the next desk. “What is this?”

“Fuck if I know,” Cartwright grunts. “It was there when I came in. You get a secret admirer in all that time off, McHenry?”

Robin narrowly resists telling him to fuck off. Not being able to tell anyone that she helped avert an international crisis sucks. She looks back down at the folio, taking in the high quality leather and the fine stitching. It’s nice. Much nicer than what she usually sees around the division. As she turns it over, she notices a card tucked into a small pocket and fishes it out, turning it over to find a short handwritten note on one side.

R, Took your suggestion. Thought you might appreciate this small token of my gratitude. If you ever get tired of catching art thieves and decide you want to work with one instead, UNCLE is always recruiting. NS

She frowns down at the note for a minute. She doesn’t even remember what she might have suggested to Napoleon Solo, or why he’d be grateful for it. But honestly, it’s the second part of the note that has her baffled. Her, work for UNCLE? Honestly, it’s not the worst idea she’s heard, not by a long shot. It’s more surprising that they’d be interested in her; they’re all spies, and she’s just an art historian with a badge.

Her thoughts are still on the note as she tugs at the ties holding the folio closed, so it takes her a moment to realize what she’s looking at.

She blinks. Takes off her glasses to rub her eyes. Puts them back on and blinks again.

“Holy shit,” she blurts.

Within the leather folio, carefully wrapped in delicate paper, is the very Marcantonio print that disappeared during her studies, all those years ago.

#napollya #napoleon x illya #napoleon solo #illya kuryakin #tmfu #the man from u.n.c.l.e.#the man from uncle #tmfu fic #napollya fic #my fic

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queen-ofsunflowers · 4 years ago

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Literal Theatre Kid Ren, Act 3: Autumn of Fate

Please note that, as always, times given in each game have been messed around with a little to make things work out. Especially concerning A3 and the dates for Autumn Troupe and their performances. Also like before, relationships between characters have been messed around for some plot elements to work.

Contains minor spoilers for Persona 5 Royal. I haven’t touched upon it for the most part because these summary posts are meant to cover major plot events. This also ended up being way longer than the other parts, so heads-up about that, too.

Chapter 1: My Portrait, I

This one starts out a little... differently compared to the other acts. It’s time for that time-flashback fuckery from the majority of P5, with a lot of the stuff crammed into this first chapter.

It starts out with Ren handcuffed to a chair in the middle of an interrogation room. It’s the usual song and dance from the beginning of the game, Ren getting the shit kicked out of him by the police despite ya know... still being a minor. He signs a confession to being the leader of the Phantom Thieves and a confession to all their crimes: obstruction of justice, blackmail, defamation, possession of weapons... and manslaughter.

Eventually, he’s moved to a more secure location. A prosecutor comes to interrogate him about his actions as a Phantom Thief... and this is Makoto’s older sister, Sae. She is understandably pissed off when she sees the state that he’s in, but she has a job to do. She’s the prosecutor in charge of handling the Phantom Thieves’ case after all. She’s going to talk to their leader, search for motives and ask questions about what really happened.

And so, the interrogation begins. Ren recalls the script he had written out for this with some help from a few friends of this -- Tsuzuru, Makoto and a third one that he doesn’t quite name yet. They prepared for everything that he might be asked, and Ren’s able to answer her questions that Sae’s asking him. He tells his story with a certain performance he recently did lingering in the back of his mind as he does so. Though Sae might not fully believe him about the Metaverse and what the Thieves have done there, she’s still willing to hear him out. All the while, Ren is careful to not mention any of the Phantom Thieves true names (if he absolutely has to, he’s been using codenames), to not mention a connection to the Mankai Company... to not give away the names and faces of his accomplices. To him, Sae must think that he’s acted alone.

He gets up to the end of summer and how the Phantom Thieves actually didn’t do anything to Medjed when Sae calls him out on the beginnings of a particular incident that caused him to be in the position he is in now. It was their next target where they made a grave mistake. Ren leans back and thinks about what happened at the end of summer to cause the dominos to fall where they did.

...and it all started with the auditions for Autumn Troupe, right at the end of summer break.

Chapter 2: Autumn Auditions

Time rewinds to the day in question. Ren and Ryuji had to go help Futaba out after she had gotten a bit overwhelmed while she was out. Normally, she would’ve called Kazunari, but she had done so well at the beach and with closing night that she didn’t want to disappoint him. That’s why she texted the group chat for help. Ren reassures her that needing help isn’t something to be ashamed of as the three of them head into the Mankai Theater to meet up with Izumi and the Summer Troupe.

Auditions for Autumn Troupe are today, and initially the troupe thinks that Ryuji’s there to audition after Ren mentions that he reached out to someone, but both boys are quick to blow that notion away. Ryuji wasn’t the one that Ren asked to come.

The first two people to show up are Omi Fushimi -- the photographer who helped out the Summer Troupe -- and a boy with bright red and black hair named Taichi Nanao. Omi is the one that Ren invited to audition after seeing his love of theatre a few months back. Taichi, on the other hand, makes a first impression by trying to flirt with Yuki and Futaba.

The next to show is a boy with slicked back hair named Juza Hyodo. This is one person that Muku apparently seems to recognize, but one word from Juza is enough to stamp that out. Still, it is a bit suspicious. Before anyone could ask what was up with that, there’s a small scuffle from outside.

It’s Ann trying to shove someone through a door. This is the final auditionee that she introduces as her cousin, Banri Settsu. Apparently, she got the idea to convince Banri to audition for Mankai.. okay, she doesn’t convince him, but she did drag his ass down there. This argument lasts the whole way to the theater. Seeing Juza and Ren there is the only thing that gets Banri to shut up and agree. He has beef with both of them, Juza more so than Ren. He still just hasn’t gotten a fight from Ren yet, remember?

Ren thinks this is a bad idea, especially with Juza and Banri nearly start fighting each other. Ann really doesn’t care. They need five troupe members, and he can’t do it because of his stage fright. She claims Banri can do it, but after seeing his attitude... yeah, that’s up in the air for now.

...it looks like Autumn Troupe is already starting to become a handful...

Chapter 3: The Last One

Everyone’s lead towards the stage to audition, with Banri and Juza still looking like they’re about to fight each other at any given moment. Izumi’s prepared to start, although she’s still waiting for the person she invited to show up.

And as if on cue, Sakyo shows up to audition, surprising the rest of the company and the Thieves present outside of Ren since Morgana had already let him know about this. He’s still confused about why Sakyo actually showed up -- even after Izumi explains that despite threatening to shut it down, he still cares about the place, but it’s five people. As long as they pass the audition, it’s all they need.

And so, the auditions begin.

Chapter 4: Serious about Acting

Everything goes... fairly well, actually. It’s apparent that Omi and Juza are new to this, but Taichi seems comfortable on stage and Banri and Sakyo are really good at acting. The latter ends up surprising Ren (and gets an ‘I told you so’ from Ann) since Banri had no stage experience. Although even she has to agree with the others that his attitude could use an overhauling when he makes fun of Juza’s wooden acting.

Possibly because they need all the actors that they can get, all five of the auditionees pass. Though, Ren still thinks that Banri needs to get his head out of his ass. It’s like Tenma was during his audition, but worse since it has no grounds. He’s just trying to start shit for the sake of starting shit.

The troupes and the Thieves split off there, with the former heading back to the dorms. Ann reminds Ren to be careful. Banri still wants a fight. Ren can’t make any clear promises, but if worse comes to worse, he’ll convince Morgana to shred something.

Chapter 5: Room Splitting and More

As Ren expected, the members of the Autumn Troupe agree to move into the dorms tomorrow. And as such, he tells them about his probation to get it out of the way, giving them the abridged version of what he told Summer Troupe. This makes Taichi a bit nervous while surprising Omi and Juza since ya know... Ren really doesn’t look like that kind of person (he’s not, he was in the wrong place at the wrong time). The only ones who show no reaction are Banri and Sakyo.

With Banri, Ren understands. They go to the same school, and Ren’s record was leaked there back in Spring. He already knows. The question is why the hell Sakyo didn’t react. The only conclusions Ren can come to are that he’s just that good an actor that Ren can’t read him, or he already knew ahead of time. Maybe Izumi told him...?

Speaking of which, while Ren isn’t going to say it to his face, he has to agree when Morgana says that Sakyo is crazy for suggesting Banri and Juza room together. Unfortunately though, despite the protests, this is the combination that the go with. Ren thinks it’s crazy, and he’s just waiting for the moment that a fist fight breaks out. It’s not going to take long, but at this rate, Sakyo’s not going to be able to keep them in line forever.

...irony is that Banri and Juza are both older than him, too.

So pretty much at this point, the only ones from Autumn that Ren gets along with are Omi, Juza and Sakyo for the most part. He and Taichi are kind of on the rocks because Taichi takes rumors Banri’s brought up and the thing about Ren’s criminal record too seriously. And Ren thinks Banri’s just an ass. Likewise, Banri is still calling Ren “Brat” rather than his actual name because of a lot of the shit that Ren’s been commenting on. Boy does not hold back.

Chapter 6: Sparks Fly

The next day marks the end of summer vacation, and the students of the groups have to return to school. And Ren didn’t realize how much the whole thing with Medjed over the summer seemed to rock the boat. It seems like all that everyone at school is talking about are the Phantom Thieves. Their popularity has skyrocketed overnight (or over the past few weeks, everyone was mostly too focused on Summer Troupe’s show and helping out Futaba to notice). This is something that Ryuji gets really excited about, even going as far as revealing their identities at the meeting after school. This is immediately shut down.

Right now, with school starting up again and the Autumn Troupe show not until November, the Phantom Thieves are looking for two things: a new possible target (not a problem thanks to the rankings and a poll on the Phan Site) and the mystery culprit behind the mental shutdowns. They conclude that the best way to go about the latter is by getting data from the source... aka Sae Niijima. She’s the one investigating the cases, so she’s bound to have something on her computer. With a little program that Futaba has written, the task of getting said data is left with an apprehensive Makoto.

The Thieves who attend Hanasaki (basically everyone at this point excluding Futaba, Morgana and Yusuke) are also heading out on their class trip next week, so that needs to be done pretty soon. Ren’s still kind of surprised that the location is Hawaii of all places, but he’s really not going to complain about it.

Please take note that Banri can’t go on the school trip due to rehearsals. Yes, he’s pissed off about it. Ren decides it would be best not to bring it up on Saturday when Autumn Troupe moves in. He urges Yusuke to keep his mouth shut about his own class trip to L.A. too, just in case as the pair of them help the new troupe members move into the dorms.

Everyone’s moved in by the time dinner rolls around... but not everyone shows up for dinner. So, Ren is sent to check on the missing two -- Juza and Banri -- with Omi and Taichi tagging along. As Ren expected would happen sooner or later, the two of them are fighting each other... and not just verbally this time, either. Fist involved and everything.

Ren... really doesn’t think before he acts in this case. While Omi manages to restrain Juza and pull him back. Ren’s body kind of moves on its own and Joker takes over. It’s like he’s ambushing a Shadow in the Metaverse when he manages to knock Banri to the floor and keep him there. It takes Ren a second to realize what he did, and with Taichi’s help, they eventually force Banri out of the room.

While Ren hopes that move he pulled off will keep Banri from trying to fight him for some time, it did come with a downside. Taichi is more nervous around him.

Later that night in a video chat with the other Thieves, Ren is reassured by Makoto and Ryuji that Taichi’s not gonna be scared of him forever. Ren’s only terrifying when fighting Shadows. Outside, he’s like a cat. Using Morgana as an example helps, especially since everyone in the troupe seems to love him.

On the plus side, Makoto also managed to snag the data from Sae’s laptop. Over the next week while they’re all on their class trips, Futaba will be going through it all to see what she can find out that will be helpful to them.

Chapter 7: My Portrait, II

Time returns to the interrogation room when Ren’s story is brought to a halt by Sae. Ren’s partially slipped up in terms of telling Sae how they swiped the information that they had. The woman is smarter than she looks, easily figuring out that it was Makoto who did the deed. When questioned further, Ren says nothing.

He’s thinking about his team, his friends, his...

He’ll do anything he has to protect everyone that he cares about -- whether they be from the Phantom Thieves or from the Mankai Company. They trust him, after all. He has to believe in that trust or the show will be ruined before the final act.

He dismisses the notion, remembering what one of his friends told him while they were writing out the script for this little performance. He turns the question back on Sae, wondering why -- if Makoto really was a part of this -- she didn’t notice it at all. They do live together, don’t they? They are sisters. Sae falls quiet. This wasn’t something that Ren wanted to do, but if it’ll help him protect them, then he’ll do it.

Seeing the point his story has come to, Sae asks him about what happened the week of his class trip. Ren begins to recall what lead up to the school trip, and what exactly she’s talking about... and how despite what the police all concluded... the Phantom Thieves had no hand in it at all. How they weren’t responsible for his school’s principal’s death.

Chapter 8: The Economist’s Dictatorship

As Ren and Yusuke are packing for their class trips later that week, they and the rest of the Mankai Company are called down to the common area for an all-troupe meeting. Everyone is confused as to what’s going on, including Izumi. She wasn’t the one who called the meeting.

It was Sakyo, who’s kind of taken the reins from Izumi in terms of being in-charge. The dorms rules are being revamped due to the debt that the company is in. Every little bit counts, and Sakyo has made that very clear with the new rules he’s laid down. They’re even being timed for baths...

...Ren won’t admit this out loud to Yusuke, but there’s the possibility that Sakyo could help him with his own budget... seriously, he spends all his money on art supplies. It’s kind of concerning at this point. ...that would be if the rules he’s put in place weren’t as unreasonable as they were. Cutting the breakers at lights out? That’s pushing it.

Even if he is a part of the troupe now, there’s no way Sakyo is going to forget about their debt. The previous shows had brought it down a little, but it’s still not enough.

A ten million yen debt, changing society one heart at a time and trying to find a mysterious culprit behind the mental shutdowns and psychotic breakdowns. ...this isn’t something for teenagers to worry about, but here Ren and Yusuke are.

It is also during this conversation that it gets brought up what the Autumn Troupe thinks of the Phantom Thieves. Taichi thinks that they’re pretty dang cool. Juza only shrugs (Muku’s a fan of the Phantom Thieves, remember? He doesn’t wanna disagree), and Omi’s just one the fence because while they are helping people, he doesn’t like that no one knows how they’re doing it. Sakyo thinks they’re reckless morons. And finally, because of the stuff that happened at school (and with Kamoshida especially), Banri can’t say much about it. He’s neutral on that matter but refuses to admit that he is grateful for what they did to Kamoshida a few months back.

Say what you will about the Mankai boys in general, but we all know that they chug that Respect Women Juice. Banri included. He took no shit from Kamoshida, especially when it came to Ann and by extension, Shiho.

Chapter 9: Kame Buns

While Autumn Troupe starts their rehearsals, the group of Ren, Masumi, Ann and Ryuji head out on their class trip with Makoto and Sakuya there to supervise. Apparently some third years got roped into the trip this way because of all the drama going on around the school. The remaining members of Spring, Summer and Futaba are doing a pretty good job at keeping the rest updated on what’s going on back at home.

futaba primarily because she has bugged both kazunari’s and tsuzuru’s phones. only tsuzuru knows, but he’s not sure how to get rid of it.

So when they land and Ren gets the text that Banri was chosen for the leader of the Autumn Troupe, he is so glad that he’s currently in Hawaii. Dealing with that argument would’ve been a headache. Ann assures him that he is a decent guy under all the attitude. To her, maybe. Ren’s still only “Brat” in his mind.

He’s just kind of shoved all of that in the back of his mind. This is a trip, they’re supposed to have fun as a lot of people remind him. So. they spend the day on the beach. And even though they’re supposed to not be working, Ren’s mind wanders to the Phan Site when Kazunari sends him some screenshots about the latest rankings. Masumi and Ryuji do not help this at all.

Chapter 10: A Disinterested Man

The next day, a couple of things happen. Ren gets a bit concerned with how focused Ryuji is on the Phantom Thieves’ popularity because apparently that’s followed them here.

The next is that Yusuke shows up. Apparently, there was a storm over Los Angeles that wasn’t clearing up, forcing his class to land there. Which means that just about everyone’s together for this part of the class trip. Sakuya even tries to pull in another third year to join their group when he sees that she’s by herself, but that fails. and yes we’re talking about haru

That night, Masumi and Ryuji -- who is spending the night in Masumi’s and Ren’s room that night after being locked out of his own -- keep talking about the rankings on the Phan Site. The current #1 is a CEO by the name of Okumura who exploits his employees by doing things like underpaying staff.

Ren listens, but he really wishes that they would stop. At least Ann -- who was also locked out of her room and is now bunking with the boys -- seems to be on his side. It’s a trip. It’s a break from everything. They should worry about work when they get back. Thank you, Ann.

The last major thing is that Masumi ends up getting sick after drinking the tap water by accident. Never change, Masumi. Never change.

Chapter 11: A Mismatched Buddy Pair

Third and final day of the trip. I am not sure who Ren is going to spend this day with. At all. In the game, it’s either the guys or one of the girls that he has a confidant with. But I’m still not sure about if I’m gonna do a ship with Ren at this point.

So for fun, I’m just gonna say that he does spend time with someone. Yusuke repeatedly calls it a date that multiple people grill and tease Ren about a little. Ren refuses to say anything about who it was. Because I can’t make up my mind.

And so, the class trip comes to an end and the gang returns back to Japan. And yes, they did bring back souvenirs for just about everyone. Ren has a whole bag of them from Ann that he deposits on Banri’s lap. The only person that Ren can’t find is Tsuzuru, who has begun holing himself up in his room to write the script. Ren’s a bit excited to get a look at it and see what he’s planning since he was out while the discussion for it was going on.

Unfortunately, all that excitement flies out the window the next day when the Thieves return to class and receive some dark news: their school’s principal was killed. The current investigation leads police to believe that it was a suicide, but the circumstances surrounding it have the Thieves on edge. The whole thing played out exactly like a mental shutdown. Needless to say, they call a meeting and meet up at the dorms. They had too, anyway. Futaba has the data from Sae’s computer to show them.

It seems like luck that no one suspects that the Phantom Thieves are behind it, so that’s good at least. But it does seem like a lot of people are rooting for the Phantom Thieves to do something similar, aiming to fix society’s problems when they’re just a bunch of teenagers doing what they can to help people.

Trying to forget the weight of all that for just a moment, the meeting turns to the original topic at hand: the data concerning the mental shutdowns and psychotic breakdowns that Futaba mined from Sae’s computer. Most of the cases are believed to be tied back to the Okumura Foods Company, namely its CEO Kunikazu Okumura. This is the man who’s currently at the top of the poll on the Phan Site. While everyone was away, Futaba had put his name into the MetaNav and ended up getting a hit. He has a Palace.

For Ryuji, that’s good enough, but the rest of the thieves aren’t so sure. Just because the public is calling for it, doesn’t mean that they should follow. Besides, the comments that most people are making online are a bit concerning to most of them. They’re hesitating and nervous about what to do now.

And causes something inside of Morgana that Ren hadn’t noticed was there to snap, a lot of resentment and anger that the cat hasn’t let out before exploding outwards. And the target of it all is Morgana’s usual target for insults -- Ryuji.

Despite everyone -- Ren especially -- trying to calm the pair down, the argument they end up having just gets worse and worse. Morgana hasn’t just been insulting Ryuji, it’s been returned in kind whether Ryuji realizes it or not. And a lot of it has been coming from making Morgana feel like he’s becoming useless every time a new member joins the team.

Basically it’s a lot of shit that has been building up for a while that no one noticed finally getting out in the open in the worst way possible because neither Morgana or Ryuji are listening. Morgana eventually just gets fed up with it and leaves, saying that he’ll take care of the Palace by himself. Despite everyone’s calls, Morgana’s gone.

When Ren wakes up and Morgana is still nowhere to be seen, the first thing that he does is check in with the others and their dorms. He even searches the empty ones to see if the cat has retreated inside of them. No luck. The Spring and Summer Troupes help search for Morgana that afternoon along with most of the Phantom Thieves, but no one can find him anywhere. Ren is absolutely distraught by the whole thing and has stopped speaking to Ryuji altogether because of how upset he is. Ryuji thinks Ren is blowing this out of the water and Morgana will be back in no time.

Ryuji brings this up while he’s out looking for Morgana with the Summer Troupe. It’s not that surprising, as few of them note. Morgana’s almost always by Ren’s side or in his arms when he’s not prowling around the dormitory. He brings him to school for god’s sake. The troupe wonders why Morgana ran off in the first place, since while Ren does let him wonder, he never has left the dorms. Ryuji tries to explain the best he can since Kazunari’s the only one who probably would be able to get the whole truth. Needless to say, it comes down to “you had an argument with a cat”.

Ryuji is also reminded of something he told Tenma just a few weeks ago: yelling isn’t going to do anything. Talking things out will, and Ryuji did the exact opposite of that because of the Phantom Thieves popularity getting to his head... Ryuji’s starting to regret a lot of what he said, and that turns to a lot of regret when no one can find Morgana anywhere.

And yes, he’s gonna face the consequences of his actions here. Morgana will too, but in due time.

Meanwhile, someone breaks into Okumura Foods main office building. It doesn’t take long for the Phantom Thieves to realize that this is Morgana. So, the next day, they go to investigate. Luckily, the building is also Okumura’s Palace and Futaba figured out the keywords while everyone was gone. The thieves dive into the Palace -- a space station this time -- and begin their search for their missing member.

Along the way, they see that maybe the rankings on the Phan Site weren’t unfounded. The Palace is filled with burnt-out robots that are meant to represent how Okumura sees his employees in reality. They are tired and broken but keep on working until they literally fall apart. It’s a shitty situation, but the Thieves have a different mission right now. They need to find Morgana before making any other moves.

It doesn’t take them very long to find Morgana... or rather, for Morgana to find them. The Thieves are barred from going on any further by a door that has a biometric lock to it. Only those registered in the system can get passed it. While they try to figure out what to do, a voice calls out to them. It’s a girl in a Phantom Thief costume like theirs and wearing a black mask.

At first, they suspect that she’s the one who’s been behind the mental shutdowns due to the fact that they only clue they have so far is that they’ve been wearing a black mask. But then Morgana shows up alongside her. Apparently, this is his new partner that he introduces as “Beauty Thief”. Much like the Phantom Thieves, she is a Persona User, too (though Futaba notes that her Persona isn’t very strong compared to theirs).

It’s quickly made apparent that this girl... really has no idea what she’s doing. She’s primarily repeating what Morgana has told her for the most part. The one thing that does surprise the Thieves, however, is that the girl is able to get through the biometric lock blocking their path. There’s no time to ask about that, as the team has to split up when it’s revealed that a horde of Shadows was waiting for them on the other side. Everyone returns home for the day with the promise to talk about what the heck just happened once everyone is at their homes again.

When Ren and Yusuke get back to the dorms, Ren explains their absence as them going out to look for Morgana again after school with the Thieves. It’s not a total lie, since that’s what they were actually doing. But no one needs to know exactly where he was looking.

Unfortunately, while everyone accepts that and understands that, there’s one person who’s confused about what the hell Ren keeps looking for Morgana so much.

“It’s just a cat,” says Banri without thinking about what he’s saying, “I don’t see what the problem--” Bam.

Ren’s finally snapped and has punched Banri in the face. Yeah, he’s not taking any of his shit today. Banri does get the fight he’s been wanting, but at what cost? ...to be honest, it’s mostly just Banri trying to get a hit in and Ren’s Joker instincts taking over. He’s mad enough that at this point, if he could, he would’ve summoned Arsene in the real world.

It takes Omi, Juza and Yusuke prying the two apart for Ren to calm down. He’s pushed out of the dorms by Taichi and Yusuke, who suggest taking another look around to see if Morgana’s wondered home. Ren knows that he hasn’t. He doesn’t know if he ever will. But this is mostly an effort to get Ren to cool off. He’s just so done.

Ironically, two good things come out of this fight. The first is that Banri finally got the fight that he wanted, and realizes “holy shit, what the fuck is this kid?” Banri also gets smacked upside the head and lectured about the whole thing. The company is pissed over Banri’s comment, not just Ren. Morgana’s been at the company since Spring Troupe, so a lot of the members have become used to the cat’s presence and have grown to care about him, too.

The second good thing is that Taichi starts to relax around Ren. As Izumi explains to Banri and how Yusuke & Ren explain to Taichi, Morgana was a stray that Ren had taken in and had been with him since his probation started. Ren loves Morgana, which is why he’s so upset that Morgana is gone and why he’s not talking to Ryuji -- who is responsible for it and is trying to make things better. It’s that story about Ren adopting Morgana that gets Taichi to let his guard down around Ren. Maybe the rumors were wrong after all.

Once everyone has calmed down, Taichi, Ren and Yusuke head back to the dorms. Before the latter two head upstairs to the attic to call and talk to the thieves about what happened in the Palace, though, there's the little matter of Banri's and Ren’s fight to deal with. They're not going to get out of it so easily and there's one other person who has had enough of their crap.

Needless to say, the handcuffs get pulled out slightly earlier than they do in canon, as Sakyo handcuffs Ren and Banri together as punishment for their actions. Banri and Juza are bad, but Banri's ability to get under Ren's skin like he has been is a major issue. Sakyo has the slightest bit of mercy to release them in the mornings for school, but that's it. The moment that both boys are back at the Mankai dorms, the handcuffs are going back on.

So the entire "meeting" has to take place over text because Banri can't know about the Phantom Thieves. Ann drives this point home, saying he would lose his shit if he knew she was involved. The whole situation with Kamoshida made him fairly protective.

Ren is dragged down to Room 104 (Banri’s and Juza’s room) since Banri refuses to sleep in the attic. Over text, there is one thing that they can agree on: most of them have seen Beauty Thief before. Specifically at Hanasaki. They’ll deal with it tomorrow because Ann stop laughing about the handcuffs, it’s not funny. I can’t pick the lock, IT’S NOT FUNNY--

Meanwhile, Hell begins. Ren and Banri are butting heads even more since Ren drags him out of bed that morning for rehearsals against his will. It is not fun, Izumi’s starting to think that this was a mistake because of how different the two are when it comes to acting. Banri lacks a passion for it -- initially auditioning to prove that he was better at something than Juza. Ren, on the other hand, is passionate despite having stage fright.

When Banri finds out about Ren’s stage fright during rehearsal that day, the idea of sticking them together only worsens. Banri doesn’t understand Ren’s fear of criticism and being torn down because of how easy things have been for him. Ren’s ready to call him out on this shit without hesitation. Like I said, he’s lost all fucks when it comes to Banri. They start fighting about it, getting under each other’s skin because Ren has been working on his stage fright with using the Metaverse as a stage and the others Thieves as his audience. But there’s nothing he can say about it. Their argument continues to get worse when Banri calls Ren a coward for getting upset about something that’s so easy to do. They are both freed and sent out the door to school before the fight could get worse.

During lunch that day, Ren, Ryuji, Ann and Makoto search through the student records to find the face that closely matches their Beauty Thief. With the unique hairstyle that she has, it doesn’t take long to find her: one third year named Haru Okumura, Kunikazu Okumura’s daughter.

Ren and Banri both accidentally run into her outside of the school after classes end (Ren was waiting for everyone else so they could walk home together and possibly confront Haru there as well). The two boys avoid talking to each other the whole time, still on thin ice after last night. Ren feels lucky that Banri quickly leaves, having enough of being around Ren at the dorms that he doesn't want to deal with him at school (which confuses Haru a little bit, he’s helped her with her gardening supplies before). Now alone, Ren takes the opportunity to ask Haru about what happened last night. And so, Haru explains.

The night that Morgana had left, Haru had found him out on the street. She followed him towards the office building and accidentally got pulled into the Metaverse with him. He gave her the chance to change her father’s heart and possibly make her relationship with him a little better. When Ren suggests that maybe they could do that together, Haru declines. The Phantom Thieves are too much in the public eye, and to her, they seemed to be focused more on that then helping their own teammate (Morgana).

Ren, though hurt to hear that, steps down. It doesn’t seem like Morgana is going to come home at this point. All he says before leaving is to take care of Morgana for him, and that to let him know that the rest of the troupe misses him, too. Not just the Thieves. Haru is a bit confused by this since right now, she doesn’t know that Ren’s a part of the Mankai Company. She knows about it because of the publicity surrounding Romeo and Julius and say what you will, but I can see Haru going to see plays and the like from time to time. Because Mankai is such a small company, she has to sneak out to see their performances because they’re frowned upon. But she really enjoys seeing them. She just doesn’t know that Ren is a part of it, unlike Makoto who figured it out herself from small context clues.

Anyway, back to the situation at hand. The Phantom Thieves are at a lost as to what to do now, and Ren is notably upset during Autumn Troupe’s rehearsals that afternoon. Banri thinks its girl troubles when it comes up since he saw Ren talking to Haru earlier, but Ren just says that it’s not something that he’d be able to understand, bringing it around back to Morgana. Banri goes quiet. He still doesn’t get why the hell Ren’s so upset about the cat when cats are meant to wander like that. There are a lot of them on the streets, anyway. Ren says nothing. Morgana’s more than just a cat. He's a friend. A friend that Ren is deeply worried about.

The next day is when things take a turn. The Thieves have noticed that someone’s completing Mementos requests on the Phan Site, and quickly deduce that it’s most likely Haru and Morgana. They want a chance to talk with Morgana to make things right (mostly Ryuji, who at this point realizes how much he’s fucked up), as well as to warn Haru to be careful when it comes to dealing with heart changes in Mementos. Taking them all on like this could draw unwanted attention, too.

This actually works when they find them, but Ryuji’s apology... not so much. It leads to a goose chase with the Thieves trying to track down and talk to Morgana, as well as Ren and Ryuji finally talking to each other again and Ryuji admitting that he really did fuck up and apologizing for letting things going to his head. By the time that happens, Haru and Morgana have already left Mementos.

The Phantom Thieves leave shortly after, trying to figure out what to do and if they can still catch up to Haru and Morgana in reality. ...they’re able to, but only when they’re drawn to a side street by the sound of Morgana’s whines. They race over to find Morgana laying against a wall and Haru being accosted by some rich-looking man that introduces himself as Haru’s fiancé when the thieves try to step in. Haru eventually manages to pull herself free and the man leaves. He wasn’t lying about their relationship, but Haru is also shaking and on the verge of tears. Morgana’s also injured, as the man had kicked him into the wall when he tried to defend Haru.

It’s decided that the best course of action is to take both back to the Mankai dorms to regroup, as well as take care of Morgana’s injuries. It’s the least likely place that they’re going to be found, anyway.

When they get there, the Hana High boys are surprised to see Haru, but the switch is swiftly flipped into panic mode when they realize how upset that Haru looks.

Ren goes to pull Izumi to the side to talk to her about something while Sakuya immediately tries to figure out what’s going on and make Haru feel better, but Sakyo gets to him first. Dragging Banri behind him, Sakyo locks the pair together again or at least tries to because right now, it’s a meeting with the Phantom Thieves that needs to happen and Ren’s not doing it over text again. It's Haru's turn to be surprised, but the handcuff thing is explained quickly to her as the more familiar troupe members (i.e. Sakuya and Masumi) and Izumi help her calm down. Morgana, who is hearing all this, now realizes how much Ren actually cares about him. He regrets running away now.

The whole time, Ren is dodging Sakyo like he’s a Shadow in the Metaverse. He has no found a way to pick the lock on the handcuffs, and he is not letting Banri in on the Phantom Thieves’ meeting, so “let me just go this once, come on!”

But the need to take care of Morgana’s injury and talk about what had happened is really, really great right now. And with Ren having not found a way to break the handcuffs or pick the lock (he has tried multiple times and failed to), there’s kind of little to no choice. Ren apologizes before sprinting up to the attic and locking the door behind him, promising that he’ll put them on in an hour if Sakyo just leaves him alone “please this is important, get away from the door!”

It takes a few minutes for Izumi to get Sakyo to leave Ren alone long enough that the Thieves and Haru can get up to the attic. It’s there that they can finally talk about what happened.

Morgana has realized that there’s no way getting around the fact that the deal he made with the Thieves is no longer fair. There’s no guarantee that he’ll get turned back into a human like he believes, so what’s the point? They should split up. It’s then that the Thieves remind him of something: that’s not all they’re fighting for. Everyone’s joined the team for different reasons.

Thanks to Haru’s words about how she really feels towards her fiancé (she hates him with a burning passion to be precise) it comes out that Morgana wanted to be acknowledged by the others so that he could stay. He’s welcome no matter what, though. He’s a part of their little circle. And what happened that week only proved that. It’s here that Ryuji actually apologizes for what happened and vice versa. Morgana wants to stay with everyone if they’ll let him. And they will. Their deal is remade and the team is back together, and this time with one more added to their ranks.

The second that Ren’s back down is when Sakyo slaps the cuffs on him again, much to his dismay. Banri tries to get under Ren’s skin again to find out what the hell the whole escape/acrobatics act was all about, but Ren’s keeping tight lipped on this one, confusing Banri a little. The hell was so important that he needed to slip out like that?

...kid’s got balls, he’ll say that much, but this pretty much is perfect material in Banri’s eyes to keep calling him a brat. Even if he manages to talk Izumi into letting Haru spend the night because she doesn’t want to go home after what happened with her fiancé (he doesn’t say that specifically out of privacy, just that there was some stuff going on).

With Morgana back, he does sleep in the same bed as Ren again. Ren wakes up holding back snickers when he sees Banri sort of curled around Morgana in his sleep, despite his protests about the cat getting anywhere near him last night. He takes a picture of it before waking both up that morning.

The rest of the day goes on as normal, with Haru returning home and the Thieves trying to figure out through text conversation what their next move is: if they should definitely choose Okumura as their next target or not. However, as the day goes on, that choice is quickly made when Haru calls Ren asking if she could come back to the dorm. In the chat, he soon sees why. After last night, Haru’s father has decided to send her to live with her fiancé without regard for what she wants, as well as knowing full well what Haru would be subjected to if that happened. Concerned for Haru’s safety, Okumura becomes their next target. The only issue now is Haru’s Persona -- unlike the others, it is incredibly weak and doesn’t even have a physical form. But she can fight with the weapons that they use. Ren just has to go and get them... as soon as he’s not handcuffed to Banri anymore.

When Haru turns up at the dorms again, so do Ann and Futaba to try and help her get her mind off of what’s going on, and after last night, there’s very little room for the company to argue. But that doesn’t stop Ren from snickering when he overhears Citron, Itaru and Banri getting their asses handed to them by a few players in their game that go by the usernames “Carmen”, “Alibaba” and “Beauty Thief” (coincidentally, Ann and Futaba are snickering every time the boys meet with trouble and Haru’s finally smiling again).

When Taichi enters the room, Ren takes notice that he quickly tries to backtrack when he spots Haru. However, it’s a little too late and Haru has already noticed him. She looks a bit confused and asks Taichi if they've met before, but he stutters over his words and waves it off as a no. Ren is curious, but before he can ask about what that was about, Tsuzuru stumbles into the room with the finished script in hand... and collapses promptly on the floor, making the Phantom Thieves (excluding Yusuke, Ren and Futaba) and Autumn Troupe concerned. They’re relieved to find out he’s just exhausted from non-stop writing for the entire week, and it hits Ren that holy crap. This has all just been one week. But with the script done, they get into The Roman Episode.

Ren’s a little surprised to learn that the play -- an action pact story about two gangsters -- has Banri and Juza as the main leads when neither can get along like their characters do. When this point comes up, it leads to Juza and Banri arguing once more. And once again, Sakyo is left with no choice.

Next thing they know, Sakyo has handcuffed Banri and Juza together in order to make them work together. So now, the situation is like this: Ren is handcuffed to Banri’s left hand and Juza's stuck to him on his right. The situation has gotten worse.

...And Ann finally falls out of her seat in a fit of laughter. Ren wishes he could laugh as well, but seeing as he's stuck here, too... oh boy. This is gonna be harder than he thought.

If they're to tackle Okumura's Palace, Ren’s gonna need to either tell Banri and Juza about the Phantom Thieves or hope that the brief time he has away from them after school will be enough. Either way, he's in trouble.

Chapter 12: Jailhouse Rock

The day is hell. Ren had just gotten his life back together and now it is hell again thanks to two people who shall remain-- it’s Banri Settsu and Juza Hyodo. Ren is trying to plan a heist while getting pulled around by these two. He’s not sure who Banri is worse with -- him or Juza. Either way, this whole thing is a mess and Ren just wants to be done with it. But no matter how hard he (or Morgana) try, they can’t pick the lock. The lock is supposed to be easy to unlock, why isn’t this working?!

Because he’s stuck with them, he sends the others into Mementos to train up a little and help Haru get the hang of Shadows (and maybe find a weapon type that she could possibly use) while he heads out to pick up first aid supplies. That’s the least suspicious thing he can do, anyway. It’s harder than he expects to drag those two out of the house with him, but since he’s the troupe’s gofer most of the time, all it takes is pulling the Izumi Card to convince them to go with him.

Speaking of Izumi, the boys run into her just as they’re prepared to leave as well. So they end up going with her for the most part. Hey, whatever gets things to go easier, Ren’s willing to do at this point. ...or at least, they’ve would’ve gone with her if it weren’t for someone swiping her bag the second that they step out into the street. Both Juza and Ren take off after him, dragging Banri along with them.

It doesn’t take long for Banri to start arguing with Juza, though. Because of the situation, Ren tells Banri and Juza to get their heads out of their asses and move. Instincts have taken over and now Joker's leadership has started to come out. He even calls them codenames that he made up on the spot... which honestly, aren’t really codenames, Ren’s just calling them by their characters’ names. It does work, though.

The three are soon able to work together to head off the thief before he can get too far. When the thief throws a punch at Juza, though... all bets are off. Ren’s not really able to fight back here because of his probation, but he does go with the flow of Banri’s movements to keep him unrestricted, and Banri does actually take into account that Ren can’t take part in this fight too.

By the time Izumi -- as well as Omi and Taichi -- have caught up to them, the thief has already been dealt with. Ren returns to the purse to her, claiming that the thief had wiped out on his own by the time that they caught up to him.

When they get home and tell Sakyo what happened, he finally gives in to the boys’ demands to remove the handcuffs... especially seeing as all three finally worked together. It is a relief to have use of both of his hands again and not have to worry about Banri or Juza looking over his shoulder anymore.

Though... despite the fact that they can work in sync now, Banri and Juza still take to butting heads with each other. However, all it takes to clear that up is another threat of using the handcuffs again. Ren is just happy to be free... and to be able to sleep in his own bed again.

Chapter 13: A Source of Change

Thanks to the trip into Mementos the day before, Haru is hyped and ready to go. And while they haven’t been able to plan out the chance for her to get a better feel for the Metaverse... that and to see if they could awaken her Persona’s full potential. While the former goes off without a hitch, the latter... yeah, they’re going to need to work on that. Luckily, Haru’s found that Ryuji’s weapons seems to handle really well in her hands. For the time being, they’ll be switching off until Ren can take her to Untouchable to get something that suits her best.

That, and Haru wants to fight on the front lines when they get into her father’s Palace. It’s hard to argue with her. Plus, while going through, they finally pick out a codename for her, too. Things go pretty smoothly with their infiltration so far... that is, until the team runs into Okumura’s Shadow, as well as the cognitive version of Haru’s fiancé.

It’s here that Haru is faced with the truth about her father -- what he is really like. How he only thinks about his wins and losses, sees people as tools for his own personal gain... and how he sees her as nothing but a tool, either. He doesn’t care about her feelings at all, willing to leave her to her fiancé to do whatever he wants with.

And as the cognition steps forward, something inside Haru snaps. This was it. This was the push that she needed. Before the cognition can even lay a hand on her, Haru’s Persona awakens to its full potential. Milady comes to her User’s defense, unleashing a massive amount of hellish gunfire on the enemy. Haru manages to take it down by herself, stunning the team. Holy shit, that is a tank.

Despite not being an awakening like a majority of the team’s, it still does take a lot out of Haru because of the massive amount of power she just put out. The Phantom Thieves are forced to retreat for the time being to allow her to recover.

The next morning, before practice, Ren makes plans to go on a supply run with Haru that afternoon, giving her a little more time to take a break and possibly to pick up weapons of her own so she and Ryuji won’t have to bounce back and forth with his anymore. With her Persona now ready to go, things should be smoother for her, and possibly having her own weapons to use would help that.

When rehearsal starts, Banri is a no-show. For the time being, Ren steps in to fill his role. This is partially because there’s no one else to do it, and partially because Ren is determined to show Banri what-for and get over his stage fright. He isn't a coward, he's got this.

Banri only really gets up out of bed just as everyone’s eating breakfast that morning. He needs to pull his act together. He might be the best now, but that’s not going to last long.

Later that night, after a quick supply run and picking up Haru’s weapons (Ren is still stunned that the two she chose were an axe and a grenade launcher, but she was comfortable with them, and he wasn’t going to argue), Ren returns to the dorms just after dinner. He’s not at all surprised to find Juza in the courtyard trying to rehearse his lines, especially since his roommate is... well, Banri.

Juza’s also the one most passionate about acting among Autumn Troupe, even though his skills could use a lot of work. Ren offers to help Juza with his lines. He had done so for the other troupes as well -- Ren bringing up Muku as an example and Juza going suspiciously quiet. Ren gets that passion and drive that Juza has and wants to see it.

Chapter 14: His Name is Kamikizaka

Palace infiltration continues, and Ren thinks that this might be the toughest Palace yet. Seriously, those Shadows are rarely giving them peace and seeing what they do... yeah, Okumura’s mind is a messed up place.

That afternoon, after they finally make it through the Palace and have their route set, Ren and Yusuke walk home with Haru, as both are going the same way and Yusuke wants to discuss the calling card with Haru. It is here that they run into the Autumn Troupe and Izumi out and about doing some streets acts for rehearsal... and Reni Kamikizaka and Haruto from God Troupe. Their last encounter still has a sour taste in Ren’s mouth.

It’s also here that the God Troupe members finally learn Ren’s full name. It is also revealed here that Haru’s family is one of the sponsors for God Troupe -- she’s been to see their shows before. Though the productions are expensive looking and decent, she openly admits to preferring Mankai’s shows better because of how much they put into their storytelling and how much fun they seem to be having.

Ren, Yusuke and Haru walk back with the rest of the company. Unfortunately, though, everyone’s steering clear of Autumn Troupe because of their outward appearances. Omi included, which Ren finds a bit weird because he knows that Omi is one of the sweetest people in the whole company. Not even Haru can make them look better. though that might be because of the axe that she’s trying to conceal. Ren would suggest putting Yusuke at the front, but considering how he MET Yusuke... yeah, that might be a bad move overall.

Chapter 15: On Love, Autumn Edition

With Haru’s help, Yusuke and Ryuji both manage to make the calling card in record time and get it deliver straight to their target’s desk. They dive into the Palace after school. As expected at this point, the Phantom Thieves are confronted by Okumura’s Shadow. While he tries to appeal to and manipulate Haru and Morgana to some extent into betraying the Phantom Thieves, neither are willing to have their minds changed.

Thought the battle is long and difficult as hell, the Phantom Thieves are triumphant by the end of it. As the Shadow breaks down, the Thieves manage to get a little out of him about their mysterious Black Mask: whoever they are, they’re a mercenary that Okumura had been contracting in order to wipe out his competition via mental shutdowns. And that’s all they’re able to get as they swipe the Treasure and the Palace starts to fall. Haru, unlike the others, is worried about her father’s Shadow and is lingering behind, hesitant to leave.

Ren urges Haru not to look back and hurry as the Palace collapses around them. Her father and his Shadow will be fine, but they have to go now, or they won’t be. Though hesitant, Haru nods and the Phantom Thieves rush out of the Palace. Ren, in the coming weeks, will come to greatly regret the decision to do this.

When they return to reality, they give Haru the Treasure’s true form to hold onto for the time being. They also have a bit more information on the mental shutdown culprit, especially since Okumura did reveal that he knew who it was. All they have to wait for now is for him to spill the beans. Things are actually looking up.

So when Ren, Morgana and Yusuke get back to the dorms, they’re in a pretty good mood... until they’re chastised by Sakyo for getting home so late. He’s already in a bad mood for arguing with Yuki about costumes, which the middle schooler refused to budge on the budget and Ren really wished he could’ve seen.

As the boys relax and Ren lets Morgana out of the bag, the topic on conversation turns from the costume budget to their first crushes, as they were talking about how Yuki reminded Taichi of his first crush just before the three Thieves arrived. Ren teases Taichi a little about this until the question gets turned on him.

If Ren is in a relationship or crushing on someone at this point (i have yet to figure out what exactly i’m going to do with that), Yusuke won’t hesitate to say something on the matter. The company takes all the chances they can to tease Ren. Ren is not amused. Morgana calls it karma for him teasing Taichi.

The conversation continues, with Yusuke even getting pulled into the Q&A, though his answer isn’t as pleasing to the group because his is more related to works of art than anything. Ren finds it interesting though, that Sakyo actually does answer the question, albeit partially since he never revealed who it was.

The next morning, the good nature in the air from last night is quickly dissipated when a letter is found outside of Mankai’s mailbox. Someone’s sent them a note saying that if they don’t call off Autumn Troupe’s show, then something bad will happen. Ren briefly wonders if it was the work of someone that he made his enemy as a Phantom Thief. However, he’s quickly reminded that that’s impossible. He made sure to keep those two lives as separate as possible to avoid things like this happening. He wants to protect Mankai, after all. It’s the least he can do after all they’ve done for him.

No one seems to be that worried about the letter, too, which helps put him at ease. With how it was made, it looks like nothing but a prank. When Ren asks if Morgana saw anything, the cat can’t reply. He wasn’t prowling the dorms; he was up in the attic with him all night. Still, if someone tries something, the rest of the company can easily knock them down. Just to be safe, Ren asks Morgana to keep an eye out and report back if he sees anything suspicious.

Chapter 16: One-Man Shows

With the Palace no longer being an issue and all that the Thieves really have left to do is waiting for Okumura to have his change of heart, Ren’s free to attend afternoon rehearsals again.

Yuzo decides to swing by and check out the new Autumn Troupe, much to Sakyo’s annoyance. Seeing as he helped with Spring and Summer, it only makes sense for him to keep doing the same for the rest of the troupes.

And like the troupes that came before them, not even Autumn is free from getting torn apart by Yuzo. The roles were written specifically for these five, but with the way they’re acting, there’s not a trace of them in their characters at all. In order to fix this, Yuzo suggests having them doing portraits -- a short, five-minute biopic on themselves that they write themselves. Once they’re done, they’ll be performing them before an audience at the troupe that Yuzo runs. And the topic? Their biggest regrets. To up the ante, the audience will also be voting on who put on the best show. They have two weeks.

Later that night, Ren gets pulled down from the attic by Juza to help out with his portrait, eventually getting joined by Sakyo and Omi outside in the courtyard. As they discuss the topic that Autumn Troupe was given, Ren is asked what his biggest regret is, or if he even has one. Before, Ren would’ve said that it would be getting put on probation. But looking back on it, that’s what lead him to where he is now. Honestly, though, it comes back to his stage fright.

The fact that he lets other people dictate how he sees one of the two things that he’s most passionate about... that he lets their thoughts take grip like that... if he could change it, he would. If he could let go of the grip that other people’s words have on him, he would, but it’s something that he’s having difficulty getting over. Letting his nerves keep him quiet is the one thing that he regrets the most... for now.

Chapter 17: My Portrait, III

In the interrogation room, Ren takes a pause with his story. His head has begun to hurt, and he’s figured out that it’s not because of the beating that he took. Especially since Sae has figured out that something is up, too.

Ren’s beginning to pause randomly and wince as if in pain, and his words are starting to slur. He had been drugged with something prior to the interrogation, the only thing that Ren can recall it being was something that was to make him tell the truth. Everything was a blur, really... his vision was starting to distort, and he’s having a hard time recalling the script that he had studied for weeks up until this moment.

But after all... as Ren has learned, the show must go on. He has to get through this if everything’s to turn out right... and if he’s to protect those he’s grown to hold close to his heart. And so, he reassures Sae that he is fine and continues his story.

Chapter 18: Progress Report

The next couple of days fly by with rehearsals and Autumn Troupe working on their portraits. Eventually, it’s become October and Ren swears that the last month has felt much longer than it actually seemed to be. Yuzo’s coming around that afternoon to check up on everyone’s portraits, seeing as now they were being performed in almost a week.

However... life likes to screw Ren over, as is obvious by now. He meets with Sumire, the first-year gymnast that Ren had met back in May, outside of the subway station. She seems upset about something and had dropped something earlier, but before Ren can return her belongings, the boys and her are both suddenly pulled into the Metaverse and Mementos

Ren double checks his phone for the MetaNav. His phone never turned it on, leaving on Sumire to be the culprit. Unfortunately, he and Morgana have been separated from her. They dive into Mementos and eventually find Sumire. When they do, there’s a figure standing in front of her. It looks fairly similar to Sumire herself with golden eyes. It’s her Shadow -- one that by the looks of it, is ready to step up and become the ruler of a Palace.

The Shadow taunts Sumire to some extent, calling her a ‘fake’ and how she’s made her whole life up to be a lie just be like ‘her’. Be someone that she could never be, blaming herself for things that were out of her control and trying to fill in a void and only making it grow bigger. Ren watches in horror as Sumire argues saying that it’s better this way. That she should’ve been the one to die instead and not ‘her’. Recalling from previous conversations that he’s had with her, Ren guesses that ‘her’ is Sumire’s sister, Kasumi -- a gymnast like her who shared the same dream but died in a car accident back in the beginning of spring.

Sumire is plagued by her own intrusive thoughts about not being good enough, not being Kasumi and blaming herself for her sister’s death since Kasumi wouldn’t have died if she hadn’t pushed Sumire out of the way. Shadows rise up to attack them, and Ren can recall what happened in the case of Futaba’s Shadow and her Palace as he and Morgana go to fight, Sumire’s Shadow doing the best it can to protect the real Sumire.

Ren’s able to talk to her. He’s willing to argue that if they got another chance to replay the day, Kasumi would still save her. And this is something that the Shadow knows. Kasumi had loved Sumire and was willing to sacrfice herself for her. Pretending to be someone that she’s not is clearly hurting her. This is something that Sumire already knows. She wants to see their dream become a reality, that’s why tried to make herself more like Kasumi.

With the help of her Shadow and Ren’s encouragement, Sumire breaks. She knows that she could never be like Kasumi, and that’s because she’s not. People have been trying to get her to act more like Kasumi from the pressure that’s been put upon her. But she’s not. She’s Sumire Yoshizawa, and that’s who her sister would want her to be. Much to Ren’s surprise, she awakens a Persona of her own upon accepting her Shadow -- Cendrillion.

Together, the three of them manage to take down the Shadows and get out of Mementos quickly -- mostly because Sumire just awakened and is drained. After making sure that she’s okay, Ren makes a mental note to bring this up after Okumura’s change of heart.

Morgana tries to persuade Sumire to join the Phantom Thieves, seeing as her help would be a great asset to them. However, Sumire declines. She wants to focus on her gymnastics for now, and make sure that her dream and Kasumi’s both come true. Ren understands but assures her that the offer still stands if she changes her mind. He walks with her to the station before heading back to the dorms.

Chapter 19: A Distinct Gap

And by the time that Ren gets back to the dorms, it’s... late. Like, rehearsal is almost over, and Ren missed everyone’s portraits but Banri’s and Taichi’s late. He apologizes quickly and admits that he got caught up in a little... something... on his way home from school. He’s only lucky that no one asks any further questions.

He watches Taichi’s and Banri’s performances with Yuzo and Izumi, and after seeing those two, he hopes that the other three have done better. Taichi’s felt like there was something missing, and Banri’s... According to the other two with him, Ren’s right. Banri ranked the lowest out of all three, with Juza’s so far being the best one. The primary reason for that?

It was easy to tell that the story Banri told was fake. It was rushed, and there wasn’t an ounce of truth to it. It honestly made Ren want to smack Banri with the script if he doesn’t get his ass in gear soon. When it comes to performing these, he will lose. Ren just wants him to take this as seriously as the rest of them do. It isn’t a game like he thinks it is. At this point, if Banri can see that, well that would be good enough for him.

Chapter 20: My Portrait, IV

With the point that Ren’s gotten up to in his story, there are still questions that are left unsolved for Sae. Where they responsible for what happened to Okumura? And what about their next target? Why did the Phantom Thieves target that person of all people?

Ren wants to explain, he wants to, but it’s getting harder. Whatever he was shot up with is starting to wear off and fatigue is getting to him. But he’s still pushing onward and answering Sae’s questions. Seeing him push himself like this is worrying the prosecutor. But Ren is determined to finish his story. He needs to do this, after all. And besides... they’re getting the part that Ren needs to tell Sae about the most.

And it all leads up to Ren’s biggest regret... not opening his eyes up sooner to the truth.

Chapter 21: Move-Out Notice

The day starts normally, but things start to look up when Haru tells the Phantom Thieves that her father is planning a press conference that night. It appears that he’s finally had his change of heart, planning on confessing his crimes to the public. In order to celebrate, the Thieves make plans to watch it from an amusement park that Okumura had previously rented out for a cancelled party, as well as to have a more intimate one during their school festival at the end of the month. However, this is als ot he same day as the portrait performances.

Ren manages to talk his way out of this one, since this technically counts as a rehearsal and not a show. The only condition is that he makes a quick prop run to get the model guns that Yuki and the Autumn Troupe need for the show after school. Ren quickly agrees. Sakyo, though, sends Sakoda with him to get them saying that Ren could use the extra help (really this is to get Sakoda out of his hair, but details.) Ren tries to protest since Untouchable is shady and he doesn’t want anyone knowing that he’s been there but arguing with Sakyo is like arguing with a brick wall half of the time.

Ren has no idea about Iwai’s connections to the yakuza at this point, but he gets the hint that something might be up when Untouchable’s manager is on edge around Sakoda.

As expected, Sakoda does rat Ren out to Sakyo about where he had gotten the models. It raises a red flag for Sakyo, who starts to get suspicious about what the fuck Mankai’s resident troublemaker is doing in his spare time. However, that is to be dealt with later. Because right before Sakyo can grill Ren as the boy is getting ready to leave in order to meet up with the rest of the Thieves, Banri announces that he’s leaving the Mankai Company with bags packed and everything.

There’s nothing that the Autumn Troupe can say to change his mind (not like Sakyo is even trying). Ren, frankly, is kind of stunned. Banri seemed so set on beating Juza at this... even though he’s confident that he already won, it seems like he’s just giving up. He doesn’t seem like the type to half-ass anything, and after getting to know him this past month...

That, and when Banri leaves Ren free to take his role, it leaves a sour taste in Ren’s mouth. After all, at this point, he’s pretty sure that Ren knows the lines better than he does. And that’s it for Ren. The roles at Mankai are written specifically for the actors. Switching roles isn’t as easy as it sounds.

And so, Ren follows after Banri as he leaves out of the dorm.

Chapter 22: Rekindling

When Ren catches up to Banri, the latter is confused about why the hell the brat is following him and trying so damn hard to get him to stay. He gets to finally prove that he’s not a coward and stand on stage. Ren refuses to let this get under his skin and tries to direct it back at Banri by asking why he wasn’t seeing things through to the end. After spending a month with the guy and handcuffed to him for a couple of days, Ren can tell he’s not really the type of person to leave things only half-done.

...that, and he had tried for months to get Ren to fight him until he finally accomplished that. When Kamoshida was still a teacher at their school, he stood in his way and never once backed down despite the risks. He was hellbent on beating Juza, and now he’s just decided that he’s won without really trying? It doesn’t sound right.

Ren actually provokes Banri a bit, thinking that the latter is just afraid that Juza might actually beat him again when it comes to this, too. Ann had told him about their fight a while ago when he asked her why they didn’t get along. Banri’s avoiding trying to get beaten in public again. It’s a matter of his pride, his hubris and Icarus is getting closer to the sun by running away rather than staying.

Barni doesn’t even try to argue. He takes it as a challenge. And, seeing as Ren doesn’t really need a ticket to the portrait performance, he gives Banri his. If Banri is going to see this as a challenge, then Ren’s going to play it like one. If after seeing Autumn Troupe’s portraits, he still wants to leave, Ren won’t try to stop him again. Banri takes the deal.

When Ren later tells the Thieves about this while they wait for the press conference to start, some of them finds it amusing that that was what Ren chose to get into Banri’s head and get him to listen. Haru even giggles a little. Ann’s just glad to see her cousin and her friend finally starting to get along. Ren... didn’t realize that they were, but thinking about it in hindsight...

Before Ren can think about it anymore, the press conference starts. Futaba boots up the stream on her laptop and the Thieves gather around to watch. Okumura confesses to his crimes against his employees and his unethical business practices. But when it comes time for the man to confess to contracting mental shutdowns, something... happens.

Okumura doubles over, clutching his chest as his eyes roll into the back of his head. Black goo, much like what made up the Shadows, start to drip from his face. The camera gets knocked over there and the feed is cut off.

Ren feels a pit drop into his stomach. No...!

Chapter 23: An Open Relationship

The Phantom Thieves stare at the now static-filled screen, absolutely stunned by what they just witnessed. This... This wasn’t right. This wasn’t right at all. That wasn’t supposed to happen. Why did that happen?! They did everything the same as they had done before, so why...?!

Haru hurries home, and Futaba is left in shock, still staring at the screen as the Thieves try to figure out what happened. She tells them that this was the same as what happened to her mother right before she died.

A mental shutdown. That’s what happened. Okumura suffered a mental shutdown. And there’s... there was nothing... It was--

Ren’s immediate thought is that it was their fault. They were the ones who targeted Okumura. It was his fault that they rushed out of the Palace so fast. They should’ve stayed to make sure that he actually did fade to rejoin himself back in reality, not... Maybe if they stayed it would be different... Maybe... Fuck.

Ren, Yusuke and Morgana head back to the Mankai dorms in relative silence, with Ren’s mind stewing over what just happened and thoughts only repeating that it was their fault, their fault, their fault, his fault--

Ren immediately heads upstairs to the attic, not saying a word to anyone for the rest of the night. He doesn’t even realize that what he said to Banri actually got through to him, and that the leader of Autumn Troupe is staying. Or that the “Brat” nickname he seems so keen on calling him has gone from derogatory to platonically.

When they get up to the attic, they’re confronted by Masumi and Kazunari confront the team about this, especially since the mental shutdown has lead to Okumura’s death. Ren and Yusuke quickly assure them that they don’t know what happened. The process was repeated the same way as it always had been. Nothing else was changed, so they don’t know what went wrong. Kazunari is quick to believe them, but it takes a while for Masumi to be convinced they weren’t responsible for Okumura’s death. He proposes the question of if they didn’t kill him, then who did?

And Ren doesn’t know how to answer.

Chapter 24: Ultra Yo-Yos

Things are getting better for Autumn Troupe. Banri’s finally giving a 100% to acting and to The Roman Episode. He’s even started coming to morning rehearsals. But things for Ren... not so much. That day at school, Haru doesn’t come in. And no one can get in touch with her, either. It’s cause for worry. All the comments that Ren has been hearing about the Phantom Thieves at school are not helping either.

It’s not until the next morning during rehearsals that Ren hears from Haru. She wants to have a meeting after school to discuss things. He sets it up easily just as Yuki comes in with the costumes for Autumn Troupe to try on. Normally Ren gets excited about costumes, but this time... Izumi takes note that some thing’s up, but Ren quickly dismisses the notion. He’s fine. He’s absolutely fine. Why wouldn’t he be?

Along with costumes, props get brought out as well. Sakyo takes the opportunity here to grill Ren on why they look so realistic and where exactly he got them. Ren just shrugs, not really wanting to answer. He really isn’t paying that much attention and gets smacked in the face with a yo-yo by Taichi. He... doesn’t even remember buying those. Apparently, Sakoda snatched them up with the leftover money after Ren had left him alone.

Ren’s kind of zoned out the rest of the rehearsal, even after Taichi apologized profusely for hitting him. He’s just kind of... gone. Not even the threatening letter that the company receives can snap him out of it. If anything, it makes Ren’s mental state a little worse. And it starts to worry Izumi and a couple members of Autumn. Just what the hell happened last night to change him so much?

Ren’s just lucky that no one questions the fact that he’s stopping by the theater for his meeting with the rest of the Phantom Thieves. They need to talk about what happened, there’s no avoiding it. Especially when the public has begun to blame the Phantom Thieves for Okumura’s death, calling them all murderers and changing the previous attitudes that they had of them pretty quickly. To make matters worse, there was a calling card found in Hanasaki’s principal’s office. Now they’re being implicated for his death, too. Haru knows they weren’t responsible for her father’s death; she was there after all when they stole his heart. However, it takes some reassurance for her to believe them about the principal. He was never even on their radar, so why...?

It hits the team then. They were set up. The other Metaverse User -- whoever the hell their Black Mask was... the one responsible for causing all the shutdowns and breakdowns in the first place. They had fallen right into their hands without even realizing it.

And thoughts start churning in the back of Ren’s mind. There was one thing that he had overlooked that he sincerely wished that he didn’t. He feels stupid and really wished that he had paid more attention to it in hindsight. And he starts blaming himself. If he had just figured it out sooner, maybe none of this would’ve happened. He was just so stupid and blind and it’s his fault. His fault, his fault, his fault, his fault. Why didn’t he see it sooner?!

For now, the Phantom Thieves must remain in the shadows and not draw attention to themselves until they can decide on their next move. For Ren, that’s easier said than done.

Chapter 25: A Midnight Lesson

Once again, Ren’s mentally gone during rehearsals that evening. It’s starting to get concerning now that he’s barely there. He brushes off all questions that ask if he’s fine, because he is. Why wouldn’t he be? Everything’s fine, don’t worry, I’m okay, let’s focus on rehearsals. Juza’s still struggling to get this move right...

It all comes to a head that night. The continuous loop of what Ren’s been hearing about the Phantom Thieves online and at school and even in the dorms because someone just had to bring it up at dinner has been playing in his mind, all with the ever-chanting chorus of things being his fault because he was too stupid and too naive and too much of a damn coward to realize that things were heading where they were.

And he can’t sleep because of it. Not wanting to bother Yusuke or Morgana with his issues (he’s their leader, he can’t let them see him falter, he has to be the example, he can’t break--), Ren gets up to try and clear his head about everything, but all he does is get in his head even more. He heads to the courtyard, trying his best to remain silent as to not wake everyone else. But he doesn’t realize that someone already is awake.

He runs into Banri and Juza in the courtyard, where Banri had been helping Juza get down some of their action sequences that he was struggling with earlier. When the two question him on what he’s doing awake at this hour, Ren begins to panic. He is just trying not to break down in front of Banri and Juza, but it’s difficult. He badly fucked up and he can’t tell them about it because they don’t know that he’s the leader of the Phantom Thieves or even that his friends are the Phantom Thieves. It’s hard to help the kid when he can’t even tell him what’s wrong.

And so, the bottle Ren’s kept everything sealed up in for the past few days starts to come loose. He’s struggling to keep a lid on it all, they can’t see, they can’t know, he can’t let them see him break, he’s supposed to be the strong one, just a crack could...! Ren does the only thing he can think of to do.

He runs. He just takes off. He pushes past Taichi and Omi at the door, ignoring the calls from Autumn Troupe for him to stop and come back. Ren runs and just keeps running until his legs give out. He ends up in the middle of Mementos, having gone there without thinking. It’s the only place that he can truly be alone with his thoughts. ...unfortunately, those thoughts aren’t the best right now and Ren’s never truly alone. He always has his Persona -- in this case, it’s primarily Arsene -- by his side.

And it’s lucky that not even in the one place where Ren can think that he’s alone that he is alone. There’s someone there to talk sense into him. Arsene manifests in front of him, both to protect Ren from any Shadows that would dare to try and attack him right now as well as to calm him down. He is the manifestation of Ren’s heart, after all. While Ren’s plagued by these thoughts and not thinking straight, his Persona is able to to some degree. It takes Maruki -- Ren’s school counselor that he accidentally runs into when Arsene gets him to calm down enough to leave Mementos. It’s him that he walks back to the dorms with and helps kind of calm him down. Ren then tries to enter the dorms alone, but the moment he’s visible from the dormitory’s windows, Ren is being tackled by a super worried Izumi and Morgana, with Omi and Sakyo not too far behind her.

Apparently, after Ren had bolted, the Autumn Troupe boys woke up the entire dorm. The entire company is out looking for him, as well as the Thieves thanks to Yusuke and Futaba. Ren’s tears refresh anew as he’s taken back inside while Izumi thanks Dr. Maruki for bringing him back safe and sound. But because of their talk, Ren realizes that he can’t really keep this hidden anymore... can’t keep his lives separate anymore. Not after that talk with his own psyche... and counselor. I haven’t touched upon this, but Ren has been talking to him during his lunch breaks every Friday. That’s it. That’s the Confidant. It’s necessary for future plot.

So while they’re waiting for everyone else to get back to the dorm, Ren finally opens up about what’s been bothering him and that leads to telling the three of them about the Phantom Thieves and his identity. It doesn’t take long for the three adults to figure out who the rest of the Thieves are as well.

To his surprise, they... take it well. Sakyo had figured something was up with Ren’s strange behavior following Okumura’s death as well as small slip-ups he made throughout the year. Izumi is stunned, but now Ren’s absences are making sense. And Ren is having a hard time reading Omi’s expression at all. Everything’s out in the air with his guardians now, and Ren’s just kind of thankful that they’re understanding of things when he explains. It could’ve honestly gone a lot worse.

And yes, I did mean to say guardians. It also comes out that Sakyo was meant to be Ren’s original guardian. He owed Ren’s mother a favor (why though, he doesn’t say and Ren’s wondering why the hell the yakuza owes his mom a favor) and this was how she cashed it in. Ren had gotten the wrong address when he arrived, and because of Sakyo’s work he thought Ren would be safer at Mankai. But obviously, trouble likes to follow Ren around.

Ren manages to reassure them that they weren’t responsible for Okumura’s death and that they’ve been careful (except for with Masumi, but with Kazunari they didn’t have a choice). That’s about all he gets out before the remaining troupe members and Yusuke return to the dorms, Ren getting tackled again by notable members such as Sakuya, Citron, half of Summer Troupe and Taichi. Yeah, he worried a lot of them, especially with the way that he ran out.

Eventually after getting lectured again by the other troupe members -- Banri surprising Ren by being part of that and making him realize that maybe he did get through to him -- everyone returns to their rooms for the night... almost everyone anyway. Ren and Omi remain downstairs. Ren is still kind of worried because Omi hasn’t said anything. It takes a moment or two, but he does get Omi’s opinion on the matter. He’s more worried than anything else.

Because Ren didn’t see his portrait, Omi tells him about it. He tells him about the gang that he was in, about what happened to his best friend. All of it. It all comes back to one point: he sees the same reckless teenager that he used to be in Ren.

Omi warns Ren to be careful going forward. Considering what happened to Okumura, the Thieves pissed off some pretty dangerous people. Those aren’t the kind of people that kids can deal with. If he does this alone, he could get himself and the others seriously hurt. Ren promises he’ll do his best. That’s all he really can do at this point.

Ren tries to figure out what to do about the situation, and he knows that he could use the company’s help or at least warn them to be careful with everything that’s about to happen. He tried to keep them separate so they wouldn’t get hurt, but that’s not gonna happen.

Later, when Ren tells the Thieves that there are more people at the company that know, it’s... mixed results, but given the circumstances... yeah.

Chapter 26: Staged Bonds

The next week goes by fairly quickly, especially since midterms take place this week, too. Soon the Phantom Thieves regroup to discuss their next course of action. Futaba’s taken the past week to figure out that they were right and there was someone setting them up. The Medjed that provoked the Phantom Thieves during the summer wasn’t part of the organization at all.

Whoever provoked them used the situation they created to make the Phantom Thieves famous. They even hacked the Phan Site to mess with the rankings to put Okumura at the top. The timing and the target... they were all set up by one mastermind. Even if Ren’s suspicions about who’s involved in it are correct, then they still are missing the bigger picture. They have the puppets, but who is the puppet master?

Meanwhile, Sae is given full lead on the Phantom Thieves case. However, with recent events, there’s a lot of pressure from her bosses for her to capture the Thieves no matter what it takes, and if she succeeds, there’s a promotion in store for her. When Makoto is told about this, she quickly realizes that’s why Sae is aiming for, rather than to do what’s right. And she’s willing to do whatever it takes to bring the Thieves in -- unknowingly targeting her own sister. Things are getting bad. Even the students of Hanasaki are interrogated.

So, in order to keep themselves from drawing attention, Makoto has the second years and Haru help her with the school festival. This includes helping with the special guest panel that they’ll be doing. Unfortunately, the guest that the student body has voted for Detective Prince Goro Akechi... the person who is working against them and the only one who could possibly persuade him to come is Ren. I should note, he is the last person that Ren wants to see right now, despite him starting to defend the Phantom Thieves in the media as he claims that they didn’t kill Okumura.

Even so, at first, all Akechi tells Ren is that he’ll think about it and ghosts him for the next few days. Ren is still irritated about it when Izumi takes him and Autumn Troupe to pass out flyers that afternoon. Normally he would’ve gone at this with Yusuke, but Yusuke’s way to focused on painting something -- whether on canvas or wood, Ren doesn’t know -- today that it is impossible to draw him away.

So, Ren is out handing out flyers with Morgana when he gets accosted found by the one person who hasn’t been talking to him for the past few days -- Akechi. They talk for a bit while Ren takes a break. Ren is honestly surprised a bit that Akechi has begun siding with the Phantom Thieves, considering how against them he was before. He also seems fairly confident that the Phantom Thieves are innocent... in the matter of Okumura’s death, anyway.

Akechi also considers Ren’s offer to visit Hanasaki for their cultural festival and finally gives him his answer: yes. In hindsight, perhaps running into him was a blessing after all... Akechi snatches one of Ren’s flyers before taking his leave, promising to be there closing night. It does seem like an... interesting show, after all.

Ren immediately tells the rest of the Phantom Thieves the good news.

Time goes by quickly, and the festival arrives. The Hanasaki students are joined by those from Ouka High School -- so in this case, Taichi, Tenma, Juza and for AU purposes Yusuke -- alongside Futaba. (Izumi’s excuse for sending the boys there was primarily to give them a bit of a break since they had been working so hard).

Either way, the guest panel begins with Makoto running the show with carefully chosen questions. All of them leads to Akechi revealing one fact: through his investigation, he has figured out the Phantom Thieves’ identities. Before he’s able to announce them, Ren acts quick, pulling away from his friends and calling Akechi’s phone to cut him off. Even though this was to stop him from saying anything, Akechi actually does request to meet with Ren and his friends in private. With Masumi’s help, as the rest of the Mankai troupe members present don’t know who the Phantom Thieves are yet, Ren’s able to separate actor from Thief.

In their little meeting, Akechi reveals that he has identified them as the Phantom Thieves as he had seen them enter the Metaverse outside of Okumura’s Palace. It was also here that he supposedly followed them into the Palace where he fought with the true culprit behind the mental shutdowns, resulting in his own Persona -- Robin Hood -- awakening as well. He wants to cooperate with the Phantom Thieves to bring this real culprit to justice, otherwise Sae would bring them all in no matter what it takes, even if it means using false evidence. If he is allowed to join their ranks, he’ll turn a blind eye to all that they’ve done...

It’s difficult, but the Thieves have no choice but to work with the detective for the time being. Ren accepts the deal. With the situation laid out before them on the table, Ren makes another decision -- one that needs to be enacted as soon as they make it to the theater.

I should put a side note here involving the post-festival scene with Sumire. It happens mostly because after regrouping, Ren and Taichi get separated from the rest of the group. Ren sees the way that Taichi is looking at Sumire dancing. How red he’s gone and how he’s mesmerized. after it’s all said and done, Ren invites Sumire to come see one of the Autumn Troupe’s performances, an arm looped around Taichi’s shoulders and a hand over his mouth to keep him from stopping him. Sumire accepts and is gone before Ren thinks about letting Taichi go.

Chapter 27: Passion Torn Asunder

Ren can no longer hide his Phantom Thief activities from Mankai Company. Not with what’s going on, and not with the problem looming over the horizon. And so, he asks the actors in their group as they walk back from the festival to gather everyone and meet him at the theater. Though they’re confused, they agree. It buys the Thieves a little time to think of what to do. Yusuke suggests doing what Autumn Troupe had done not so long ago: a portrait.

Though the others are quick to bring up Ren’s stage fright, Ren... honestly believes that the idea makes sense. Even the topic does. While Ren’s biggest regret might be his stage fright, now he has something new to take its place: letting himself become blind to the truth until it was too late and someone else had to pay the price. How he didn’t trust those around him with his biggest secret when he knew that said secret could endanger their lives if he wasn’t careful. ...how he kept everything from the people who had taken him in and accepted him despite all the baggage he carried. It was time to clear the air. No more secrets and no more regrets. No more fear.

When the company arrives, they’re a bit confused to find Ren standing on the stage. The Thieves are waiting behind him to help support and tell the story, but the spotlight’s all on him. He can do this. Ren draws in a breath and once everyone’s seated, he begins. He tells the entire troupe everything, starting from the very moment he arrived in the city up until now. They are quiet throughout his performance, though Ren can clearly read the shock, confusion and relief on their faces. When he’s done, the other Thieves stand by his side and Ren has a single question to ask the Mankai Company: will they trust him?

The next day, the news comes out that there’s now a bounty on the Phantom Thieves’ heads. They’re just lucky that the company took the reveal fairly well. Now they have another group backing them, even if most don’t agree with their methods, they do care about these kids.

The Thieves eventually end up meeting up with Akechi at the theater to discuss the details of their little deal. Their chosen target is the same woman who is targeting them: Sae Niijima. Her own heart has become twisted because of all the pressure that has been piling on top of her to the point where she doesn’t care who the culprit is, she’ll falsely convict someone if it brings the case to a close. Changing Sae’s heart would also protect her from the same fate as Okumura. If the true culprit can’t get to her Shadow, they can’t cause a mental shutdown. Without little room for argument, the Phantom Thieves agree and begin their Palace infiltration -- the courthouse this time, taking the form of a grand and rigged casino.

It takes them a good few days to get through the Palace, and Ren’s lucky that they make it just before dress rehearsals, too. He hasn’t missed a show yet, and it looks like he’ll be able to keep up that streak this time. Unfortunately, though, Akechi trips that up when he suggests sending the calling card at the last possible moment in order to ensure that Sae -- ever on guard -- will actually have the calling card work on her and have her treasure manifest. ...that is the night before closing night for The Roman Episode. Given the circumstances, the Thieves have no choice but to agree. Hopefully Izumi isn’t too mad about them missing one night... (She’s upset, but after they explain things out a bit more to her, she understands.)

So, with him possibly being out of commission during the tail-end of the show run, Ren puts his all into the remaining rehearsals. Even the Phantom Thieves get in on this -- all of them, Akechi included -- sit in on the stage rehearsals to help Autumn Troupe get used to performing in front of a live audience. Futaba’s even started helping out in the tech booth to get things flowing smoother... she’s also having a blast positioning everyone during tech week.

So, they’re all present for the final tech rehearsal before dress rehearsal when Yuki runs into the theater in a panic. The costumes that he had worked so hard on are absolutely torn apart, with another threatening note left behind at the scene.

side note: the thieves are kind of surprised that akechi actually has nothing to do with this. he seems to be as in much shock as the rest of them are. there was a sneaking suspicion that he was responsible for the threats, but that just got proven wrong.

Everyone is pissed. Dress rehearsal’s tomorrow and they don’t have any costumes. So, it’s time to band together and haul ass.

Chapter 28: The Final Warning

Under Yuki’s direction, Autumn Troupe and even the Phantom Thieves work hard the next day, sacrificing dress rehearsal in the process, to make sure that the costumes are ready for opening night.

But, even with that in mind, they manage to get everything done in time. The costumes fit and the audience won’t be able to notice the stitches on them. From the closest distance, they still won’t be able to tell.

Akechi takes Ren aside later while everyone is passed out in the common area after their rush to tell him that there might be something that Taichi knows that they both don’t, considering his quiet reaction to the costumes’ destruction. That wasn’t a face of shock that he had like the rest of them. It was of guilt. And he has been wearing the same expression for a while now. So something’s definitely up.

And it’s that thought that lingers in Ren’s mind as they reach opening night. He keeps a close eye on Taichi, having Morgana follow him around when Ren can’t keep an eye on him. Taichi is only grateful that Morgana seems to be worried about him, having tears in his eyes whenever he thanks the cat.

Even without dress rehearsal, opening night goes off without a hitch. Though the actors are tired and everyone excluding Sakyo is found passed out in the dressing room. Ren takes note that Morgana is purring on Taichi’s chest, something that he realizes that Morgana does for Ren when he’s stressed or worked up about something.

Unfortunately, Ren doesn’t have much more time to think about it as another threatening note rears its head. Morgana once again doesn’t know where it came from. He admits to losing track of Taichi at one point, though. That, combined with the rest of the evidence that Ren’s gathered the past few days tells him to be on lookout for something going wrong.

Chapter 29: A Curveball Conundrum

Things proceed the same way that they do in canon, right down to the props going missing mid-show. Like before, Ren has Morgana keeping an eye on Taichi, but it’s been difficult to do with the show going on. Technically, Morgana’s not allowed to be backstage. He only gets a pass because Izumi like to play favorites. That, and Taichi’s gotten pretty good at giving Morgana the slip lately.

However, the situation’s solved fairly easily because of Ren’s quick thinking. With Makoto’s and Yusuke’s help (as well as a favor from Sakyo to get them a car), he’s able to get the stash of his own model pistols that he has been using in the Metaverse to use as props for the show. It takes a while for the pair of them to actually make it to the theater, so Juza still has to do the finger-gun thing during one of the scenes. Ren is still stunned that this actually works.

Chapter 30: A Shadow... The True Self Sakyo, Playing for Keeps

Everything goes smoothly for the rest of the show (aside from one line that Sakyo messed up, but given the situation, it’s not surprising that someone did) thanks to Ren not getting rid of his Metaverse weapons just in case. (though its not for props, though, it’s mostly just in case he loses or breaks the one that he’s currently using somehow).

As everyone settles in for the night, there are still thoughts weighing heavily on Ren’s mind. And that still guilty look on Taichi’s face. Every time Ren has tried to ask if something was up or there was something he wanted to talk about, Taichi’s brushed it off. But thanks to Morgana’s recon and the fact that nearly everyone at Mankai trusts the cat, Ren knows there’s something Taichi is hiding. But not even Morgana could get that from Taichi. It’s almost like... like...

On a whim, Ren takes a look at a name in Mementos, and it turns out to be a hit. He heads out on his own, telling the others that he just wants to make a quick run before they send their calling card in a few days. Ren wants to keep this quiet since it’s personal, and if he’s right, it’s a similar situation with Futaba’s own Shadow.

Or at least he wants to keep it personal but ends up running into Akechi down in Mementos as well, who had the same suspicions and decided to investigate (whether this is true or not, Ren has no idea.) The two of them travel into the depths of Mementos.

In a small pocket of the mindscape, the two come face-to-face with a scared boy with dark hair, golden eyes shining with tears and dressed in one of the costumes for The Roman Episode with the exception of the visible tears. It’s Taichi’s Shadow. While Akechi immediately goes to fight it, Ren decides to take a different approach and holds him back. It isn’t acting like the Shadows that they’ve normally confronted in Mementos before. He’s not lashing out or anything. Actually, he looks scared as shit. Akechi thinks is just a ruse, but Ren is willing to take a chance.

It takes some persuading (and getting called an idiot), but Ren carefully approaches the Shadow, calling it by his counterpart’s name. The Shadow honestly gets even more scared when he sees Ren and actually threatens to lash out. But this is also Taichi. Ren’s gotten to know him over the past few months, and his Shadow seeing him might just have made things worse. Ren takes his mask off, trying to put the Shadow at ease.

Taichi’s Shadow is absolutely terrified of something, and when Ren asks what and finally gets it across that they just want to help (recalling what Futaba’s Shadow did for her), Taichi’s Shadow completely breaks down and spills everything that Taichi had been burying.

After all is said, Taichi’s Shadow believes that Ren’s gonna hate him for what he’s done, but that’s not true. Ren cares deeply about all of Mankai, Taichi included. He hates seeing them hurt like this. And he’s willing to bet, that if he didn’t get kicked out for being a member of the Phantom Thieves, that they’re not going to kick out Taichi for all that he did. Ren’s left holding the Shadow as it fades to rejoin its counterpart in reality with the promise to set things right as soon as possible.

This is also where Rank 8 of Akechi’s Royal Confidant takes place if anyone’s interested about that, so there is actually a Mementos fight that takes place but the set-up is different. It’s more so Akechi being frustrated and confused with Ren’s approach to things and goading him slightly into agreeing to the fight in the first place by questioning whether he’s strong enough or not to do what needs to be done when it comes to stealing Sae’s Treasure.

A lot of feelings are out in the open with those two by the end of it (and knowing what’s going to happen in a few short days, it also hurts like hell), and with Taichi’s situation as well. Ren can only hope that talking to the Shadow worked, and that Taichi will be able to do the right thing in the end.

Chapter 31: The Truth

Taichi is quiet for the next few days, but Morgana says that he seems to be a bit more at ease now. It eventually makes it to the night that the casino heist is to take place. As Ren gathers everything that he and the other Thieves that live at the dorms will need, he becomes the subject of Omi’s mother henning. Given what they’re about to do and what’s about to happen, Omi has a right to be worried.

They’re heading towards the common area, double checking Ren’s supplies when they find Taichi in the middle of the courtyard on the phone with someone. Some of the stuff that Taichi is saying is very incriminating. Ren and Omi carefully confront him, worried about what’s going on though Ren has a sneaking suspicion that he knows exactly what just happened.

It’s here that Taichi finally breaks down, unable to keep things bottled up much longer. As he sobs, he finally admits to being the one behind everything that went wrong with the show. He was the one who wrote the letters. He was the one who tore up the costumes. He hid the props.

These are things that Ren already knew and admits as much. Taichi’s Shadow had already told him everything. When Taichi asks if Ren stole his heart like he did to a lot of other people, Ren can only shake his head. He just sort of... nudged things in the right direction. This was all Taichi’s own repressed desires that are finally getting aired and him accepting them. What I’m saying is that Taichi’s Shadow was more along the lines of Persona 4′s Shadow Selves rather than Persona 5′s.

Omi comforts Taichi as he cries, believing that he’ll have to quit the troupe and acting now, despite wanting to stay at Mankai with everyone else. The two of them take Taichi inside once he’s calmed down. Ren reassures him, much like he did his Shadow, that everything will be alright.

Chapter 32: Confession

Omi and Ren take Taichi inside, where Autumn Troupe, Izumi, Morgana and Yusuke are waiting -- the former for their final meeting for the night, and the latter two waiting for their leader before they head out. But before they do, Taichi has something to tell everyone.

Taichi openly admits to being behind the sabotage and explains why. Prior to joining Mankai, he used to be a member of God Troupe. Under Reni’s instruction, Taichi was sent to spy on the company. If he could ruin their show, then he would be able to get a lead role in God Troupe’s shows, something he now regrets accepting.

When no one is sure what to say or do, Banri suggests doing their portraits. He was the only one who saw all of them, after all. It would help clear the air between everyone... and since Taichi’s felt incomplete, he can finally tell the whole story now that there’s no more secrets. Only the truth.

Unfortunately, Ren can’t stick around to see how this will turn out. The clock is running out for them. He wishes Taichi luck, reminding him that if they didn’t kick him out for being a Phantom Thief, then they won’t kick Taichi out for being a spy.

Izumi wishes the boys luck before Ren, Yusuke and Morgana head out to meet with the other Phantom Thieves and steal Sae’s Treasure. Only she, Sakyo (who had been the third person responsible for the script that Ren’s following in the interrogation room), Omi and Tsuzuru know what’s going on. Everyone else... doesn’t. They only know that the Phantom Thieves are going to be stealing Sae’s Treasure that day. Ren only promises the troupe that he’ll be waiting at the dorms for them as soon as the curtain falls on closing night.

As everyone’s confessing their biggest regrets, the Phantom Thieves begin a performance of their own. In the casino-like Palace, the Thieves confront Sae’s Shadow and defeat her. As Ryuji snatches up the Treasure, the team manages to convince Sae to change her ways much like Ren had done for Taichi only a few days before.

All seems fine and dandy until Futaba picks up on a few... okay, a lot of extra readings in the Palace. Somehow, the police manage to infiltrate the building and they’re looking for them. In order to keep his Thieves safe, Ren takes the Treasure and splits off from the rest of the team. He becomes a decoy, stashing the Treasure away and putting on a show to keep the police distracted while everyone else escapes.

Unfortunately, the plan doesn’t work out like everyone expects. While escaping the Palace himself, Ren is caught and arrested. In police custody, Ren is beaten and drugged and forced to sign a false confession to all the Phantom Thieves’ crimes.

And that brings us to the present.

Chapter 33: My Portrait, V

Sae has been given the full story up until now. But as stated before, one thing has been clear throughout everything: Ren has refused to give the real names of his accomplices. Nothing that Sae says can goad Ren into giving away who helped him, who he worked with, the members of his team and anyone associated with him. Doing so would mean giving up his... his...

Ren’s mind starts to clear as the drug wears off. He knows what his role is, and he’s playing it rather well. He manages to get Sae to take his phone and convinces her to show it to Akechi on her way out. With time up, Sae leaves and the performance’s finale has begun.

Ren’s head starts to grow heavy as adrenaline fades and fatigue starts to take over. His head hurts like crazy... everything is starting to hurt. But through it all, as the minutes pass... he grins. It worked. Their plan actually worked.

And just as the show comes to an end, Ren passes out from exhaustion. The door to the interrogation room opens...

Chapter 34: The Night Before Full Bloom

Meanwhile, the Mankai Company is preparing for thier closing night performance. All the Phantom Thieves -- excluding their leader -- will arrive to watch this one, as they usually do with their heists. It’s revealed that as Ren said, Taichi wasn’t kicked out of the troupe. He was accepted as a member fully. After all, the Mankai Company would never abandon one of their own, and that is what Taichi became when he stepped through the theater’s doors to audition. The troupe protects each other, no matter what the case. That point has been made pretty clear already.

And they thought that all would be well... that was until Ren didn’t return with Morgana and Yusuke late that night/early that morning. They claim that they don’t know what had happened, that Ren had acted as bait to keep everyone else from getting caught. But this is Ren that they’re talking about. He’ll be fine. ...right?

The thing is... Yusuke and Morgana aren’t sure. And they won’t be until they see Ren again. All they can really do now is wait.

It’s hard to sleep that night without Autumn Troupe’s Brat safe and sound in the dormitory’s attic.

Chapter 35: Parting Ways

It’s that worry from last night that’s sticking with everyone as The Roman Episode’s final show draws nearer and nearer. They know that Ren said he’d be waiting at the dorms for them after closing night, but... it’s weird not having him here. They trust Ren, they really do, but...

But it doesn’t erase the nerves. It’s when Taichi needs a shoulder to lean on the most because while taking a breather before curtain, he’s confronted by Reni Kamikizaka, along with Haruto and a silent Tasuku. They came to watch the performance.

Remembering the deal they made and then the fact that Taichi has broken it makes Taichi more afraid than anything else has in the past few days. But luckily, he gets bumped into by Morgana winding around his legs and hissing at two of the three God Troupe members. And its Morgana that draws in Banri and Juza to his aid. It gives Taichi the courage to stand up and finally quit God Troupe in order to stay with Mankai. He’s found the place where he belongs, and that’s where he’s going to stay.

And as they’ll find out much later, Taichi’s not the only one who quit God Troupe that night either.

Chapter 36: High Five

Izumi has to pull Sakyo and Omi aside before they step on stage to remind them to not let their nerves over what their boy is currently doing get to them. If Banri, Juza or Taichi -- or even the troupe members that are in the audience -- pick up on their nerves, it could throw off the show and give away that they know what’s up and something’s wrong. It will make the others worry. So, despite how concerned they are, they stomach that worry to keep up the charade that they’re in the dark.

So, the men steel themselves, and the show goes on. Despite the worry and concern in the back of their minds, they’re able to play their roles perfectly (in more ways than one) and make it the best run of the show by far. The curtain closes to the standing ovation of the audience.

Chapter 37: A Series of Encounters

Autumn Troupe is tackled by the remaining members of Mankai, as the Phantom Thieves (excluding Yusuke and Morgana, since they live at the dorms as well as Ann since she is related to one of the actors) have gone home to avoid raising suspicion.

Why Muku recognized Juza when he came to audition is revealed here, too. Much like Ann and Banri, they’re cousins as well. Juza wanted to keep quiet about it so that his reputation wouldn’t affect Muku in anyway.

Taichi also tells Yuki about how he shredded the costumes, and as punishment, gets roped into helping Yuki with the wardrobe for the Winter Troupe’s show and every show after that. All in all, not a bad punishment.

Everyone’s riding high on that closing night adrenaline that a certain fact slips their minds entirely until they bring up the situation with the props. It now that they remember that the Autumn Troupe’s Brat is waiting for them back at the dorms like he promised.

That is, until a notification pops up on someone’s phone. A new announcement has gone out that the leader of the Phantom Thieves has committed suicide while in police custody.

Chapter 38: Smoldering First Love

After reading the news, most of the Mankai Company is freaking out because that’s not a criminal. To them, that’s their bratty assistant director and a member of this - - - - - -. It’s Ren Amamiya, not just the leader of the Phantom Thieves.

Everyone books it back to the dorms in a panic, wondering what the fuck is going on because certain people yusuke and morgana didn’t say anything about Ren getting arrested. The only ones who aren’t freaking out and keeping everyone from doing something stupid are Izumi, Omi, Sakyo, Tsuruzu and Yusuke since they know what’s going on.

However, they start freaking out too, once they get to the dorms. Ren is barely even awake on the common area’s couch -- beaten black and blue, with obvious bruises from too-tight handcuffs around his wrists. Sae is also there, having just brought him back. She was doing her best to keep an eye on him since there was no one else present when she arrived. She had gotten in thanks to a spare key Makoto had told her was hidden under the mat.

Sae only can explain so much herself, but she has to leave in order not to draw any more suspicion than she already has. She leaves Ren in the director’s care. While getting Ren upstairs to his room, the company is in a panic over what happened. But not even those who knew what Ren was doing can’t explain it since they don’t know the why. And Yusuke’s only one piece of the puzzle, it’s going to take more than him to say anything.

So, the conversation that Izumi and Sakyo have takes place in the dorms rather than in the theater like in the game while the former takes care of Ren’s injuries.

There’s something looming in the shadows... on both the Phantom Thieves’ front, as well as the stage’s...

...Ren has a lot of explaining to do when he wakes up.

Act 1 | Act 2 | Act 4

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stargazer-balladeer · 5 years ago

Text

What kind of boyfriend are they? [Persona]

Characters Included: Akira Kurusu, Akechi Goro, Yosuke Hanamura, Yu Narukami, Minato Arisato & Shinjiro Aragaki

Note: I'm mixing Persona 3, 4 & 5! :3 Except all of them are my fav characters (HUSBANDOS—) ahem. Anyway. I hope ya'll enjoy this :3 (This is over 500+ words... whOOPS--)

Reader’s Gender: Neutral

Warning: Spoilers

Akira Kurusu

-Akira is the kind of boyfriend that teases the heck out of you. Like he loves to fluster you so much from embarrassment, whether from kissing you in public or simply holding your hands. He'll have that smirk on his face, its always present. (You're wondering if it's permanent though—)

-But I can also see Akira as the guy who loves someone, really loves that one (aside from the fact that he dates multiple girls in the game—). The reason why he teases you is because he loves you, and for that reason, when he finds that you are close to fainting or uncomfortable, he'll stop teasing you. He doesn't want you fainting or uncomfortable around him!

-He's also a natural romantic guy. Like he'll give you flowers and gifts (or trinkets he found). He wants to spoil you so much but he has limited money, so he resorted to small gifts and trinkets that reminded him of you. Your dates consist of staying at the LeBlanc, enjoying the cafe itself or inside the attic (i.e: his room).

-He loves affection so much, but not because he's touch-starved, he simply just loves you so much (yes, I'll say it over and over again :3). If you want cuddles, then cuddles you get. No matter where, but I think he prefers it private since, you know, his reputation? He just doesn't want to affect your reputation because of his ;-; But kisses, on the other hand, he can do it even in public, he has no shame -3- He'll even leave a kiss on you for teasing purposes (and to see your flustered self). He'll just laugh at your reaction, finding every reaction you have is cute on you. (He also has a picture of you as his wallpaper in his phone :) and his friends knows it since he shows it to them.. he's so proud and in-love with you :3)

-But if you don't like or uncomfortable of affection or him touching you, he understands. He'll always ask permission before holding you or kissing you. He respects your privacy and comfort more than his own. If you find uncomfortable, then he'll find a way for it to make it comfortable with you.

-I can see Akira giving his s/o a piggyback-ride, no matter whether you weigh heavily or just right (but if you weigh very lightly, he'll be concerned). He really doesn't mind your weight at all (he likes to say you don't weigh a lot). I can also see him as a domestic guy, he learned how to cook (thanks to Sojiro) and learned to take care of animals (Morgana, lol).

-He's protective of you. If you're in the Phantom Thieves, double-protectiveness over you activated. He just doesn't want you to get hurt ;-; He's scared of losing you in the Metaverse. So if an attack is directed at you, he'll get the hit. If you get hit while he isn't paying attention (probably coming up a strategy), after the battle, he'll immediately patch you up or go to a nearby resting place. And I can also see the rest of the Team also being protective of you :3

-Akira is also observant about you, even if he doesn't look like it. So he knows immediately when you're upset or uncomfortable. In which case, he'll drag you away from the source immediately. Leaving that person dumbfounded.

-If you feel sad about something, the actions of Akira would depend on how severe your sadness or situation is (though they are still similar to one another). Did someone talk bad about you? Don't worry, Akira would hug you and voice out all of the good things about you (and probably imagine how he'll defeat that person's shadow). Did someone close to you recently die? Akira will bring some comfort food to you (or to his place if you went there) and comfort you while eating. Are you upset because of your grades? "Treasure.. have you seen Ryuji's?" but in all seriousness, he'll offer to help you study for the next test. Are you having a existential crisis? He'll also comfort you as he voice out how important you are to him, and that's the reason why he calls you his "treasure". Are you sad because everyone is unique and you're just you? Akira would say how special you are to him and that you don't need to stand out.

-Long story short, he'll comfort you no matter what. :) Can I have a Akira pls? -3- I'm getting jealous over here...

-But if he needs comforting, please comfort him ;-; Sometimes, all of the duties of handling his rehabilitation, school and being the Phantom Thief leader and people in general gets to him. He's still a kid— teenager. And it gets to him sometimes. He's the kind of guy that bottles his emotions up until it cannot anymore hold itself together. So please comfort this boi ;-;

-Overall, he's like a perfect boyfriend :)

Goro Akechi

-Akechi is somewhat-like Akira, yet different at the same time. He's hesitant to pursue or enter a relationship because of his Detective (and other) duties, he fear that he cannot handle a relationship because of that. So the word "surprise" might be an understatement at how Akechi feels as you, his now newly-announced s/o, told him that you just want to love him and lets him do whatever he does. Akechi was actually glad to have someone like you his s/o, someone who understands and love him at the same time. Akechi would be lying if he didn't find you attractive when you first meet.

-Akechi will tease you time from time, enjoying every reaction your making each time, it never fails to put a smile on his face. But he might not be into PDA, since he likes to keep your relationship a secret to the world (media). He tells you so that you won't have to fear about his fanbase. But in reality, he just fears that if Shido knows about you, he would use you against Akechi (which he doesn't like -3-).

-Let's face it, he has you as his wallpaper in his phone. Whenever he feels lonely or just have a moment to himself, he'll just open his phone and stares at his wallpaper. He unconsciously smiles at you in the picture as he continues his day with a smile present on his face. Many people who's near to him noted how happy he was when he looks at his phone for some reason. But Akira manages to find out while he's raising his confidant level for Akechi :)

-Akechi would notice every quirks and twitches you have, since undoubtedly, he has a keen and observant eyes. He would immediately know which ones you like, which ones you don't like, how comfortable you are, how uncomfortable you currently are, and more. But that doesn't make him a stalker >:( He just wants to know which ones you prefer and how comfortable you are. He prioritizes your comfort over his :)

-Akechi always put his mask on around everyone else, but to you? His mask is slowly slipping away. If you play your cards right, he might reveal his true self to you and only you. But he won't tell you about Shido, since he still fears your safety. He tells you partly everything about his childhood, how his life is in the orphanage and all that. Akechi'll mentally prepare himself for you reaction, are you disgusted? Would you leave him now that you know? Those thoughts ran through his head. When (not if because you chose him, how dare you not accepting him >:(.) you accept him though, he'll start to cry.

-Akechi might not be a natural at being romantic, but he tries. I can see him as a gentlemen type though :3, like he'll open doors for you and pulls the chair for you. He'll also give you gifts and trinkets he saw while in his detective duties. I imagine him giving you your favorite flower every meeting (or dates) you two have, like if you're just walking and suddenly come across Akechi, he (for some reason) has your favorite flower at hand and ready to give it to you. Expect your house to be filled with flowers with how often you two meet.

-But its not everyday you two meet, note this. Akechi already warned you about his job since it takes up most of his time, so he's usually not able to meet you as often as he likes to. But he'll call or text you if he has free time, probably asking how you are and lets you rant about what happened during the day. Akechi loves hearing your voice, so he lets you rant as long as you want. If he's given a day-off (so rare ;-;), he'll want to spend it with you. Though he prefers to stay at home, but if you want to go somewhere, he'll concede.

-Your dates consist of going to restaurants, cafe and LeBlanc. This boi loves pancakes, so you better bring him to a restaurant where they serve pancakes X3. But if you can cook pancakes, Akechi would probably want to marry you on the spot :). Whenever you are in LeBlanc though, you would stare at the duo trying out-wit each other, its amusing to you how frustrated Akechi is and smug Akira is.

-But I can see Akechi being touch-starved since he doesn't have anyone while growing up, so he practically clings to you like a koala. But if you're uncomfortable with affectionate touches, he doesn't mind either. Just please hold his hand so that he feels safe (it also settles his mind and heart knowing you're still here by his side ;-;).

-If you're in the Phantom Thieves (oh boy, here we go), Akechi would be scared at the idea of having to kill you and the rest of the team. He knows how much the group of misfits means to you, but he knows he has to do the task he's given. So until that time come, just stay in his arms and let him love you while he still can ;-; (I'm making this depressing..). While still into the subject of comforting, if he starts to cry because of all the stress, please comfort him ;-; Though I can also see him pushing you away, in fear you'll get hurt. Just persist and continue to comfort him :) He'll slowly warm up to you.

-If you need comforting though, he'll get awkward and not know how to comfort you. Don't blame him though (because he never had anyone, remember?). He'll try his best to comfort you, and by that I mean letting you cry as he holds you. He'll make you rant about what you're sad about, and just listens to you. After the crying mess, he'll drag you to the TV to watch a movie. He did this so that whatever the reason behind your crying would be temporarily be gone. But if it involve some school issues, he'll help you there since he knows about that area. But the others? Yeah, haha... no.

-Akechi isn't a perfect boyfriend but he tries :) (Just prepare yourself in breaking up with him when you reach Shido's Palace :(.)

Yosuke Hanamura

-Yosuke is a bit of a tease but not too much, only eliciting a reaction from you. Yosuke is also a bit shy when it comes to the subject of romance, so he might be awkward and shy at times (this is the moments where you have to take the lead). Like that time where he first asked you out on a date, he's so nervous that he stumbles with his words (the rest of his friends were cheering for him from behind). You have to connect the dots if you ever want to understand what he's trying to say, and you better say yes :)

-He's not really into PDA like most people expect (probably because of his somewhat-shyness). But he always likes to hold hands with you. Not many people know you two are together though, only his friends (and parents) since you two act like best friends still. His friends also relentlessly tease the both of you (mainly Yosuke though), much to his dismay.

-Yosuke also wants to spoil you so he spend all of his money getting what you want, so please don't abuse this and pLEASE MAKE HIM STOP! Because Yosuke might end up being more broke than ever ;-; He's too kind...

-Yosuke might take a while to get used to the fact that you two are a couple (since he's still hang-up with Saki's death), but when he does get used to it, prepare yourself. Yosuke loves giving you back-hugs, even more if its a back-hug you didn't expect. He just hugs you from behind and stuff his face into your neck or hair, either way they smell good. Yes, he loves your smell, got a problem? He also loves peppering you with kisses on your neck (not in a sensual way though!), he doesn't know why but he does it. If you're ticklish in that area, it just gives him a reason to do just that (he loves the sound of your laughter).

-He shares his headphones with you and lets you borrow it for the rest of the day if you want. He's also the kind of guy that if you're short, places his head on top of your head and arms around your figure and sway the both of you (I like this idea, it's too adorable >w<). Also the kind of guy that uses his height as an advantage to grab an item you need and hold it above his head while laughing as you try to get it back. This is his kind of teasing :)

-Your date consists of Junes or your place (not his because Teddie is there). Junes is his favorite place so if you want to date there, he'll be ecstatic. You two will sit there while eating the food you bought as you two talk about random things you two can think of. I think this is Yosuke's ideal date though, just relaxing and talking. But if his boredom comes to play, be prepared because he's gonna drag you away from Junes or your house and explore Inaba together. Boredom is what Yosuke fears afterall. If you two are hanging out in your house, be prepared for pillow fights and tickle fights because Yosuke is for sure gonna start it :)

-Yosuke would also might use some pick-up lines on you, some cheesy ones and some random ones. If you use a pick-up line on him as well, you two will have a pick-up contest on which one would have the best pick-up line ever. You two will also have inside jokes that only you two understand. Yosuke also loves you pouncing on him from behind and giving you piggy-back rides, but if its in public, he might get embarrassed.

-Being Yosuke's girlfriend also means being great friends with his, mainly Yu. Yu is Yosuke's partner (I SHIP IT!!) so he wants you to meet his partner. The team would instantly welcome you into their group, and they love you very much :3 Yu also hangs out with you and Yosuke, if you or Yosuke suggest it (he ain't telling being a third-wheeler :/). Teddie would also join in on your date if its at Junes, Yosuke easily getting angry at Teddie for interrupting your date.

-If you're in the Investigation Team, he'll get protective of you, acting like you're knight. He'll be damned if you get hit, so he mostly get the hits directed for you. But if you get hit, he'll sulk and beg forgiveness to you (even though its not either your faults that the Shadow is fast enough). He'll also help you train if you have a hard time with your Persona.

-Yosuke is observant and perspective so he notices your mood, quirks and twitches. He'll immediately notice if you're mood dampen, even if its a little he'll notice. He wants to immediately know what's wrong. If you want to cry, he'll let you cry as he holds you close. If you say "I'm fine", Yosuke would argue that you're clearly aren't. Either way, Yosuke would make sure to make you let it all out.

-If you're sad, he'll comfort you. Whatever the reason is, he'll know it later. The first thing to do is comfort you. He'll not immediately ask you to tell him, he'll let you take your time to explain to him why he found you crying (or sad). Is it about grades? Don't worry, it happens. Yosuke would teach you (he's intelligent, he just doesn't know it yet :3). Is it because of bullying (or someone talking bad about you)? Yosuke would get angry at them as he started to rant why they shouldn't do that and that you shouldn't listen to them. Is it because someone close to you died? Yosuke would remain silent as he just hugs you. Long story short, he'll comfort you in every way..

-Remember me stating Yosuke is observant? Yeah, I'm gonna bring it up again. Yosuke prioritizes your comfort over his, as he finds ways for you to be comfortable if you're uncomfortable. Yosuke always reassure you that he doesn't love Saki anymore, but in truth, he's just reassuring himself. But after Yosuke talked to Yu, he'll confront you about this. Please forgive him and comfort him ;-; he needs it. Afterall, first love is much harder to let go of..

-Overall, Yosuke loves and cherishes you. Please be patient with this man as he tries to move on from the death of his first love :)

Yu Narukami

-Yu is the kind of guy that also teases his s/o by kissing their nose, leaving unexpected kiss on the lips and surprising them by hugging them from behind. He loves every flustered reaction you have (and thinks its cute every time). He'll stop if you want, but if not, he'll continue to tease you with his teasing antics. He's also kind of childish (this is my perspective of Yu, don't judge :3) so while holding hands with you, he'll swing it back-and-forth, while also being careful not to hit anyone.

-People can tell that you two are immediately a couple though (from Yu's antics alone), since Yu is an affectionate partner to have. You know the thing where the person's significant other is sitting on a chair while the other is sitting on the floor and in-between their significant other's legs? Yu is on the floor while you are on the chair. This usually results in Yu putting your legs on his shoulders and carrying you around like that, not putting you down until class start or he has to (much to your dismay and embarrassment), which usually Yu reluctantly let you go.

-His friends would gag at the sight of you (Yosuke), but they're super supportive towards their Captain's relationship with you. But they would ask their Leader to tone down his affection towards you.

-Yu loves to cuddle you and peppering you with kisses all over your face, he has no shame (;-; or :)). He's also the kind of guy that stays faithful with one only, and stays with that person because when he loves, he really loves :3 (again, aside from the games :3). He wants you to know about his love for you, and the only way he knows how is engulfing you with it :) He is mature but he lets loose around you because he's so comfortable with you. He's also a domestic-kind of guy (similar to Akira). If you don't how to cook, don't worry! Yu is here to teach you how, starting how to make Curry.

-Yu lets you borrow his jacket (or hoodie) whenever its cold, and usually blush at the sight of you in his clothing. Its usually big since he's so freakin' tall -_- He'll also help you in your projects and homework, usually having it at either your home or his. Though in his, Nanako would pester you two (not in a bad way though). Oh, and also both Dojima and Nanako immediately accepts you as Yu's s/o. So no worries about there :)

-Your dates consist of either houses or exploring Inaba together. Yu's still new in Inaba so he wants to explore it while he still can. Whether you live there or recently moved there (like him) doesn't matter to him. Since you lived there, do you mind showing him around then? If not, don't worry, let's explore together! In houses though, you two just mostly chill. Talking about random stuff while listening to music or watching TV.

-I can see him as a guy that gives you your favorite flower and tuck it in your head :3 (Don't worry, he already got rid of the thorns in it). This guy lives for cheesiness :3 Oh, I forgot to mention. Teddie would tease you and Yu (though very ineffective) and worship you as well since your dating his sensei.

-If you're in the Investigation Team, he'll be very protective of you but he lets you fight (he trusts you that you won't intentionally get hurt :/). But if a Shadow hurt you, Yu would immediately kill it and tend to you. But when it comes to the lady boss (Adachi), Yu would ask you to not join the fight, in fear you would get hurt. If you persist enough, Yu would reluctantly let you join the battle in one condition, stay by his side.

-Yu is also an observant fellow, seemingly enough to figure out a person's true self, even if that person doesn't. Yu can tell if you're not being yourself or not in the mood, he will ask you instantly what's wrong. If you don't tell, Yu would get worried but doesn't press on. He's worried because (if you're not yet in the Team) you might appear in the Midnight Realm or your Shadow self will appear again. So please tell him what's wrong so that his worry will cease. If you do tell him, he'll listen to you.

-If you're sad, he'll comfort you. He'll do it everytime you feel sad or want to cry. He'll hold you close and either bask in silence or listening to you rant. Your choice :)

-Also, Yu spoils you so much to the point that you have to tell him to stop because he might get broke like Yosuke. But he always reassure you that he has spare money. But please stop this boi from spoiling you too much... OR you spoil him in return (he'll gratefully accept whatever you've given him).

-Overall, Yu is an ideal boyfriend to have (I want a Yu :(.)

Minato Arisato

-Minato likes to tease you a bit to see your (cute) flustered reaction, he enjoys seeing you like that afterall. But he won't do it every time. Which is worse because you have to expect the unexpected. Like when you were writing something in your notebook, the next thing you knew that Minato kiss your cheek. Yes, he's a cheeky bastard :)

-Minato also shares his headphones with you and bask in it. If you have a playlist of your own, he'll listen to it with you. Minato is a private boi, so he does little to no PDA. Prefers all of the affection behind doors, his or your dorm. Though he doesn't mind holding hands with you or giving you a hug, only rarely does he give you a kiss in public.

-Minato isn't as affectionate as the other leaders are (almost all of them are except him ;-;), but he tries his best. Like Yu, he shows his love for you through actions instead of words since talking is a pain for him. He'll cuddle you inside either your dorms and pepper you kisses all over your face. He also has no shame ;).

-He prefers to relax and chill since he doesn't want to waste energy (I'm having Oreki vibes here owo'). So his ideal date is to just chillax in the bed, curled up with one another, and cuddling each other. He likes the feeling of your legs entangle with his though. And this is basically your date! Though he will also take you out to Paulownia Mall or anywhere since he doesn't want you to cope up in the room for too long.

-Minato also likes giving you gifts and small trinkets while he's going around town, stating that they remind him of you. He will also remember everything you said to him, which is handy since he also remembers which ones you want. You probably didn't know this so when its either your birthday or Christmas, you'll be surprised to see the thing you wanted to have.

-Minato loves everything about you, your hair, your eyes, your voice, your laughter, your hands, just basically everything. This is the only time he'll be vocal about it, much to your embarrassment. He'll also give you a piggy-back ride if you want, even in public. He might not look like much, but he's pretty strong for a short guy. (Probably from all the training he has done with Akihiko :).)

-The SEES basically accepts you by this point, since you make their Leader happy, their fine with you. Junpei might flirt with you every now and then. Yukari would talk with you about girl things. Akihiko might also drag you to his training session, in which Minato drags you away from your senpai -w- Basically, they just accept you to their wholesome family. Also, Aigis might thanked you for making their Leader happy.

-If you're in the SEES, Minato would still treat you like any other member. Except for the fact that he's stuck by your side through the journey to reach Tartarus' top. He'll help you train your Persona if you need training.

-Minato is also observant about you (all of these bois are observant -_-), so he will instantly know when something is wrong. But he might not let you know about it, and lets it go along. It isn't until you two are alone in the room when he asks you what's wrong. You don't need to answer him, just let him scoop you up in his arms. He respects your privacy though if you want to left alone, but be aware that you'll find him sleeping outside of your door.

-If you're upset about something, he'll know what's bothering you even if you don't tell him, he just knows. For now, he'll comfort you. After that, he'll deal with the problem. If its about someone talking bad about you, he'll get Mitsuru involve. If its about projects and homework or not understanding the lesson, he'll help and teach you about it. He's a smart boi.

-I can see Minato finding it adorable at what you look like with his clothes, he just finds it so cute. He lets you steal his clothes though. As long as you wear them, it's fine. Though you need to return those or else he has nothing left to wear.

-Overall, Minato is a private affectionate bby :)

Shinjiro Aragaki

-Shinjiro doesn't tease often as the previous bois does, but he does tease. If you have a short stature, he'll get what you were getting and hold it above his head while watching you with a smirk on his face as you tried to get it from him. If he's feeling bold, he might place a kiss on your mouth and chuckle at your surprised, flustered face. Though he doesn't do this often.

-Shinjiro likes ruffling your hair for some reason. He won't admit it but he feels relaxed whenever he feels your hair or ran his fingers through your hair, it just feels so relaxing and calm for him. He also likes pinching you whenever he gets annoyed at you, if you pinch back, you two will have a pinching contest.

-Shinjiro has a hard time opening up to other people, so its a huge achievement if you manage to make him your boyfriend. He'll be flustered by it of course as he looks away while blushing ever-so-slightly. He's a bit of a tsun-tsun. But everyone who knows him (Akihiko and Mitsuru) would take note how Shinjiro's face soften around you, you can almost see a faint smile on his face whenever he looks at you. "He looks like a lovesick puppy." - Mitsuru, 2009

-Shinjiro isn't into PDA, so whenever you want to hold hands with him, he'll get flustered. But he won't refuse as he removes his hand from his pocket and holds your hand with his. He's just embarrassed. He'll drag you places to places, probably explore the town while you two can.

-He's not afraid to speak his mind though, beware. He'll speak without hesitation if you did something bad or do something stupid. If you did do something stupid, he'll snicker while teasingly taunting you. You'll get embarrassed by this of course. But when you two started to eat, you'll laugh at his comments about the food. His snide remarks never fails to make you laugh.

-Shinjiro allows you to take off his beanie and place it on your head, he might need to look away to hide his embarrassment and flustered self. His mind is racing on how cute you look with his beanie, WHY DOES THAT BEANIE LOOK BETTER ON YOU RATHER ON HIM?! He'll never understand that logic ever.

-Be prepared as well for competitions and playful fights, because this guy is competitive like Akihiko. He'll playfully banter with you about the difference between some things. Also, he'll be embarrassed when you find out that he cooks way better than you. If you ask if you can have some, he'll immediately say no. But if you continue to pester him, he'll soon give in. Be prepared to taste Heaven :)

-Shinjiro is insecure to himself because there is so much better guys out there for you, yet you chose him. Someone who'll not live long, someone who'll eventually leave you alone with a shattered heart. His mind will always plague this scenarios over and over again, he'll even be wide-awake at night just thinking about it. When he asks you one day why you chose him, you better reply honestly :) Reassure him that you love him and only him.

-Shinjiro is observant as hell so he knows immediately if you're hiding something or upset. Like MInato, he'll not ask you at once. Though if this behavior carries on for days, be prepared for Shinjiro's interrogation :) He just wants to help you, so please come to him if you have a problem with anything

-(I just realized I made SEES bois with sad s/o. Please read how Shinjiro comforts you whenever you're sad there. x.)

-I can see him telling you to find another one to love when he dies. Move on, but don't forget about Shinjiro. Continue living even if he's not there, he'll remain in your heart forever.. (Okay.. I teared up in this one ;-;).

-Overall, please be with this boi until the very end..

[x] Main Page || [x] Persona 5 Page || [x] Persona 4 Page || [x] Persona 3 Page

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honesthammie · 4 years ago

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From my prompt list:

4) After reaching your 16th birthday you gain the ability to see everyone's red strings of fate and on your 18th you finally get to see yours, except yours dissappears into the ground/sky.

Fandom:Doctor who

Pairing: 13 x gender neutral reader

This is my first fic on tumblr. I know its hella long and not all of my fics will be like this. This came to me from a dream I had recently. I love Jodie and I decided to write the spider episode from a different perspective. I may have change the episode slightly to fit the reader. I am thinking of doing a part 2 but it may be a while before I do as I have deadlines and stuff to keep up with. The next part may be more fluff between 13 and yourself. I know this didn't have much but it's something. I'm also sorry to any Americans reading this, I love yas but its just the personality I put to go with the readers personality. I'm also sorry for any spelling mistakes as I'm doing this on my phone.

Summary: spider episode with a small change I'm plot to accommodate your beautiful self in this fic

Warnings: slight description of a couple of panic/anxiety attacks, swearing and a bit of angst. Long intro for small fluff. And it's a part 1 do I guess a small cliffhanger is a warning?

Beep beep beep. Your alarm starts blaring in your ears, waking you up with a start. You glare at the interrupting machine before turning it off. After such a crazy night, you did not want your sleep so rudely interrupted. Why did you have a crazy night? It's your 18th birthday today and your friends decided to visit your place for a little house party, last night, to celebrate and now you have a pounding headache.

You groaned as you realised, you would need to take some pain meds before you even think about going back to sleep. Slipping out of your bed, you walk to the bathroom and find the cupboard with all sorts of medicinal and bathroom bits and bobs. You then grab the glass that you placed there in preparation for the definite hangover. The glass was a little cold to the touch but you filled it with some cool water from the sinks tap.

You took two, just so you could have a longer sleep. You waddle back into your bedroom and just as you get comfy, you widen your eyes at the memory. You needed to see your mother today, she said she had a gift for you but she would only be at home until 11. You looked at the machine that you hated for the time. It was currently 10:05. You jumped to your feet and rush to get ready.

As you walked outside, you saw the regular red strings that you saw everyday. Why do you see strings? You honestly didn't know, but you knew their purpose, it helped match 2 soulmates together. But something seemed a little off, there was no one on the street anymore, so why could you still see one line of destiny? You decided to follow the string south, down to your own (s/c) hand which was now slightly shaking at the sight.

"Fuck. Fuck,fucky fucking fuck. Why now? Why me? What the shit is going on with me?" You curse to yourself. You could feel your breath getting rapid and your head started spinning slightly. You quickly unlocked your car and sat down to help calm you down. You took a few deep breaths and focused on your senses.

When you eventually calmed down, you decided to look at where the string led. Oh, how you shouldn't have looked. It didn't go in any way of a compass, it went straight up and past the clouds. How? You had so many questions but you had to focus on the day ahead.

You had been to your mothers house and collected your new (fave game series) and your card. You were incredibly thankful as you have been saving up to buy it for yourself one day. You had played the previous games and loved every one of them and to say you were excited was an understatement. You almost ran back into your place if it wasn't for needing the key to access the gates.

Living in a gated community helped you feel a lot safer but it did also make you a big target for thieves to practise picking locks. No one had figured out where the hidden camera that kept alerting the authorities was though. Even you have tried put of plain curiosity but you got stumped after the 10th day of searching. You were sure you looked in every possible hiding spot, yet the camera always seemed to evade you in the pointless game of hide and seek.

As you unlocked the gate, you felt a twitch on your finger. The string was moving down and at a very fast pace, almost falling speed. You looked up and saw a small black dot heading towards the ground, if thats your soulmate, they would certainly be dead the second they meet their fate. When you could no longer see the dot, you kept your eyes glued to the string, waiting for it to disappear like everyone else's did when a soulmate died.

After five minutes, the string was still there and was still as red as ever, like no harm had come to them. But thats not possible. No creature could survive that especially from that great a height! You were beyond curious and quickly went into your living room and searched on all your social media for anyone else that may have spotted the dot in the sky, yet no one had but you knew (b/f) had another massive fight with their roommate, Stella, over whose turn it was to do the dishes again.

If you didn't know that Stella was in a relationship with another, you would have sworn those two were in a relationship. You giggled at the silly thought, "if Stella ever goes through a break up with her, I'm totally gonna set those two up."

You give up on finding anything out today, maybe it'll be on the news tomorrow and you set off to go on an online shopping spree, you had a few codes and now, thanks to your wonderful mother, had a little cash to spare and you did see that gorgeous top on sale. Once you had spent the day either shopping or gaming you decided to head to bed but you couldn't stop thinking about that dot and what the red string meant for you.

When your alarm had went off, you hit it and got dressed for your new job at some hot shot posh hotel run by an aspiring American with High expectations and little experience with Sheffield. You had been told you wouldn't get to meet him much and you were beyond fine with that, you hated Americans, simply because you hated violence and guns were the big no on your weaponry list of avoidance. You didn't mind weapons in video games, those were harmless to the outside world. You didn't mind verbal violence though, it was all you had to defend yourself with and in Sheffield, that was better than nothing. You were very short tempered when it came to your anger but you found that it was either verbal or physical, you chose to be verbal.

You looked at your phone for any messages from (b/f) and had a good luck message. You replied with a smiley face and a "ill need all the luck I can get. I've heard from a few employees that he can be a real asshole for no reason and fires people just because they made eye contact for too long. It's like he suspects someone is out for his blood."

After 2 minutes you received a reply from from them. "You better be on your best behaviour then, young lady!"

"That's the problem. I wonder what the record is for the quickest a person has got fired? Because I may break that, you know me! I don't exactly do as I'm told, that's why finding a job has been so hard. Anyway, I best get ready, gotta look the part! First impressions and all!" You replied with a nervous face. What you failed to notice was the red string no longer pointing towards the sky and you were making it shorter with every step you took. You did give up on finding out about the strange dot and came to the assumption that it fell in a lake, there were plenty of them around.

You walked into the swanky looking hotel and noticed the cobwebs that definitely were not there two days ago when you had your interview, yet they looked like they had been there for weeks. You would have put it down to Halloween decorations if it wasn't for the fact that it was June. You decided to not ask in case this was some sort of strange new American trend that your boss was following to help bring in the youth. It does help make it fit into Sheffield a lot more with the run down and abandoned look. It would need some rust, water damage, mold and cracks to finish the look but it was a start. If you had to be honest, the spider webs helped bring the place together. It was way too posh for Sheffield but you had to lie and say you love it in order to get hired. Just from that lie alone you knew exactly the personality of your boss, arrogant, vain and ignorant.

"Hello, you must be my new helper! I'm Najia, your second in command here. As you can see, there are loads of spider webs so they should be priority. If you could start cleaning in the south west second floor and continue that floor, that would be amazing. Now here's your cleaning trolley and if you happen to finish the floor early, send me a little message through the walkie talkie and I'll give you another room or floor. Do you have any questions?" Najia spoke softly. She seemed lovely and it was shame that she had to be in a place that would get more damage than its worth.

"Just one question: why so many spider webs?"

"I don't know, they just seemed to have appeared, I thought it was silly string from some teenagers that managed to break in somehow but it is actual spider web. It wasn't here when I left last night. I guess I'll have to ask someone about that."

And with that you separated and got to your floor when you finally noticed a slight burning sensation on your finger, it wasn't hurtful. It was like putting the finger in a really hot bath. You looked down and noticed it now pointed downhill and seemed to be glowing a shade of gold ever so gently that you would miss it if the weird sensation didn't make you look.

You left your trolley outside a toilet to make it seem like you were in there when really you had wondered off to follow the string. You would probably lose yourself in the maze of hallways that all looked the same as the last if the string didn't help lead you to a ballroom. You opened the door and instantly screamed. A giant spider was walking towards you, however you couldn't get out, you had used a staff door which needed a key card to use from this side as the other side still needed to be fitted and you left yours in the trolley, near the toilets. And the massive spider seemed to be blocking the other way out so you were trapped.

You weren't scared of spiders but seeing them at the size of a van did intimidate you. You started shaking from fear of what it would do to you. Out of pure instinct, you put your hand out to protect yourself and the sound of 8 legs against wooden flooring had ceased. The only sound was your laboured breathing. It stayed like this for what seemed like hours but in actuality was only 5 minutes. You opened your eyes slowly to see 8 more stare right back. 8 eyes that showed fear but no intention of harm. Instead the spider gave you space to breathe by walking back a few feet. Then it seemed to be watching you, studying your next move to see if you were a threat and whether or not it should kill you.

You stayed still for a moment, wrapping your head around what had just happened before gently walking towards the creature with both hands forward to show them clean of weapons. You decided to try and speak to the spider to see if it can understand you.

"Hello. I'm new around here, I'm sorry if I'm trespassing on your area, I wasn't aware of you being here to be honest. I mean you no harm, if anything, I want to help you but unfortunately, I'm stuck in here aswell." You spoke carefully as if it was a child that was afraid. You gently put your hand in its head and it seemed to understand your good intentions and your situation as it let you pet it. Now you were close, you started to admire it and realised it wasn't poisonous or venomous, it was just a regular house spider. But you couldn't figure out how or why it got this big but it did explain the cobwebs everywhere.

You had been with the spider for hours and it seemed like Najia either didn't care or has gotten fired as she hasn't asked about you. You had spent the time talking or singing to the spider. She, as you found out after looking it up, seemed to put her body around you to protect you. You had even met a couple of her children as they gave you food from the cafeteria to nibble on when your stomach growled.

Eventually the burning on your fingers turned up massively and was causing you pain. The spider seemed to sense this and wrapped her web around your finger to help cool it down a little. It didn't help but you showed gratitude anyway as she was only trying to help in anyway she could. You gave her a small smile and her eyes seemed to show sympathy in return.

Then the doors opened again and the sound of several feet walked in. "Oh thank god. I thought I was never going to be found in here." You thought to yourself as you heard the voices mumble to each other and probably about Betty and what's the best way to get rid of her. You would have paid more attention if your finger didn't feel like it had caught fire and was tight as if your soulmate was amongst those that had walked in.

Now you were nervous. How would you introduce yourself? What did they look like? Were they male or female, not that you really cared? So many questions made you feel lightheaded so you grabbed onto Betty to keep yourself planted.

Then the door opened again and a familiar voice echoed in the hall and you knew exactly how he'd want to deal with Betty and after your bond today, you would rather die than her. She was obviously innocent here and maybe the others could see it. Then you heard the familiar click of a gun safety being taken off and your body reacted before your mind did and you jumped in front of her to stop him, although you had a feeling it wouldn't, but it was worth a shot for the others to stop him.

"Don't you fucking dare shoot that gun Dickhead! Not without going through me!" You spoke with fire in your eyes and maybe a slight mix if fear aswell. That's when you looked over at the new group of people. They all seemed trustworthy enough.

There was Najia, who welcomed you here earlier and she looked sad, so she had definitely been fired. Then there was another woman who looked a lot like her, you guessed she was a daughter or something and she was pretty and definitely somone with authority with the way she stood and held herself, maybe she is a police officer? A man who looked as though he was in his 50s and definitely did not belong in this weird group. A young man who looked of a similar age to the police woman, maybe they are friends.

Then you laid your eyes on one of the most beautiful woman, no, human, you had ever seen and would probably never see again. She had short blonde hair in a bob. They seemed to be brunette at the root. She had beautiful chocolate honey eyes that glimmers with so much emotion and age well beyond her years, like she had experienced thousands of years before this moment. You also noticed her odd sense of style but you admired her boldness and it did look amazing on her. You decided she could only be described as sunshine and rainbows.

Then you noticed her hand And a familiar red string that was also glowing a beautiful subtle gold. Like millions of tiny golden stars circled around the string in a beautiful dance of love. Your eyes started to follow the string down and back to your own. She was your soulmate. That goddess that stood before you, was to be yours forever some day.

Then you looked into her hypnotic eyes before you remembered where you were and what situation you were in. And you realised everyone was staring at you for your previous action towards a spider.

"If you want to keep your job, I'd suggest you move out of the way silly girl!" Your boss grumbled in a threatening tone.

"Nope. You are about to hurt an innocent creature that is stuck and terrified. You built on top of landfill and didn't bother to check and thought of no consequences. This is your fault. Is this how you would treat a child that was a mistake after a one night stand or something? Would you shoot a child that had no choice?" You spoke with confidence yet more nerves now she was there listening to every word. When he didn't answer you shouted "Answer me! Would you shoot your mistake of a child?"

He glared at you. "This is different. This is an animal. A pest. It needs to be killed so more can't be born! I made my mistake and now I'm fixing it!" He bellowed just seconds before a shot was made from his gun. You had expected pain but instead you heard a horrible shriek from behind you.

You quickly turned around and petted her whilst whispering sweet words as she took her last breath. You stood up and made your way over to the murderer. You couldn't stand him and you were so tempted to take his gun and shoot him with it, but you didn't. With fire in your eyes and pure hatred, you slapped him hard enough to leave a mark and maybe a bruise as a reminder of his shitty choices. "You can't fire me because I fucking quit you arrogant dick! She had caused no harm to you or I and I'm sure if you would have sorted it sooner, so many more lives could have been saved as she only had humans because flies didn't fill her anymore! She was so kind and just so afraid. I hope you lose everything you pathetic sad sack of boiled shit! You are truest one of the lowest excuses for a human I have ever met and if we meet again please be very afraid, because next time, it won't just be a slap you have to worry about! It'll be your balls as I cut them off beacuse men like you shouldn't repopulate the planet! You horrid scum! I hope your empire fucking collapses!" You spoke with venom lacing every word. You were seething and boy did his face look punchable. Instead you walked away with your middle finger proudly being the last thing he sees as you walk out the normal doors.

Once you were outside, you sat in the steps and finally let out all the emotions. You cried so hard, over your loss of yet another job and a newly found friend. You screamed at him with a string of curses that would offend just about anybody. You suddenly felt somone sit at the side of you. You knew who it was when the string was burning more than ever before and yet you couldn't feel it over the pain your heart.

"You did brilliant back there. You chose, not just your job, but your life over a creature you barely even knew! If you wouldn't have jumped in when you did, I don't think her children would've had a chance to escape to my TARDIS because he's going on a hunt right now for the rest of them. Sure, you didn't save her but you saved so many more lives than you think. And I know each one is eternally grateful for what you did. I know I would be." Her words were certain and sympathetic. They seemed to calm you down instantly. Or maybe is was the way she talked that helped with her soft but strong voice and you knew you already couldn't get enough like it was the best drug ever. You could listen to her all day and yet, she had said very little to you. It was a strange effect but you liked it.

She fell into a silence for a while just keeping you company as you came to terms with had happened.

#thirteenth doctor x reader #13th doctor x reader #doctor who x reader #thirteenth doctor #doctor who

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hains-mae · 5 years ago

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Flowers

(Damian x Reader) Soulmate AU

Rating: T

Ages: Damian and you are 16, everyone’s ages follow after.

Summary: Soulmate AU where the wounds on your soulmate turns into a flower tattoo on your skin, if it heals with no scars the tattoo goes away, if it heals with a scar then the tattoo stays. You are just an ordinary girl, with an ordinary life, so one might think it only makes sense that your soulmate is just as ordinary as you. But that isn’t the case. Especially not when your body is constantly littered with flowers. Some of them fade over time, some stay, but one thing is for certain – your soulmate seems to get hurt. A lot.

Notes: Hey there you guys. Recently I’ve been caught up in a Batman fever, and I can’t do anything about it. I ended up creating a challenge for my friend @mrevaunit42 which was an “Character x Reader” Soulmate AU. Seriously, it was all in the name of fun.

And then I got caught up in it, perhaps a little too much – and created this. I’ve never written a soulmate au before, though I really wanted to. (Now I have! Yay~) So please forgive my writing since I’m a little rusty, and I hope you enjoy.

Stay safe everyone.

Disclaimer: I do not own DC. If I did, I wouldn’t make it as confusing as it is now.

I woke up to a burning sensation on my lower ribs in the middle of night. Hissing in pain I slowly pushed my feet out of the warm covers and turned on the lamp beside my bed. Pulling up my shirt I assessed the damage.

It was purple lilacs this time, stretched across the middle of my torso going horizontally to my side. I winced as the tattoo completed itself and just as the heat came, a cold chill ran through it and down my spine. Somehow it soothed the burn.

God, another one? I frowned at the beautiful flower and sighed. It worried me that my soulmate was prone to getting hurt. Sometimes the injuries made sense, like when I found them on my knees, I could easily chalk it up to falling and scraping – but injuries like these were more difficult to decipher.

How does someone normal get hurt this way?

They don’t.

“Unless they’re a criminal.” One of my friends stated dryly days ago.

“Or a hero!” Another said quickly.

Needless to say, I wasn’t in a rush to find out. Whoever this person was, I knew from the start that they were trouble.

The next time I woke, it was to the early morning rays that escaped my curtains and played a fiery dance on my eye lids. I groaned and pulled the covers up wishing I could sleep in for a couple more minutes, but I knew I couldn’t.

A few weeks ago my school, Gotham Academy, announced that they were holding their annual science fair at a convention centre as opposed to the regular school gymnasium, because surprisingly enough, Wayne Enterprise offered to fund the event.

It was no secret that Gotham’s economy was hitting below the desired margin. Many people don’t have jobs which resulted in an influx of crime in the past years. And so Wayne Enterprise collaborated with Gotham’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to raise awareness and encourage young minds to strive for a better, innovative future. They shouldered the expenses needed and created an international affair, to top it off; Wayne Ent. also offered scholarships to future college goers and internships in all their branches.

Which was why I couldn’t sleep in today. I had project to work on. In line with our team of sponsors, I decided to invent a weapon that could help the GPD when catching criminals. A gun that projects thin plastic case marbles filled with a chemical concoction that erupts into a quick hardening foam upon impact. The foam itself is not toxic, but it works with catching and detaining. It turns as hard as stone but there was another type of compound that I was in the process of creating to counter act it as a measure of safety.

I got up and started my day.

“Good morning sweetheart.” My mom greeted as I entered the kitchen. She smiled warmly at me as she placed a plate of eggs and bacon on the table.

I couldn’t help but return the gesture, walking up to her and placing a kiss on her cheek. “Morning Mom, are you working tonight?”

“I have to, but don’t worry I’ll be leaving something in the fridge for dinner.”

I thanked her and took my plate into the living room. Turning on the T.V., I easily found the news channel and watched the latest reports on Gotham’s activities.

Mom sometimes had to work on weekends just to make ends meet, which was one reason why I was so hard to get that scholarship and hopefully the internship as well. The other reason was…

A family picture caught my eye in the middle of the news and I bit back a sigh. My dad, my mom, and me. We all were smiling at the camera.

Dad was part of the Police force and died during a heist. Reports stated he was running after the criminals and got shot before he could capture them. That was another reason I chose this as my project. Dad always wanted to fight for justice, hopefully this invention could help.

I finished up my breakfast and helped my mom with chores before I slipped into science mode and continued tinkering with the project. The projectiles were complete and I was able to make 3 in total, which I stored in a small box encased with extra padding.

It was around evening after my mom left that I got another burn. I dropped the screwdriver I was holding and bit my lip. Gasping for breath I pulled my sleeve and watched another flower blossom on my forearm.

The pain was gone in an instant and the cold tickled the skin that was branded. I sighed and slowly straightened my poster. This person, after all these injuries, they better not die before I meet them. I grumbled to myself when I realised I was short on supplies. Poor planning on my part.

I grabbed my bag and locked the front door before I headed out to the nearest hardware store, careful to keep my marks hidden from view. I’ve lived in Gotham my whole life, and I knew that standing out, even in the smallest way, would lead into trouble.

The walk to the store was short and uneventful, thankfully. There were only a few customers. I manoeuvred my way between the isles and picked up what I needed. After paying at the counter I hauled my goods and ducked back into the streets. I almost wished I didn’t stop when I heard that woman cry out for help. I was unarmed, unprepared, and every cell in my body screamed at me to walk – no – run away from the scene that was unfolding before my eyes.

But she was helpless. Clad in a trench coat and rain boots, she didn’t look like much but her bag was definitely designer. The thieves in question had a knife pointed at her face. There were 6 of them. All were towering and bulky next to her petite frame. Their menacing stares struck a cold shiver in me and my hand involuntarily clutched the projectiles I was working on in my pocket. I had a feeling it would be safer with me than it would be at home, however this was not how I imagined I’d first be using them.

The woman screamed again and I clenched my palm.

I sucked in some air and got ready to shout at the perpetrators – until I felt the wind rush past my ear.

In a flash someone had swooped into the scene and kicked the man holding the knife to the ground. The sound of blades being drawn stole my attention. It was Robin. He took a stance between the woman and the men.

“Run. Now.” He told the lady.

She whimpered and scrambled up to her feet dashing towards me, towards the entrance of the alley. She zipped past and didn’t stop running till she turned the corner. I should be running too. But my eyes were fixed on the fight that was about to happen.

Robin seemed no older than me. In reality there was no way he could win against 6 huge men. But then again, this was Robin. No normal teenager.

“6 against 1.” He mused, the grip on his katana tightened. “That hardly seems fair.”

The one who held the knife, possibly the leader of the gang, growled thickly. “Get‘im boys.”

They all rushed towards him at the same time, hands in the air and weapons ready. Robin whipped his blade and easily knocked two knives down, the remaining used their strength and threw punches that looked like it would strike anyone straight to next week. The masked boy effortlessly dodged all their hits. Crouching, jumping, twisting, exactly when needed and not a second too late. His movements were precise; a quick jab below the rib striking the kidney with the handle of the sword, a sharp slam of his elbow to the chin, and to close the deal with a blunt blow force to the side of the neck. The goon fell like a tree that’s been cut down.

I gaped in awe.

The others rushed to avenge their fallen comrade, but Robin was quicker and used his blade to disable them. He kicked one of them into the brick wall, a sickening crunch echoed as the goons’ head smashed into it, then a howl of pain when Robin sliced his back. I cringed at the sight of the blood. It was a superficial wound, at least from my vantage point. The cut was deep enough to hurt and draw red, but not enough to kill.

The next lunged himself and grabbed Robin’s wrist, the boy growled and kicked him the face, forcing to free himself. He couldn’t see the other one running towards them from behind, the weapon aiming straight for Robin’s back.

“Robin!” I found my voice and screamed. “Behind you!”

He did a roundhouse kick and slammed the head of the one holding his wrist, then using the momentum back flipped and kicked the one who was behind.

I sighed in relief.

“What are you doing just standing there?!” He shouted at me as he readied himself again. “I said run!”

That got all the men’s attention. The ones that fell got back up and huffed angrily.

“Get the girl!” The leader shouted. “We can use her.” His leer sent bile rushing up my throat.

I squeaked as 3 of them started to chase me. Finally my legs listened and I dashed across the street onto the other pavement.

They were too fast though, their thundering footsteps grew closer towards me. My lungs burned as I tried to inhale some much needed oxygen, physical sports like running really weren’t my thing. I nearly tripped on an uneven tile as a scream rippled out of my throat. I braced myself for impact but it never came. Instead I felt a rush of wind across my face and a lightness below me. The ground was getting further and further away.

I realised I was being carried. Looking up, I was face to face with Red Robin.

“God thing I saw you when I did or you’d be dead meat.” He said dryly as we landed on a roof.

“Th-thank you.” I breathed, trying to gulp in as much needed air as I could. “Robin – he –“ But I didn’t know how to articulate. The adrenaline rush was messing with my head, and I could barely think straight.

Yet Red Robin nodded, understanding. He jumped off the roof and shot his grappling hook. I peered down and saw the fight started to move, from the alley to the side walk. The goons cornered Robin into a store front and were relentless as they threw punch after punch. The other 3 that were chasing me were already fighting Red just below the building that he deposited me on.

I watched in horror as the glass shattered everywhere around them. They weren’t just normal gangs I discerned, they knew how to fight. And unlike the birds and bat, they didn’t mind taking a life.

Clutching the projectiles again in my pocket, I brought them up with trembling hands.

“I hope this works.” I whispered to myself and pulled out my elastic hair tie.

Hooking one of the orbs onto the elastic, I aimed for the goons attacking Robin, and pulled as far as the band could go. Willing my hand to stop shaking, I said a silent prayer and released my hold.

Time seemed to go into slow motion as it flew across the air. I held my breath.

It hit the ground between two goons and burst into a big foamy cloud of vibrant cobalt, instantly seizing the men and solidified their prison as the concoction cooled.

Both fights stopped for a split second, as they watched the chemical reaction, which now looking back was a mistake on all parties.

I gasped and thanked whoever was listening.

The leader roared and pulled a pistol. I felt my throat tighten as the gun set a bullet free.

Robin and I cried out in pain as the bullet dug into him. Tears threatened to roll down my cheek as I clutched my burning shoulder.

A birdarang zipped towards the leader, catching his wrist and making him let go of the weapon. With a grunt, Robin kicked him hard across the chest stealing the perpetrators breath and with a quick turn, smashed his foot onto the mans jaw, cracking it before letting him fall with a loud thud.

The fight continued and Robin easily subdued his last opponent. Then he ran across the street to finish up with Red. Both of them moved in fluid motions like well trained dancers as they fought while protecting each others weak spots. They took down the last 3 goons and tied them up just as the police sirens blared within the distance.

I jumped up from my spot and turned to run but stopped when I saw the two Robins in my path.

“You.” The younger one started. “You were the one who shot the…”

I nodded wordlessly, still feeling the adrenaline coursing through my body. A nasty red splotch caught my attention and I believe they both noticed as I glanced at it. My own hand went up and clutched my shoulder unconsciously, a cold sensation rippled through where the bullet was.

“Oh my god.”

---

to be continued...

Part 2, 3, 4, 5 (end)

#Damian Wayne x Reader #Damian x Reader #Soulmate AU #fanfiction #my fanfiction #challenge #DC #Batman #Robin #Red Robin #my fan fiction

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gazetteweekly · 3 years ago

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Prosecutors Silence Evidence of Cruel Factory Farm Practices in Animal Rights Cases

The government wants to keep juries from seeing gruesome evidence of animals in distress — the very reason activists are going into farms.

IN CRIMINAL TRIALS, judges routinely rule that certain evidence or testimony does not get presented to the jury. By and large, these rulings to exclude evidence benefit the defendant: Gruesome images of a murder victim, for example, are regularly kept out of the courtroom to mitigate unfair prejudice against the accused.

In a recent uptick of cases against animal rights activists, who face hefty charges for removing ailing animals from farms, the typical logic behind keeping evidence from a jury is flipped on its head. The prosecutors, rather than defendants, have sought — often successfully — to suppress all mention during trial of animal cruelty even though it is the very issue that should be at the core of these cases.

Next month, a Utah judge will hear pretrial motions on the exclusion of evidence in a case against two members of the animal liberation group Direct Action Everywhere, or DxE. The activists face charges of burglary and theft for removing two suffering piglets from a hog farm in 2017, for which they could be sentenced to more than a decade in prison. The Utah attorney general is seeking to exclude all evidence and testimony relating to the torturous treatment of animals, including a horrifying video filmed by the activists as they removed the pigs.

If the attorney general is successful, the ruling will kneecap the activists’ ability to robustly defend themselves and further entrench the failure of our current legal system to place the interests of nonhuman life and defendants’ rights over those of major agricultural businesses.

“I believe this is a highly unethical and unconstitutional practice. It gags activists and prevents them from telling a coherent narrative to a jury,” Jon Frohnmayer, a DxE activist and attorney, told me. “More troubling, it forestalls the analysis of animal cruelty evidence in a courtroom, which is precisely the forum where such evidence should be analyzed. It is, in short, institutional animal abuse by the very institution that should be protecting animals.” U.S. courts have a perturbing history of excluding evidence of violence against animals in animal liberation cases. Without this essential context, the prosecution has framed defendants as senseless vandals, thieves, and even terrorists.

In the notorious mid-2000s federal case against Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty activists, the SHAC 7, as they are known, were sentenced on federal terror charges for what should have been First Amendment-protected activity. During the trial, the SHAC activists were not allowed to even mention the horrifying treatment of animals at the Huntingdon Life Sciences testing laboratories.

Last year I wrote about the felony charges brought against Wayne Hsiung, a co-founder of DxE, in North Carolina for rescuing a sick baby goat. Hsiung, who is also a co-defendant in the upcoming Utah trial, was convicted of larceny and breaking and entering. The prosecution successfully excluded evidence of animal cruelty related to a baby goat that Hsiung had previously removed from the same farm — evidence that would have spoken to Hsiung’s state of mind in his belief that the farm mistreated its animals.

The aggressive prosecutorial tactics are the legacy of the so-called Green Scare of the 1990s and 2000s, when the government targeted nonviolent animal rights activists as “eco-terrorists” in service of corporate agricultural and pharmaceutical interests.

At the height of the Green Scare, the Justice Department named environmental and animal rights “terrorists” as its greatest domestic terror concern, even though no humans or animals were ever killed by these movements. While animal liberationists may no longer be the state’s primary focus for paranoid repression, the more recent cases make clear that the Green Scare remains an open chapter in U.S. history.

THE UTAH attorney general’s motions to exclude evidence show how the letter of the law can sit at odds with its purported spirit. The defendants in the case, alongside other DxE members, carried out an “open rescue” — a tactic by which activists publicly rescue animals from factory farms and bring them to animal shelters. The motive to rescue animals, the attorney general argues, is “not a legally cognizable defense to either burglary, theft or pattern of unlawful activity.”

However, a so-called necessity defense, which could, for example, provide legal justification for a person to break into a stranger’s car to save a suffocating dog, could apply to open rescue cases. Without evidence of animal cruelty on the table, though, necessity defenses are stymied from the jump. Likewise, animal liberation activists aren’t given the opportunity to make arguments before a jury that might shift existing precedents around animals’ legal standing and rights.

“Courtroom gags on discussing violence against animals are part of the broader, perverse treatment of animals under the law,” Lauren Gazzola, a former SHAC activist who served 40 months in federal prison, told me. “Legally, animals are property. They are raw material to be turned into food or clothing or used as test tubes.”

The attorney general’s motions rely largely on case precedents in which defendants have successfully excluded evidence. One of the few examples cited in which the prosecution has had evidence excluded involves a Utah rule designed to protect victims and survivors of sexual assault, commonly known as a rape shield law. “There is significant precedent for excluding evidence which could confuse the issues by smearing the victim, as is the case here,” the attorney general wrote, quite literally comparing a powerful agricultural corporation — “the victim” — to a person who has been sexually assaulted.

The purpose of this rule of evidence, Bonnie Klapper, a former federal prosecutor who now assists animal rights activists as a criminal defense attorney, told me, “is to protect sexual assault victims from being further victimized in court. It was never meant to prevent the disclosure of evidence relating to animal cruelty.” She noted the irony of the prosecutor using a rape shield law to protect the reputation of the hog farm’s owner, the industrial meat giant Smithfield Foods, which engages in mass and repeated forced insemination of mother pigs and castration of male piglets without anesthesia.

To Know More:https://theintercept.com/2022/01/30/animal-rights-activists-dxe-trial-evidence/

#Gruesome Goat Huntingdon Gazzola AndrewSharo

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haec-est-fides · 5 years ago

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Hi, can we discuss how -- however he was influenced by Gaea -- Octavian was likely very familiar with the Triumvirate? It’s subtle, but it shows up most clearly in the way he talks.

(Personally, I think Octavian might have been raised by one of the Imperial Households, but you could just read it as him being in contact with the Triumvirate for a significant amount of time.)

The most glaring red flag imo is that we learn from Rachel (in Hidden Oracle) that the Greek / Roman parley in House of Hades was held on property owned by Nero. This is more important than the fact that Octavian was merely funded by Triumvirate Holdings, because a) it makes an in-person meeting more likely and b) Luke was also funded by the Triumvirate and he doesn’t have the same connection that I’m seeing in Octavian.

Looking back to the parley scene, Octavian goes so far as to mock Rachel by saying, “You’re the Oracle of Delphi? Right. And I’m the Emperor Nero.” It may feel like a throwaway line, but it’s foreshadowing, plain and simple. In universe, I’m almost entirely certain that the reason Octavian says Nero and not Augustus (his namesake, as he loves reminding people) is that he’d recently talked to Nero and knows whose building they’re on. It’s like a Freudian slip -- and it’s just the tip of the iceberg, because Octavian slips up like that a lot.

Let’s start small: Octavian tends to speak in a rather dramatic, formal way. (He says “alas” in ordinary conversation, for instance.) He’s intentionally dramatic and somewhat sarcastic at times, sure, but I think it goes deeper than that. {I bring up one of my headcanons here, but it isn’t the crux of the whole argument. Bear with me.} I find it likely that Octavian learned Latin as his first language -- namely from the fact that his family has been sending kids to Camp Jupiter for over a century and his attachment to the idea of being a true / traditional Roman -- which would have an impact on how he speaks English. It would make sense, then, that his English speech patterns are similar to those of other native Latin speakers -- like the Triumvirate.

Trials of Apollo shows us that the triumvirs also tend to use more formal English, such as avoiding contractions and using what we might consider to be dated terms and phrasings (though this certainly isn’t a hard rule). Again, I don’t think it’s really conscious, but rather a byproduct of being native Latin speakers. In Hidden Oracle, for example, Nero says (to Apollo), “My own forefather does not recognize me?” I’d consider both his use of the word “forefather” and his avoidance of “doesn’t” to be a concise example of what I’m talking about.

It’s also true that few other characters use “alas” like Octavian does. In Heroes of Olympus, it’s only gods / titans / monsters who use the word “alas” (besides Octavian). In Trials of Apollo, it’s actually Apollo himself who uses that word the most (though remember, he’s also the narrator). He says “alas” 5 times in Hidden Oracle and ups it to 12 in Dark Prophecy. Do I need to keep counting? Beyond Apollo’s narration, Macro, Medea, and Caligula all say “alas” at least once in Burning Maze. All of these characters speak ancient languages, and half of them are native Latin speakers. I’ll admit that maybe it isn’t wholly a Latin thing, but there’s still a case for Octavian speaking in a way that could have been influenced by the emperors and their entourages.

Moving a step beyond nitpick, the connection between Octavian and the Triumvirate can also be seen in what Octavian says and the words he uses throughout Heroes of Olympus. We can split the analysis into 3 ideological themes, really: loyal Romans, immortality, and the future.

In Son of Neptune, Octavian calls himself a “loyal Roman” in a conversation with Percy. It’s rhetoric, a succinct yet subtle way to express Octavian’s ideology / self-conception / political striving, and that’s exactly the point. Later, in Blood of Olympus, Michael Kahale criticizes the people that Octavian is recruiting into the legion, calling them murderers, thieves, and traitors. Octavian, on the other hand, calls them “loyal demigods” -- again, fully aware of the rhetoric of that statement. Bryce Lawrence, one of said recruits, calls himself a “loyal Roman” too in order to appeal to Octavian and be permitted to rejoin the legion after his exile.

The reason this recurring “loyal Roman” motif strikes me is that it’s eerily similar ideology and phrasing to something Nero says in Hidden Oracle. Apollo asks, “The other two emperors. Who are they?” and Nero responds, “Good Romans -- men who, like me, have the willpower to do what is needed.” A line from Caligula’s speech before battle in Tyrant’s Tomb echoes the same sentiment: “It’s time to be true Romans!” In Tower of Nero, Nero also talks about bringing back “traditional Roman values”.

Apollo hits the nail on the head with his commentary: “The fact that Nero -- a man who had killed his own mother -- was talking about defending traditional Roman values...that was just about the most Roman thing I could imagine.” The whole point in all of these cases is that the men talking know that the modifiers they use are 100% oratorical, are dog whistles to those who think the same way and near gaslighting to those who don’t. These modifiers -- “loyal”, “good”, “true”, “traditional” -- mean something entirely different to the person saying them than they do to the heroes / average person! That’s a fascinating and complex parallel.

Immortality comes up in similarly echoed ways, showing that Octavian and the Triumvirate seem to be on the same page, coming from the same viewpoint, thinking alike. In Son of Neptune, what Octavian says to Mars is interesting especially in light of the Triumvirate. Mars, explaining the danger posed by the open Doors of Death, asks the gathered legion, “Can you imagine a world in which no one dies -- ever?” Octavian, despite his showy deference, interrupts the god, “But, ah, mighty all-powerful Lord Mars, if we can’t die, isn’t that a good thing? If we can stay alive indefinitely--” Octavian isn’t outright stupid, so I doubt he’s entirely thinking through what he says here. Of course it would be bad for one’s enemies to never die, but if you consider Octavian to be the type to be tempted by immortality? His interruption seems more in character and more likely if he has immortals or even aspirations to immortality in mind at the time.

In Blood of Olympus, Reyna’s vision of the Roman war-camp gives more weight to what I’ll call the immortality hypothesis. She notes Octavian’s “gilded chair that looked suspiciously like a throne”, how his new title of Pontifex Maximus elevates him “almost to the level of emperor”, and of course there’s the altar: “a marble altar....no doubt for the gods. But to Reyna it looked like an altar to Octavian himself.” In Hidden Oracle, it comes up several times -- even from Nero himself -- that the Triumvirate turned the ancient Imperial Cult into something powerful, something that could make them immortal. The Imperial Cult, at its simplest, looked a lot like what Octavian is doing in Reyna’s vision. Whether the Triumvirate told Octavian to do any of this, he got the idea from them, or he came up with it on his own, it’s another sign of similar thinking, at the very least.

Finally, the future -- which, of course, is bound to come up often where an augur is concerned, but I’m thinking of one line in particular. In Blood of Olympus, Octavian tells Michael about his plans, blatantly admitting that he’s aiming to declare himself “First Citizen” like his ancestor Augustus. (That title is princeps in Latin, and it’s an imperial title all three of the triumvirs use.) His Augustan lineage, which makes Octavian a legacy of Apollo from the same bloodline source that both Nero and Caligula get that status from, is another puzzle piece. Octavian is open about his heritage, his family is recognized as wealthy and powerful in New Rome and yet is never present there, and the Triumvirate seems unlikely to lose track of their relatives. Even so, what Octavian tells Michael next is a less speculative tie: “We will rule the future.” This is, specifically, the way Apollo frames the threat posed by the Triumvirate throughout Trials of Apollo once he becomes aware of their plan regarding Python and the oracles. A lot of that description comes after Apollo hears something Nero says to Python: “When we control all four Oracles, we will control fate itself!”

I suppose a facetious TL;DR might be that if you told me that Nero (canonically the best orator in the Greco-Roman Riordanverse) had been giving Octavian (canonically the best orator at Camp Jupiter) lessons in oratory or that Caligula had taken Octavian under his wing and every Tuesday they talked about world domination over coffee, I wouldn’t be surprised in the slightest.

Maybe this post is more of a Rorschach inkblot test for myself and how I read these books. Maybe I’m trying to read way too deeply. Whatever the case, I think that there’s something more to be said about Octavian and the Triumvirate than funding, and no one has been saying it.

#trials of apollo #toa #tower of nero spoilers #heroes of olympus #hoo #hoo octavian #triumvirate holdings #toa nero #toa caligula #toa apollo #I'm not tagging everyone #filodox!#basically this post is my attempt at writing out a vibe / something my intuition picked up on so idk if it really makes sense #or looks entirely crazy #you decide

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quicksilversquared · 5 years ago

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An Unusual Run-In

Mrs. Rossi was expecting a quiet lunch out, a little reward to herself for finally getting completely caught up at work. What she got instead... well, it was much less pleasant.

links in the reblog

Mrs. Rossi wandered down the sidewalk, enjoying the Paris sunshine as she headed towards a nearby cafe that she had heard good things about. She had managed to get caught up with things at the embassy and gotten them in a good enough place to be able to have a bit of time to spare for lunch out for the first time since she had arrived, and she was determined to enjoy the break.

Soup and a sandwich sounded like it would hit the spot just right.

There were students all over the place as Mrs. Rossi headed towards the cafe, some headed in the same direction while others were simply heading home or to the park to enjoy the weather. She wondered if she might spot her daughter among the students, but it was probably unlikely. Lila seemed to enjoy staying at the school to eat lunch there with her friends, and she hardly had a ton of pocket money to spend on eating out on a regular basis. Mrs. Rossi generally didn't eat out, either- it was a waste of money, in her opinion, and ate up time- but she had been working hard enough lately that she deserved a treat.

She reached the cafe and joined the line, waiting patiently as the workers at the counter filled orders. A lot of the tables outside were already filled- a pity, she would have liked to enjoy the sun a bit more- but there were certainly enough spots inside and a number of the students in the line seemed to be getting their orders to go, so at least she should be able to find a spot to sit.

The line worked forward at an impressive rate, and soon enough Mrs. Rossi was approaching the counter and placing her order. She stepped over to the side to wait for her order to be ready, and when she did, she spotted a very familiar face, apparently just ducking in to grab a few more napkins.

She hadn't met her daughter's boyfriend before, between her work and his busy schedule (and, well, she hadn't met any of Lila's friends, really, but soon! She had time now, it could happen soon!), but she had seen pictures of Adrien Agreste before. There wasn't really anyone else it could be, and so after a moment's deliberation- maybe she should just wait until Lila introduced him, but realistically, how long could that take? And maybe if she said hi now, he would introduce her to some of Lila's other friends- she stepped forward, eyes trained on the boy. He caught her eye when he turned away from the napkin dispenser and paused, clearly puzzled by the unknown lady staring at him.

"Hello," Mrs. Rossi greeted him, figuring that there was no going back now. She stuck out a hand for him to shake. "I know we've not met before, but I couldn't not say hi when I spotted my daughter's boyfriend."

The boy blinked at her, clearly puzzled. He didn't shake her hand. "Um, I think you have the wrong person. I'm not dating anyone. And I haven't- the closest I've ever come to dating someone- I met her mom, and you're definitely not her."

Mrs. Rossi frowned. Had she somehow found Adrien Agreste's doppelganger, or misremembered what he looked like. "Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you were Adrien Agreste-"

"I am Adrien Agreste." He was frowning now too, and looking more than a little uncomfortable as he glanced towards the door. "And I'm not dating anyone."

"But Lila said that you've been dating since she first arrived in Paris!" Mrs. Rossi exclaimed, confused for a moment until it hit her. Ah, of course! She should have mentioned Lila from the start. Adrien was a popular model and of course he wouldn't want to go around telling people who he was dating, just in case there were any jealous fans around. "And she's told me about dates that you two have gone on."

Adrien's expression flickered with something unreadable, then went oddly blank. "I'm not dating Lila. I don't date liars, bullies, or thieves, and Lila is all three. I don't know why Lila is trying to claim that she's dating me, but it's not remotely based in any sort of truth. Good day."

With that, Adrien Agreste spun on his heel and vanished into the lunch crowd. Seconds later, Mrs. Rossi saw the door open and a nest of blond hair bob outside. She was still staring after him when the worker at the pick-up counter called her name once, twice, three times. Mrs. Rossi jumped as her name finally registered, and she hurried to pick up her order with a quick apology before she found a seat at a secluded table in the corner. Her cheeks were hot with embarrassment, though she wasn't sure if she was more embarrassed about- well, whatever had happened with Adrien- or about being so out of it that she hadn't heard the worker calling her name.

Now that she was seated, she could properly puzzle over her brief exchange with Adrien. He had claimed that he wasn't dating anyone, had never dated anyone, and that Lila was a liar, a thief, and a bully. Which... well, that just didn't sound like her daughter! But Lila had said that they were dating, something that Adrien had said was false. And he hadn't acted squirrely or anything, like he might if he was making up a lie on the spot.

But Lila hadn't hesitated at all when telling her mom about the dates that Adrien had taken her on. And Mrs. Rossi knew her daughter, even if they hadn't had as much time together as they used to due to their moving and Mrs. Rossi's busy schedule. She would know if Lila was lying, and, well. Adrien Agreste was a model and, if she was remembering correctly, an actor. He would know how to hide his emotions and look as though he was telling the truth, even if he wasn't. That made him the more likely candidate for not telling the truth.

But why would he reject the very notion of dating Lila like that?

Mrs. Rossi puzzled over that as she ate her sandwich, almost not tasting it at all as she tried to work out what might have happened. The pieces just weren't fitting together- until they did.

Lila and Adrien must have broken up- recently, considering that they had had a dinner date just that weekend- and Lila just hadn't wanted to admit it to her mom. Either that, or she had thought that she and Adrien would reconcile and get back together, so she hadn't wanted to trouble her mom. If Adrien's attitude was anything to go by, though, that hope was a little overly optimistic.

Frankly, Mrs. Rossi thought that was probably for the better. If Adrien was immature enough to start making baseless accusations about Lila to her mom because he was angry at her because of their break-up, then he wasn't ready for a relationship. She would have to talk to Lila about it, which was bound to not be a very happy conversation but it was definitely an important one.

With that settled, Mrs. Rossi went back to her lunch. She had earned this break, after all, and she was going to enjoy it. She wasn't going to let a moody teenage boy ruin it for her or spend the whole time doubting her daughter, not when it was so easy to puzzle out what happened.

She was second-guessing herself.

Huffing, Mrs. Rossi set aside the paperwork that she hadn't really been reading, rubbing her forehead as if she were trying to banish the thoughts that kept haunting her. It didn't help, unsurprisingly, and so she flopped back in her chair to give herself a moment to try to pick out why she couldn't put that morning's encounter behind her.

Maybe it was because of how oddly specific Adrien's accusations about Lila were. Maybe specific wasn't quite the right word, but something about the names that he had called Lila seemed just a bit off.

A liar. A thief. A bully.

In Mrs. Rossi's experience- from what she remembered from her teenage years- less-than-friendly breakups usually resulted in name-calling of a more general sort. Accusations of being selfish, of being jealous, of being rude or smelly or inconsiderate or petty. They weren't nice names to be called, but it usually related somehow to the reason why they broke up.

But Adrien hadn't used those names, and that was what was throwing Mrs. Rossi off. It was possible- likely, even- that something had just gotten blown out of proportion and that was why Adrien had called Lila a bully, a thief, and a liar instead. Since the school hadn't called, it probably wasn't that big of a deal.

But it would be smart to call and check in, maybe. At the very least, she could make sure that the teachers were keeping an eye on the dynamics in the classroom following the break-up. It would put her mind at ease, and then she wouldn't risk falling behind again when she had only just managed to get on top of things. Hopefully it would only take five minutes at most, and then she would be able to get some quality work done and surprise Lila by actually getting home early enough to make a dinner that wasn't rushed.

Plan in place, Mrs. Rossi picked up her phone and looked up the phone number for the principal of the school. The phone rang once, twice, and then picked up.

"Hello? This is the office, Mr. Damocles speaking."

"Hi, this is Elena Rossi," she told the man on the other end of the line. "Lila Rossi's mother, I'm calling because-"

"Oh, yes, perfect timing!" Mr. Damocles boomed, cutting her off. "Lila just informed us about the trip you're about to be making and I was going to reach out and see if I could actually get through this time. I really must insist that all of the paperwork gets filled out this time- I know we let it slide for the last trip, since it was so sudden, but we can't do that again. And Lila really does have to actually complete all of her schoolwork this time around- if she falls any more behind, we'll have to discuss either summer school or holding her back a year-"

"I'm- I'm sorry, what trip?" Mrs. Rossi exclaimed, completely thrown off. "We're not going on any trips, we haven't been out of the country for more than a weekend since we got here. We've been in Paris the whole time, and- and the only time Lila wasn't in school was when it was closed for several months because of akuma attacks!"

There was a long pause on the other end of the line.

"Ma'am, the school has only ever closed for an hour or two due to akuma attacks," Mr. Damocles said slowly. "Never for several months, Ladybug and Chat Noir would never let battles drag out that long. Lila told us that you had to go on an extended diplomatic trip and that she couldn't stay in Paris alone so she would be going along. She appeared to call in from several different locations."

Mrs. Rossi's stomach was sinking and twisting into knots. "No- that's not even part of my job description! I- I don't understand."

There was another pause, followed by the shuffling of paper. "Ah, perhaps her lying disorder was acting up? I must insist, if that's the case, that Lila get medical attention because keeping a lie going for that long, she was insisting that it only makes her tell small white lies every once in a while-"

"Lying condition?" Mrs. Rossi couldn't believe her ears. "She- no, Lila's perfectly healthy. She doesn't have any sort of lying condition. She- she-"

She didn't know what to say. Her five-minute conversation to set her mind at ease was going in a completely different direction than she thought it would, and now she was left floundering.

Surely she hadn't been paying THAT little attention while she got things at the embassy under control?

There was another pause, broken by a small cough. Mr. Damocles sounded as uncomfortable as she felt, which- well, it was no real comfort.

"Ma'am, I think we might need to ask you to come in. The sooner, the better."

Mrs. Rossi rushed to let her coworkers know that she had to step out for an incident at her daughter's school, then hurried over to the collège. She was ushered into Mr. Damocles' office at once, and then got caught up on what, exactly, her daughter had been up to at school.

Needless to say, she was appalled. The number of lies that Lila had told- pointless lies, sometimes, presumably because she didn't feel like doing something (or eating something)- was absolutely off the charts. Mr. Damocles wasn't even sure that they had everything recorded, since his records were based almost entirely off of what the teachers overheard and had considered relevant information to write down and pass along. The other part of his records were based off of doctor's notes- but they weren't doctor's notes that Mrs. Rossi had ever seen before, and they were for conditions that she had never taken Lila to the doctor for. Closer inspection revealed that they were definitely written with Lila's handwriting, only slightly modified to hide the immediate similarity.

The lies were bad enough. Forged documentation so that she would get all sorts of accommodation that she didn't need? That was horrifying.

"We may need to get the police involved," Mr. Damocles informed Mrs. Rossi as he gathered up all of the "doctor's notes". Not a single one of them had been valid. "This is a very serious situation and we want to treat it as such. Add in the whole situation with Miss Dupain-Cheng, and- well, there might be a case for emotional distress or something there, I'm not sure what it would be called."

Mrs. Rossi sat up straight. Now this wasn't something she'd heard about yet, but it might explain the bully comment from Adrien. "What happened with Miss Dupain-Cheng?"

"Well. Ah." Mr. Damocles shuffled his papers, looking a little uncomfortable. "There were several accusations leveled at Miss Dupain-Cheng by Lila- that she had cheated on a test, that she had pushed Lila down the stairs, and that she had stolen a necklace from Lila. We thought that we had evidence, as the answer sheet was found in her bag, and the necklace was in her locker, and- well, Lila had been at the bottom of the stairs. So Miss Dupain-Cheng got expelled. But then Lila said the next day that her lying disorder had been acting up, which- hmm." He frowned. "In retrospect, that doesn't quite make sense. She would have had to plant things in advance, which suggests- well, anyway, Miss Dupain-Cheng was allowed back. But I do believe we asked her to thank Lila for coming forward and admitting to her condition, which, ah..."

Mrs. Rossi only just resisted the urge to bury her face in her hands and groan. She suspected, based on what she was hearing, that the girl targeted had probably known full well that Lila was lying and that she was lying on purpose. Being asked to thank Lila after going through that kind of ordeal...

Frankly, at this point, if Mrs. Rossi had heard anything about her daughter getting beat up by one extremely ticked-off classmate, she would probably conclude that Lila very much deserved it. Sure, Lila had 'allowed' her to come back- and why Lila had decided to make up a 'lying disease' to walk back what had presumably been a fairly planned set-up to get rid of the other girl was still a mystery- but that didn't change the fact that she had been targeted and been forced to go through what was probably a fairly distressing ordeal in the first place.

She was going to have to track down the student and her family and apologize to them for everything that Lila had put them through. Ideally Lila would be the one apologizing, but frankly, she didn't trust Lila to do it. She wouldn't be sincere, for one, and just based on what Mrs. Rossi had been hearing, she would probably try to twist the situation to get in another dig at her classmate.

"Anyway, we should probably discuss punishment," Mr. Damocles said, pulling Mrs. Rossi out of her thoughts and bringing her attention back to him. He looked uncomfortable, fiddling with his pen. "Ah, Lila has been akumatized a number of times. I worry that if we administer punishment fitting to the actions within the city limits, we might end up endangering the staff and students here."

Mrs. Rossi took a deep breath and let it out. She didn't want to think of her daughter endangering anyone and physically hurting them, but she had to consider Hawkmoth's presence in the city and the fact that Lila was clearly a lot more manipulative and vindictive than she had thought. She had failed so spectacularly as a parent until now, what with not catching on to what her daughter was up to, and that had resulted in not insignificant damage. Now, she had to make it right for those her daughter had hurt, even if that meant not giving in to the urge to give Lila one last chance.

"I agree," Mrs. Rossi told the principal, swallowing hard. She hadn't wanted to do this before, but Lila left her no choice. "And while I don't like it, I have a possible solution. My parents have offered to send Lila to the same school that I went to, back in Italy." She had always declined the offer before, for several reasons. It was a boarding school, and she hadn't wanted to send Lila away. While it was a good school that pushed for academic excellence, it was very strict. The sort of things that Lila had been pulling would not be entertained for even a minute, which- well, that was a good thing, but wouldn't any parent have some concerns about how fast punishments were doled out? "I suggest that I send her there. Whatever punishment needs to be carried out, it can be dealt with there. It will be out of Hawkmoth's range and she won't be able to harm her classmates more."

Mr. Damocles nodded, looking relieved. "Yes, yes. That sounds like a good idea. But..." He tapped his fingers, still anxious. "She'll still be in Paris when she finds out, won't she?"

Mrs. Rossi shook her head, her mind whirring as she puzzled together what she needed to do. As soon as this meeting ended, she would have to call both her parents and the school to make arrangements. Then- well, there would probably be more meetings with Dupont and the police to figure out the details of the punishment. She would be incredibly busy. "Once things are set up for Lila to transfer, I can tell her that we're going down to visit my parents for a weekend and then break the news there. It means that I'll have to be the one to deal with packing up her room, but I'd rather do that than have Lila akumatized again and hurt someone. I can get started on those arrangements right away."

"If you want to make any calls right now to get the process started, I can step out and let you use my office to make those calls in private," Mr. Damocles offered at once. "The sooner this is settled, the better, I think."

"Yes, yes, of course." Mrs. Rossi's head was spinning and part of her mind was absolutely screaming about how she was going to fall behind at work again, but she ignored it. There were more important things to prioritize right now, and once Lila was back in Italy, she could work as late as she needed to catch up without worrying about her daughter left alone at home. "That would be much appreciated, thank you."

"Of course, it's no problem." Mr. Damocles was standing up already, stepping towards the door. "If you need me, I'll be in the library."

"Thank you." Mrs. Rossi waited for him to step out, then pulled out her phone and dialed her mom. The phone rang once, twice, and then picked up.

"Hello?"

"Hi mom, this is Elena," Mrs. Rossi said, sinking back in her chair. "I know this is an odd time of the day, but I have a very big favor to ask of you..."

It actually took very little time to get Lila registered for her new school, her files transferred over and her behavior record caught completely up. The Dupont staff took care of briefing the staff at the other school on what Lila had done, and over the course of several video conferences they figured out fitting punishments for at least part of Lila's behavior.

Some of it, like the emotional distress and truancy, would have to be settled in court later on. But they could at least address some of the lesser offenses right away, and they could remove Lila from Hawkmoth's range before she hurt anyone else.

Thankfully, it was easy enough to get Lila to join her on a trip back to Italy. They left mid-afternoon on Friday- what Lila had told her friends, Mrs. Rossi didn't know and at this point, didn't care- on a trip to 'visit her grandparents for the weekend'. On the drive between the train station and Mrs. Rossi's parents' house, Mrs. Rossi took an early turn and pulled up to Lila's new school.

Lila's new school, which wasn't the same as Mrs. Rossi's old one. They had told her that they weren't well-enough equipped to deal with someone like Lila and had recommended another boarding school that was specifically geared towards students with behavioral problems. Mrs. Rossi hadn't been a fan at first- there was still a part of her that wanted the best for her daughter and didn't want to subject her to the sort of environment that a school for kids with behavioral problems was bound to have- but she also wasn't willing to subject any more innocent students to Lila's behavior.

Thankfully, several campus police officers had been there and on hand to help, because Mrs. Rossi had never been more scared of her own daughter than she had been in the minutes after Lila got informed that her lies had been discovered and that she was being transferred to the boarding school. She had screamed, she had thrashed, she had threatened, she had tried to bargain and persuade her mom that it was actually everyone else who was lying. Mrs. Rossi had forced herself to ignore it all, simply unloading Lila's luggage and handing it over to one of the employees who had come out to get Lila moved in before getting back in her car. Lila had raged after her, screaming that she was a terrible mother.

Mrs. Rossi had bit back the and you're a terrible daughter as she shut her car door and drove away. It wouldn't help anything, and it would just make Lila resent her more, if that was even possible. She spent the rest of the weekend with her parents before returning to Paris late on Sunday. It felt like an elephant-sized weight had been taken off of her shoulders, though there were still things that she had to take care of. She had to get caught up at work (again), pack more of Lila's things to ship down, and check in with- well, if perhaps not with Lila, then at least one of the staff at the school.

Then, of course, she had to deal with classmates that Lila had left behind. Lila's former teachers had offered to break the news to their students that none of Lila's stories had been true, but Mrs. Rossi felt somewhat obligated to fix things herself. She had ended up too focused on her work to check in with the school, too trusting that Lila wouldn't get into any trouble and would faithfully report what was going on, and the class had suffered for it.

Besides, without a daughter in the city to look after, it would be easy enough to catch up on her work on the weekend. It wasn't ideal, of course- she would prefer to have the weekends to explore the city, perhaps, or to clean the apartment or take care of the multitude of other things that had been neglected ever since their move- but it would be easy to do.

On Monday, Mrs. Rossi headed into Lila's old school. She briefly stopped by the principal's office to check in with him, and then headed to what had been Lila's homeroom. As she drew closer to the door, she was very, very glad that she had come in person.

Because just inside the door, there were a few students chatting. And the topic of their conversation was Lila.

"Wait, Lila's not coming back?" one girl asked, high-pitched and upset. "It's not just another trip?"

"No, not this time," another classmate- Alya, Mrs. Rossi was guessing, just based on what she had heard about Lila's classmates- said. She waved her phone, grinning. "She texted me last night! She apparently wasn't actually visiting her grandparents this weekend. That was just a cover! She was actually trying out for some super-secret role in a movie and she wasn't allowed to tell anyone ahead of time, because there's a lot of details that the project wants to keep secret. And she got the part! But that means that she'll be getting a private tutor while on set instead of calling us here, because her schedule's going to be so intense that it would be impossible to keep up otherwise."

...well, if that wasn't the biggest load of bull Mrs. Rossi had ever heard, she wasn't sure what was.

"Oh, I'm so excited for her, but I'll miss her!" another girl exclaimed. "Presumably she'll come back after filming is done, though? So maybe we'll be in the same lycée class!"

"And it'll be super-cool to see her movie," the first girl added. "We'll have to all go together as a class to see it when it comes out! Did she say when-?"

Alya was shaking her head. "No, it sounds like it's a longer-term project. And after this comes out- well, they're going to be working wit a lot of big names. How often do child stars come back to normal school? I bet that she'll get offers for other projects. Which- how cool will it be to be able to say that we knew her before she got super-famous?"

"I hope she doesn't forget about us when she gets famous!" another classmate chimed in, twisting around to join in the conversation. "I mean, I know she's got more important stuff going on at the moment and I don't want to distract her at all, but there were people that she said she would introduce us to and she just didn't get around to it before."

"Oh, I'm sure she remembers!" the first girl piped up again. "Maybe she won't be able to introduce people in person, but Lila's not going to forget about us. And maybe she'll even invite us to screenings or cast parties for her movies and we'll get to meet people that way! That would be amazing!"

"It would be very cool, I'm sure," Mrs. Rossi said, stepping into the classroom. All eyes swung around to her, and- oh, good, the entire class was here. "If it was at all true, which it isn't. Clearly Lila has learned nothing."

"Uh, who are you?" Alya demanded, crossing her arms and arching an eyebrow at Mrs. Rossi. One row down, Adrien glanced up, caught sight of Mrs. Rossi, and immediately leaned over to whisper something to the girl standing next to him. "Lila wouldn't lie to us, not unless she had to, to keep her project secret!"

"I'm Lila's mother," Mrs. Rossi told her dryly. "And oddly enough, I think I have a better idea of what's going on in my daughter's life than you do at the moment. She got shipped off to a boarding school for children with behavioral problems because she wouldn't. Stop. Lying. The fact that she's decided to double down and make up some story instead of coming clean tells me that I did the right thing. I hear that she claimed connections with all sorts of celebrities and said she had a whole bucketful of ailments. Neither of those is remotely true."

Alya blinked, clearly befuddled. "But..."

"That's what I came in for today, actually." Pressing past the disappointment of finding out that Lila was clearly digging her heels in and refusing to change- it really shouldn't have been a surprise at this point- Mrs. Rossi strode to the front of the room. She refused to break down in front of her daughter's former classmates. She had done enough of that in her parents' house in Italy, wondering where she had gone wrong and if she would ever get the daughter she thought she knew back. "I wanted to break the news myself, so that I could be available to answer any questions you might have. So. If everyone's here, I might as well start, if that's okay with your teacher." She glanced towards Ms. Bustier, long enough to see her nod, then back at the class. "Okay. So, early last week, I first found out that what my daughter was telling me and reality didn't quite line up..."

As soon as she finished fielding the last of the students' questions and left the school, Mrs. Rossi leaned against the side of the building with a sigh. This wasn't what she had pictured her life being, not at all. Sure, she had her dream job, and was earning enough to be comfortable, but losing her husband and having her only daughter turn out to be some sort of twisted bully, unwilling to acknowledge when she was wrong, to the point where she had to be sent away...that hadn't been in her life plan. Not at all.

But there was no point in lingering too long on that unpleasantness, especially in a city where a supervillain lurked, ready to take advantage of negative emotions. She had to focus on the positives. By coming in and telling the class the truth about her daughter's stories, she had set at least one friendship on the road to repair. The entire class would no longer be subject to the whims of a bully. And perhaps most importantly in her own life, Lila would hopefully be getting the help that she needed now, in a school that had all of the resources to address her behavioral issues and do their best to correct them.

Mrs. Rossi took one deep breath, then another, then pushed herself away from the school building to head across the street to the bakery there. She wanted to apologize to the Dupain-Cheng family for the trouble that Lila had caused them and their daughter, and then- if the apology didn't go over badly, if the Dupain-Chengs didn't blame her for Lila's actions- she might purchase a breakfast pastry to go. That would be a nice start to the day, a little bit of sugar to wake her up before she returned to the embassy and threw herself back into her work.

And maybe, by the end of the week, she would have enough time to go out for lunch again. And this time- well, hopefully that lunch out would be a lot more peaceful.

#Miraculous Ladybug #my writing #one-shots #Lila downfall

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moonlights-inkwell · 5 years ago

Text

And Me Wearing Your Clothes

Jaskier x Reader

Word Count: 5,992

Summary: A creature in the woods is killing village girls in the woods, but to keep you safe Jaskier volunteers himself, and one of your dresses as bait instead.

A/N: This one probably needs some level of explanation. So, Joey wears a dress on the cover of The Horror and The Wild, and it has lived rent free in my mind since I first saw it so I had to get around to writing Jaskier in a dress eventually. Also, I know I’ve used Little Miss as a pet name for the reader in fics before, but don’t know if I’ve mentioned that it’s because of the song Little Miss Why So, which the title is also taken from- Just in case anyone was wondering where the fuck I pulled that from.

There’s some mild smutty elements in this too. No explicit smut in this chapter, but this is gonna wind up being a two-parter anyway, so you’ll get the explicit stuff later. It’s worth noting that this is chronologically the first part of my whole series with Jaskier, at least so far- so sorry for any confusion.

When Geralt had informed you that there was a job in a village not far from where you had set up camp, you had been more grateful of it than you would admit out loud. Villages mean inns, taverns and a chance to sleep on something that isn’t dirt, but the way the white-haired man looks at you lets you know this won’t be as easy a job as you could hope for.

“Small village, no inns or taverns, less than a hundred and fifty or so people- less by the day.” He sighs and heaves himself off of Roach to sit on a felled tree by the fire.

“Less by the day?” You raise an eyebrow. Little places such as these tend to have smaller problems, thieving little creatures, the occasional Doppler; but Geralt’s words make it all too obvious to you that the diminishing population isn’t just because people are leaving for somewhere that actually has a place to drink.

“They say there's something in the woods.” He says, as if that’s all the explanation that you require. It takes a second of looking at him pointedly for him to realise you need more information than just that. “Sounded like an Aswang from what they said. Been snatching up local girls, sucking them dry and leaving the bodies to be found come morning.”

Talking to The White Wolf is a Sisyphean struggle; so often it's like drawing blood from a stone, but on the days he decides to speak you can barely understand what he's saying. Not for the first time, you consider simply pretending to know what he means, to act sage and wise, but think better of it all too quickly.

“The bloody hell is an Aswang?” A fair question in your eyes, but the man sighs. You think, on occasion, Geralt forgets that just a few years ago you were just a barmaid with a love of brawling, not some monster hunter with dreams of Glory. Not that there’s much glory in your hunts, just bruises and wounds, limps that last too long and perpetually sore back, even if the occasional song comes from it.

“A type of vampire.” He clarifies. “Dangerous. Normally have a taste for pregnant women and baby blood, seems this one has a taste for any woman it can get its hands on.” That makes your blood run cold. Travelling with the Witcher and his Bard has been the first time in your life where you’ve been free from the limitations of your sex, but the way those amber eyes are watching you now has you suddenly all too aware of yourself.

“A taste for women? Why, Geralt, that’s a very tasteful way of describing yourself in a brothel.” A voice pipes up from behind you, causing you to jump. Jaskier. You thought him still asleep, he'd slept poorly the night before, but if the tiredness lacing his voice is any indication, he's only recently been roused.

“Not now, Bard.” Geralt growls out, but the bard just chuckles and gets to his feet, leaves crunching underfoot as he walks up behind you and settles at your side, a hand pressed to your lower back. Warm, especially through the thin material of your blouse.

“Oh, Geralt, a smile won’t kill you.” He trills and in spite of how serious you know the situation to be, your lips turn up in a far too easy smile. It does just as quickly though, when you realise that Geralt is still looking at you.

“...You want me as bait.” It comes out less as a question and more as a statement as your own eyes meet amber. Geralt doesn’t say a word and you look down. It’s not meant as an insult, and you know that, but it stings none the less; hurts to be asked to be less useful on account of having a cunt. He's asking you to make yourself weak, it’s a request that should be seen as an honour, a few minutes of acting like something you aren't to spare the lives of those girls in the village, but instead it leaves a sour taste in your mouth- like talking a gulp of milk only to discover it's curdled on your tongue.

The hand at the base of your spine rises quickly and rests on the curve of your back as Jaskier seems to realise what you just said.

“Bait?” He sounds as incredulous as you feel. “For what?”

“Vampire.” Geralt says crudely, “It's it targeting women.”

“And you want to send Little Miss in there as bait?” Jaskier snaps back at him, fingers curling into the fabric of your shirt as if you'll be plucked away without a second’s notice. This, this concern is all too welcome, and you glance at Jaskier from the corner of your eye. His clothes are still crumpled from sleep, but he's pushing himself up to his full height as if he expects that to intimidate a Witcher. It’s a foolish endeavour, but gods how you appreciate it.

“She can handle it,” is all the response that is given, which only sends the man beside you into further ramblings.

“She can handle it? She could fucking die, Geralt!” His voice raises, and you're quite sure he’s forcibly making his voice lower to try and sound less emotional about this. “You want to send her in, I’m betting almost completely unharmed, to act as a lure for a blood sucking creature of the night!”

You should feel insulted, to be talked about as if you aren’t there, but now you’re far too focused on the hand resting on you to focus on much else. Early spring's chill is still in the air, making the bard seem warmer than be likely is; and which is the cause of the goosepimpling of your skin is a mystery. Since the bard and yourself started your... entanglement, even the lightest most mundane touch has seemed like lightning crackling through your body. Entanglement is one way of describing it. Really, all that has happened has been kissing- the sort that start as barely more than a brush of lips and don't stop until it turns to heavy breathing and you removing yourself from the situation before you can do something you may regret.

He's always been a mother hen, flapping about to stitch whatever wounds he can and forcing you to seek out healers when he feels it more extreme than a simple slice, but you've no doubt that this concern is coming from a more selfish place than simply wanting you safe. The grip of your shirt is all the confirmation you need.

“It only attacks women, Jaskier.” Geralt growls out slowly, as if teaching an especially slow child. “And unless you’ve a secret to share, Little Miss is the only woman we have.” The pet name comes out in a patronisingly saccharine tone that makes you turn your eyes to the ground.

“I would sooner go out there in a dress myself than let you put her in harm's way for no good reason!” Jaskier shouts back at him, sending your eyes up to meet the Witcher's, when you catch sight of something rare. A smile.

This is a bad idea.

Awful idea. Terrible. Quite possibly the worst idea that the three of you could have come up with, and the fact that Geralt is allowing it to go forward is a mystery.

Well. Not a mystery. Geralt, for all his attempts at stoicism and claims of emotionlessness, has a sick sense of humour: and a chance to humiliate the Bard who interrupts his silence with every passing second must have been more tempting to him than you ever could have anticipated. You, on the other hand, were less keen. Especially when informed by Geralt that Jaskier would need to borrow your only dress for this humiliation tactic. It had taken an hour and a half for it to be taken from you, and it was only really able to be taken because Jaskier had pulled you into a kiss unexpectedly, causing you to drop the dress to wind your arms about his neck. A genius manipulation, really. Should have seen it coming.

It'll never succeed though

Jaskier is perhaps more attuned to his feminine side than many men; His love of scented bathing oils and ointments for his hands, fine clothes and penchant for the dramatics spring to mind, but there's no way that he could be mistaken for a woman unless this Aswang has incredibly poor eyesight. Sweet smells and minor theatrics do not a woman make, even in a borrowed dress. You sit by the fire pit, poking, poking, poking at the burning logs with a long enough stick that you don’t risk your hands with each jab.

Geralt won’t even let you help him set up the trap, and all at once you’re reminded of your girlhood; how the boys in your little home town had allowed you to play knights and dragons with them, only to have you act as Princess. You had always hated it, sat stock still and aloft chairs stacked like a tower for hours while the boys would tumble around fighting each other, roaring and crawling, stabbing and calling in their presence until it was finally time to rescue you- always long after you had grown resentful of your place waiting. You wanted to nothing more than to pick up one of those wooden swords and take part properly, but every time you had asked you had been told that there are no female knights, only princesses. You would always run home to your mother to complain only to be tapped lightly on the nose and told what an honour it is to be picked as a Princess, and given a bowl of peas to de-shell for supper. It didn’t feel like an honour then to sit around feeling useless, and it doesn’t feel any better now. The only respite that comes is from the jabbing and stabbing of the logs.

“I think they’re dead, Little Miss.” Jaskier speaks in your ear, sending you to the ground in shock. The self-pitying had ensured that you hadn’t heard him coming, and he laughs. Chuckles that drip honey have you look up at the bard, ready to curse him for frightening you, but the words wither away on your tongue. Your lip trembles and you drink him in.

With you on the ground, he looks so much bigger than he already is but that isn’t what has you tongue tied, no, not at all; it’s the dress. It’s white, and you always thought it made you look sickly, but on him it’s almost otherworldly, like something you might see on a god, flowing in a wind you hadn't felt before he reappeared. It’s beautiful. He's beautiful. The fabric clings to his pectorals and tapers in at his waist and you realise something that has never struck you before: Jaskier is muscular. Not to the extent of Geralt, but muscular none the less, the muscles of his arms thickening as he crosses his arms across his chest, which only accentuated the sculpture of his pectorals and the dark thatch of hair visible from the plunging neckline of the gown. Tanned skin all but glows in the light of the flames, given richer colour by the stark and almost holy white gown, giving him the illusion of something more than just your bard; some manifestation of Apollo, youthful and beautiful, still grinning that boyish grin, looking for all the world both like he has spent his whole life lounging about and spent it in fields to develop those muscles. Logically, you know he must be muscular, spends his days walking across the continent, carrying bags and bedrolls and whatever can’t, or won’t, be carried by Roach but it catches you off guard. You've always considered him a dainty flower of a man, always singing, always strumming, but now you're confronted with the reality of the situation, Jaskier is all sinewy muscle and dark hair and truly, you’ve no idea how patterned doublets and a lute have kept this reality a mystery to you. He’s beautiful, always beautiful, but this is something else entirely. Beauty implies something entirely understandable. This is otherworldly, incomprehensible in how it makes both so much and so little sense all at once. Your throat is dry and you take a deep gulp of air and struggle to find the words to say and settle on a soft little,

“Oh.”

“Oh?” He smirks, eyebrow raising as he offers out a hand to you. “Does it not look nice? Do I not look like a delicate lady in need of protection?” He teases, skin around his eyes crinkling with his grin.

“You look better in it than I do.” Your voice comes out weak, and he smiles and tugs you to your feet once you take his hand. “Though you are perhaps the hairiest delicate maiden around here.”

“Don’t do yourself a disservice, Dear Heart.” He says tenderly and cups your cheek, leaning down to press a kiss to the corner of your mouth. He calls that space Your Kiss, as if a kiss is a part of your body rather than something people give each other. “You look beautiful in everything and anything- and nothing.” You raise an eyebrow at that, smirking slightly at the comment. “Not that I know what you look like naked! Not that I haven’t thought about you like that, unless that makes you uncomfortable-" He rambles, cheeks flushed a pretty sort of pink, so you lean in and peck his lips.

“It looks much better on you, Dandelion.” You say decidedly, settling on the balls of your feet. “Though I rather think it isn’t complete.”

“Is that so?” Jaskier asks and watches you as you scramble through your bag and pull free two small pencils before settling yourself on the ground and tapping on the log. It takes a second, but he does sit, eyeing the pencils like they might be weapons. “Are you going to stab those into my feet, so I walk in a womanlier way?”

“...Is womanlier even a word, Bard?” You tease, trying desperately to avoid the hand attempting to swat at your head for questioning his obviously superior understanding of language. “And no. Not at all, they’re cosmetics.”

“Cosmetics?” He repeats and watches you as you grab one of the pencils and a dagger, carving at the wood until it is sharp enough for you.

“You do understand women put products on their faces to look prettier, don’t you?”

“You don’t,” He snaps back at you, indignant that you would even question his understanding of the fairer sex. “You’re all bare and natural, and look all the prettier for it, like a rose.” A hand moves forward and cups your cheek, you can feel every callous and scar that riddles his skin. He’s trying to avoid you putting the makeup on him, but just for now, you allow yourself the indulgence. It’s only dusk. Geralt said that the plan won’t need to be enacted until close to midnight and he has yet to even return from his setting of the trap; a little time to take pleasure from something as simple as the man who kisses you having a hand on your cheek. “Beautiful, fresh like a daisy and lovelier than the month of May...” He continues, hand shifting a little forward so that his fingers bury themselves in your hair, causing you to lean towards him, head shifting into the touch- reminding you all too much of the little cat who used to come begging for scraps when your mother and you would eat outside in the warmer months. It’s a strange thing to catch your attention so, but now that the thought has entered your mind, you cannot help but wonder if your mother has been feeding the tiny little beast in your absence-

“Little One?” Jaskier says gently, snapping you free of your thoughts, you’ve no idea how long you’ve been thinking, but it was clearly long enough that the man before you has noticed it.

“...Yes?”

“I asked if I could kiss you.” Can I kiss you? Although you’ve never been someone with much interest in the romantics, you’ve never so much as kissed a man before you met Jaskier, you’re quite sure that men don’t normally ask if they can kiss you. Most that you’ve seen interacting with women simply crash their mouths on their partner’s, breeching their mouths with their tongues like they’re stabbing a creature that means them harm. But Jaskier asks. He means to ensure that you are always completely comfortable with his touching you, to make sure you know that if you have no interest in this contact that it will stop. He won’t push. It’s enough to make your lips turn up in a tiny little smile and you nod, leaning towards him and resting hands on his knees, lips puckered tight and eyes falling shut, and he chuckles. “Melitele, Dear Heart, relax your lips, you aren’t trying to pierce my lips with yours.” He lets his thumb glide across your lower lip, causing you, quite instinctively to relax your lips. “There we are.” A rush of pleasure overtakes you, making you shiver and heading straight to your core. Simple praise is all it takes from him to make you unsure of yourself, and want to do anything to please him, so when he pulls you up gently and settles you on his knees, you do so without complaint, and as if as a means of rewarding you, kisses you softly.

In the months since the two of you have begun this not-quite courtship you’ve grown more accustomed to kissing him than you ever would have anticipated. It happens so often that it’s almost strange to you. He kisses you as a means of waking you, kisses the back of your hand to reassure you, kisses the back of your neck when he passes you, hell; you’re more than a little sure he kisses you sometimes just to annoy Geralt. It feels so natural to you now, to have his mouth on yours, moving languidly like the rest of the world does not exist. He kisses like he’s afraid he might hurt you, all gentle touches and reassuring rubs of thumb against flesh. He knows that you’ve never so much as kissed a man before him and seems to take some pleasure in that- not in the kind of way that the boys at home seemed to when talking about deflowering some virginal girl, but in a way that he seems to enjoy teaching you something about intimacy, or at least this version of it. He acts for all the world like some sort of teacher, gently reassuring you when you go wrong and guiding you back on track, and you preen under the attention. He never pushes, never asks you to do anything you don’t want to do, and it’s far more appreciated than you will ever say, even if in the last few weeks you have found yourself wanting... more.

His lips are wind-chapped but somehow soft, and press into yours so softly, hand curved around your cheek and guiding you to tilt your head slightly, so you follow his lead, reciprocating the kiss as sweetly as you can, winding fingers around his wrist to hold it in place. The kiss is chaste, with no sign of moving beyond just the plush push of lips on lips but still, this position makes it feel more intimate than it has any right to; sat on his legs, your own parted and on either side, and the dress makes it more intimate still. In his doublet and trousers, the only warmth you feel from him while kissing comes from his hands and face, but now with so much skin exposed it’s seemingly coming from all around you, seeping through the fabric beneath you, from the arms extended in front of you, from a heart beating so close but so out of reach. The fire roaring just behind you is hardly helping the situation. Jaskier hums softly against your lips, little more than a vibration, but it makes you smile. Even when kissing he makes noise; he cannot bare to be silent, relish in the sounds of nature, no, he simply must make noise. It’s lovely really, such consistency is hard to find, especially on the road, but Jaskier is consistent. It takes a little more bravery than it should to swipe the tip of your tongue across the seam of his lips and the movement seems to shock the bard, who ceases his kissing for just a second before opening his mouth slightly and dragging his tongue across your own. Normally you would wait for him to deepen a kiss but with him looking the way he does, and the overwhelming need developing between your legs, you cannot continue this lazy sort of kiss as you normally might. No. Now, you need something more than this innocence. So, you shuffle closer to him, legs tightening around his and both hands moving to wind around his neck, fingers curling into the soft hair at the nape of his neck. Your own bravery seems to have inspired some in Jaskier too, so he wraps his arms about your waist and pulls you even closer still, tongue lathering over your own before his teeth drag across it and then bites gently. It makes you shiver, letting out a quiet moan which brings a moan out of him too. Not too long after that he pulls back and heaves a deep breath while you pant, head tilting back.

“That was new.” He laughs, fingers tracing circles into your back.

“What can I say? That dress really does look good on you.” You respond with a chuckle before leaning forward again, this time to mouth at his throat. You feel Jaskier gasp before you hear it, the skin of his neck going taut beneath your lips.

“Dear Heart,” He starts, and the pet name does nothing but make your heart race, “If you don’t stop soon, we’re going to have a... well, an issue.” He stammers out, and you pull back immediately, eyes wide with worry. Had you been too intense in taking your own pleasure from this situation that you had missed some clear hint of his that he was uninterested in going further? He goes to such painstaking lengths to ensure your comfort and you feel like you’ve encroached on his.

“An issue?” The words come out shaky, and you try to shift yourself back from him, but he holds you still. “I’m sorry! I wasn’t trying to upset you-”

“You haven’t. Gods, Dear Heart, I think you could stab me, and I would still thank you.” He says, still rubbing those reassuring circles into your back. “You’re just. You’re...” Jaskier stops and seems to deliberate his next few words, “You’re exciting me, that’s all.” That makes you blink. He doesn’t look all that excited to you, if anything he just seems to be riding the same high he always is after kissing turns a little more passionate, pupils blown wide and lips pink and plush from kissing, but he doesn’t look excited. Your confusion must be visible because Jaskier sighs, muttering something under his breath before his hand creeps higher toward your shoulder blades. “You’re making me hard.” He says, the words said carefully as if afraid he might upset you.

“Har- Oh. Oh!” Realisation hits you all at once and your eyes dart down to his lap, suddenly seeing the tent in the dress that certainly hadn’t been there when you first settled on him. It was mere centimetres away from your core when you were kissing him, and you hadn’t even noticed. It’s the first time you think you’ve ever seen someone be hard, even if it is completely covered up, and the knowledge that it was you who has done this to him fills you with pride. You’ve never really considered yourself the kind of person to have that kind of power over a person, you only ever really feel powerful in a fight, but the feeling overtaking you now feels like power. With nothing more than a mouth and tongue, you’ve affected him in this way. "I wouldn’t call that an issue.”

He blinks at you, lips slightly parted and he looks you up and down. For the first time, you wonder if he’s thinking of other trysts, where it was him in shirt and trousers on top of some woman in a dress who is falling apart at next to nothing. It should leave a sour taste in your mouth, but the feeling of power is more overwhelming than any insecurity.

“I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable, Little Miss.”

“I’m not uncomfortable.”

“You’ve never seemed interested in... progressing.” He’s being careful not to say anything he thinks might offend you. Jaskier is never one to mince words, but your virginity seems to have him somewhat uncomfortable when it comes to what language to approach sex with. You aren’t a child, and used to work in a tavern, you’ve heard all too many terms for sex; shagging, fucking, making the beast with two backs, a labour for Venus, but Jaskier calls it Progressing. Like it’s travelling, moving from one destination to another, from kissing to something else entirely. It’s quaint coming from a man who you’ve heard sing songs about receiving hand-jobs. “I don’t want to push you into anything you might not be comfortable doing, Little Miss, I don’t want you to feel pressured by me or this or anything-”

“I’m interested in progressing.” You cut him off, a little too eagerly. “Truly, I am. I just. Haven’t done anything like this before. So, I wasn’t sure how to go about it, you know. I couldn’t just... I don’t know. Ask you to take my virginity.” Jaskier chokes a little at the words.

“I wouldn’t be taking anything.”

“But I do want you to.”

“I don’t mean in terms of... not wanting to. I do. Melitele’s tits, I’d crawl over shards of glass just to put my mouth on you, Darling. I just mean, I wouldn’t be taking anything from you. There’s nothing to take. You would just be someone who has been intimate instead of someone who hasn’t. You don’t lose anything.”

Your heart, something in the back of your mind says coyly, you’ll lose your heart to him if you allow yourself to be breeched by him, he’ll take it unknowingly and not be able to give it back to you. Each step, each breath, each blink and each song, he will have your heart entirely and there will be nothing you can do to have it returned. He’s had so many lovers before, it’s unlikely he’ll give his heart to you in return for you giving him your own- and it won’t be because he’s cruel or unfeeling, it will be because Bards give their heart to anyone who hears their song, and there isn’t enough of it left for you. He’s entirely enough for you, but you will never be entirely enough for him.

“If I lose nothing by it then why are we discussing it instead of... progressing?” You have to bite down on your tongue to keep from saying shagging. Fucking. Anything but this dance around what it is that the two of you clearly want.

“Because I want you to understand.” He says, and it sounds like a plea. “I want you to know that you don’t lose a thing, and I want you to be doing this because you want to do it, not because you feel like you ought because I’m hard or because you feel you owe it to me. I want you to do this because you want this, and because you want me.”

Because you want me. It makes you falter for a second. Of course, you want him, you wouldn’t kiss him if you didn’t. Your heart aches at the thought of someone kissing or sleeping with him and not wanting him, using him and discarding him afterwards.

“Of course, I want you, Jask.” Your voice is little more than a whisper.

“I mean it, Little Miss. If I do this, I won’t want for another person in my life, I won’t be able to not think of you, and if you’re doing this out of obligation and not because you want me, it will kill me.” He continues, the hand on your back moving up still until it’s buried entirely in your hair, twisting and feeling about your scalp like the answer to every question he will ever ask is written in your hair. “If this is only for once, I cannot do it. It would kill me to know how it feels to be inside you, to feel at one with you, and know you don’t ever intend to do it again. I care far too much for you to do a thing like that.”

“Jaskier...”

“I admit, I have a... reputation for leaving a string of not-quite-crying lovers behind me, but I cannot add you to that list. I won’t. And I refuse to spend the rest of our days together writing melancholic songs about how I want you, desire you, crave you, only to know you only have eyes for others, I would sooner-”

You can see by the impassioned look in his eyes that he has so much more to say, but can’t bear to hear anymore, for fear of fooling yourself that the beautiful man in front of you loves you. So instead, you reach down and wind your fingers around his member and relish in how his words choke to a halt and he lets out a sweet sigh.

“I don’t want to sleep with you once either, and your former lovers and I have nothing in common. For one, I’m not married, and two, I want you Jaskier. Not reprieve from some small pricked husband. I want to have sex with you because I want you, I care about you.” I love you; your mind screams the words you don’t dare say. It’s enough though. Enough for Jaskier to smile and move both hands around your waist once more and gently lay you on the floor beside the fire, hair fanning out like a halo among leaves and grass.

“I. I had intended this to have a more romantic location.” He admits to you as he parts your legs and settles on his knees in the space he has made. “Some inn, where I could strew some petals about, draw you a bath, sing a song.”

“I don’t need petals or poetry or baths.” You smile at him, but he shakes his head with an affectionate smile,

“It’s not about need, Darling, it’s about what you deserve. And you deserve to be treated like a princess.”

“In that dress I rather think you’re more the princess out of the two of us.” Out of the dress too. You’re rougher than any woman should be, and if your mother could see you now, you’d be pulled by your ear off to be told how good and proper ladies dress and behave- you find yourself covered in monster gore more often than you would like to, and have taken to wearing darker colours so that the dirt on them doesn’t show quite as much, but Jaskier with his sweet voice and fineries? He’s a crown away from being a prince, the sort who appear in every story you were told as a child who could fix any maiden’s problems with a kiss that would end in happily ever after.

A cough draws the both of you from each other and you turn your head to see Geralt and realise the light purple sky of dusk has been replaced with the near pitch of somewhere closer to when your plan needs to take place. He looks as uncomfortable at finding you as you feel at being caught. You feel like a child whose mother has caught you doing something they expressly told you not to do, and the fear of whatever comment he shall make keeps you from laughing at the mental image of Geralt dressed as some mother, in a drab old dress and dirtied up apron, flour dusted about his face, still world weary and with his swords strapped to his back.

“...Aswang will be here soon.” The Witcher says, and you’re grateful he’s decided not to address what he had walked in on. “We need our... beautiful woman to be wandering in the woods.” He gestures with a movement of his head to Jaskier to come towards you, and the bard does, albeit slowly, remove himself from the spot between your thighs. Geralt’s stoic face might be enough to fool most people who don’t know him, but you can see the mirth in his eyes. He’s glad he called Jaskier’s bluff on the dress, this story will never make its way into a song for the sake of Jaskier’s ego but will be brought out by Geralt at any and every ball that he is dragged to from now on. His fictional tale of the Bard being castrated by an unfortunate kick to the bollocks by an Ox as a child will now be replaced with an honest account of the esteemed bard Jaskier having volunteered himself- seemingly at random- to serve as bait in a dress for a very dangerous beast. You think he’s never looked more beautiful than he does in the dress, but Geralt very clearly sees it as funny. Men are strange. It’s just a dress, and a dress that makes him look far more attractive than any fine suit or set of armour ever could, so what is so funny about it. The Witcher says your name and you look up at him and nod. “Stay here.”

“But-”

“Hopefully the ‘fair maiden’ is enough to get the Aswang. If it sees an actual woman, it’ll attack it and not try to attack him. I’d prefer not to have to carry your corpse back to your village. It would be a long journey.” He’s being facetious, at least you hope, but you nod anyway. “We shouldn’t be too long.”

“Stay here, it’ll all be over soon.” Jaskier tells you, smiling that disarming smile he uses to try and charm more coin from locals.

“But the memory of you in a dress will live on.” Geralt says, unable to keep the smirk from his face, which makes Jaskier’s face morph between anger and confusion quickly before settling on incredulousness.

“No one is to hear of this Geralt. Geralt! Do you hear me? No. One. Geralt!” His protests increase as the White Wolf begins to trek back into the thicket of trees, Jaskier following behind him and shouting all the while.

“Jaskier!” You call to him, and the complaints die as he turns to face you. “Please, please be careful.”

“I promise, Dear Heart. I will be fine.”

Somehow, you don’t quite believe him as he disappears into the trees to join Geralt at his trap, leaving you alone with only the fire and the moon for company. Eyes turn up towards the full, round beacon of light, the only break in the darkness overhead with no stars to join her. You aren’t religious, and don’t believe in worship or prayer but now, tonight, you close your eyes and breathe deeply. You trust in the moon more than you trust Geralt and Jaskier not to take any unnecessary risks,

“Please keep him safe for me. Please.”

#jaskier imagine #jaskier x reader #jaskier x you #jaskier smut #the witcher imagine

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