#I love my boy Ryuji so fuckin much

[uselesslesbiab]

Can you make some headcanons about Ryuji going partially deaf/blind after the explosion in Shido's Palace?

Ooh I’ve never really had people request headcanons like this before but I really like this idea. If people want I’ll definitely do more requests in the future!

DISCLAIMER I AM NOT BLIND OR DEAF SO THESE MAY NOT BE ACCURATE BUT I USED MY BEST FRIEND WHO IS PARTIALLY DEAF AS A REFERENCE THANKS @rosesandoleander UR SO FUCKIN SEXY MWAH I LOVE YOU

The rest of the Phantom Thieves were relieved beyond words to see Ryuji walk up to them unscathed after the explosion

Ann definitely gave him a good punch in the arm for the comment about her crying face, but that was the extent of it. She hugged him afterwards and they fell back into their usual banter

They only thing that wasn’t usual was the ringing in Ryuji’s ears

He’d seen action movies where an explosion or something happens and the characters hear some ringing in their ears for a few moments so he didn’t really think anything of it

The only problem was, the ringing never really stopped

It subsided later on sure, but even the next day, and the day after that, and the day after that, there was still that constant ringing

He tried to ignore it the best he could but one day after class Ren pulled out one of his earbuds and offered it to Ryuji to listen to some new song his favorite band had released

“Dude turn it up I can barely hear it!”

He knew something was wrong when Ren stopped walking in the middle of the hallway and stared

“Ryuji...it’s already at max volume” Fuck

It was pretty rough coming to terms with the fact that he’ll probably never get his full hearing back, but the bright side was that he wasn’t fully deaf

Thanks to Japan’s healthcare system hearing aids weren’t super expensive but they were still up there in price. Haru heard him casually mention that him and his mother were going to have to save up for them and immediately dragged him back to the hearing clinic and paid for them right then and there.

Of course his hearing aids can only help so much. His right ear was the worst, so you can often find him standing so whoever he’s talking to is on his left side.

He’s a big fan of turning off his hearing aids whenever teachers are yelling at him. It’s not like they can do anything about it.

Given how the metaverse enhances their abilities so much he doesn’t need his hearing aids all that much when he’s there, but it doesn’t fix his hearing completely.

He’s scared that he’ll lose his hearing completely as he gets older, so he does his best to learn sign language while he can.

Spoiler alert sign language is really fucking difficult

He studies with Ren and Makoto as much as possible and the rest of the Phantom Thieves promised to learn alongside him so they’d all be in it together.

[haitaini]

thoughts on gamer!hanma vivi??

*rubs hands* i cannot believe ive never thought abt this

minors dni

warnings: voyeurism, phone sex, nudes and exhibitionism(?) in a way madri its not detailed either

the most toxic gamer, probably got banned several times because he kept shitting on his teammates or the enemies in the chat like the fuckin dumbass he is instead of doing it on call

a top laner in league. thats automatically a red flag cause who the fuck enjoys being a top laner that shit is cancer. unfortunately mains riven 😒 he dont deserve her

rarely plays valo cause his aim is actually shit, but he’d play viper cause he thinks she’s hot (i dont blame him shes hot as fuck)

plays a lot of rpg games tho, probably resonates a Lot with ryuji from persona and thinks hes the shit (he is, my baby boy)

shits on switch gamers and calls them babies cause who tf plays on a switch and calls that gaming? then apex dropped on switch n he got one himself 😭

his entire room is purple, he has neon signs in his room and purple led lights around his setup, it’s his colour tbh i dont blame him

probably has a discord kitten (u) 😭 but he’d genuinely like you and after a while you’d drop the act and try to actually get to know him, play a lot of shit together

spoils the shit out of you actually, buys you whatever game and whatever skin you want cause he likes how you show it off all the time, telling your friends about them, makes his heart melt

at first he got annoyed when you wouldn’t be his support cause??? thats peak romance in his book but you jus wouldnt have it

this one time you told him you’d carry him and his entire team and he just started laughing at you like you’re insane, but that’s what you did and when you clutched the last kill his dick got hard

okay to the nsfw parts *giggles*

phone sex with him>>>> hes just so fuckin nasty and he’d say the filthiest shit to get you off and god you’d love that shit so much, has you putty in your seat as he tells you exactly what to do

expect random videos of him stroking his cock, moaning loudly unashamedly, groaning out your name and telling you how he’s been thinking of you all day and that you should come home already so he can fuck your sweet pussy

this one time you came over to his place and you just wouldnt stop acting up, sitting on his lap during his games and pressing kisses to his neck and he gets irritated cause you know he hates it, so he bent you over his desk and connected to a (busy) voice channel on discord, fucking into you as you let out moans into his mic letting all his friends hear you getting railed (i wanna write a drabble abt this)

also would fuck on camera live in a channel lol, hes ready to show everyone how pretty his baby girl looks all stretched out on his cock while his friends wrap a hand around their dick, pumping to the sight they will never ever get to experience for themselves

Sighs. Him. 😞 ill say this again tho, do NOT date a league player they’re cancer

[mitsubachiaria]

for the blorbos whatever ask thing. danganronpa and/or persona 5

-The Dangleramble-

Blorbo: We all know Kokichi is blorbo from my games, it’s unfortunate but true 😔

Scrunkly: Keebo!!! My scrunkly boy!!! He’s just the most boy and I want to squeeze the him

Scrimblo Bimblo: Himiko, lil magic beanstalk cutie, I want to pat the head

Glup Shitto: look… Kameko, Toko’s bug, the most friend ever.

Poor little meow meow: both Shuichi and Byakuya, Shuichi for the “behold a sad soggy boy” factor and Byakuya for “this bitch has issues but I could study him in a lab and fix him with science” factor.

Horse Plinko: would just love to send Yasuhiro into the horse plinko machine. Just for fun.

Eeby Deeby: sending komaeda straight there ♡

-And for Purse Owner Chive-

Blorbo: The Ryuji!!!! I love the when the he,,,,,,

Scrunkly: I have many but I would like to give Futaba forehead kiss and warm blanket.

Scrimblo Bimblo: *holds Shiho like I just got her from a Zelda treasure chest* the her

Glup Shitto: Fuckin. Newspaper club girl. Shoutout to newspaper club girl.

Poor little meow meow: our little meow meow, comrade. It the pancake boy, the Akechi

Horse Plinko: Putting Mona in here. It’s what he deserves.

Eeby Deeby: Sae. I’m sorry to her apologists but I hate her so fuckin much. Straight to eeby deeby.

[theowhy]

10 fandoms, 10 characters, 10 tags

rules: show us your ten favorite characters from ten fandoms and then tag ten people to do the same.

tagged by @manonisamelon and @grenadinepeach, ty! oh god how do i pick 10. i will do my best. pls forgive that 9/10 of this list is video games and anime. it’s my true self.

1. teen wolf - theo raeken ofc

y’all already know!! there’s a reason my url is theowhy

2. haikyuu!! - tsukishima kei

my moon boy. the character development that swept me off my feet in 2014 and still makes me swoon 7 years later. his dynamic with just about everyone is great but my favorites are kuroo, kageyama, and hinata :’)

3. hunter x hunter - gon freecss

my sunshine child, killua’s light, a boy so overwrought with grief he gave up everything. a boy who learned to SMIIIILE AGAAAAIN. i’m crying

4. fire emblem: awakening - inigo

dancer!inigo in particular owns my heart and soul....  i don’t usually like the “unabashed flirt” characters but i thought his backstory was actually really charming and his supports were so funny. gosh. i love him

5. the legend of zelda: breath of the wild - revali

I DON’T CARE IF PPL HATE HIM I LOVE HIM he’s my birdfriend and my boyfriend. fun fact: i met his VA at a con who asked for a photo of me and my gf in cosplay, and then just dropped the fuckin bombshell that he was the VA for our fav character. what a guy

6. final fantasy xii - balthier

i don’t think i’ll ever stop associating gideon emery with balthier in particular, even if i’ve seen him now in 92082348 different things. but i love balthier. my favorite depressed overdramatic gay sky pirate

7. final fantasy vii remake - biggs

utterly embarrassing that gideon emery is on this list twice. listen, it’s hard for me to pick just one character, and truly cloud and yuffie are more my og favorites, but remake biggs went and stole my heart so wholly i can’t not mention him. i’ll admit part of it is i’m shallow lmao but also he pat cloud on the head and it restructured my brain. that is all

8. genshin impact - noelle

ok i didn’t think i’d come to love noelle as much as i do—i’m not a fan of maid tropes and the boob armor is ridic, BUT. but. she is precious and i’d protect her with my life. her def and shield strength is ridic and she keeps my team unscathed thru everything bc she is amazing. psst if u play, hmu if you want to exchange UIDs :^)

9. kingdom hearts - naminé

i honestly think of her and kairi and xion as a unit so i’m using a crop of my own fanart but—namine 🥺 for those unfamiliar, she’s the one in the middle. i love her so much and i wish there was so much more of her in kh3!! i was especially endeared to her in the chain of memories manga wahh

10. okay it has taken me ridiculously long to narrow down this list but, i have openly admitted that my recurring fav character type is “delinquent blonds with a heart of gold” so that list includes joey wheeler (yugioh), ryuji sakamoto (persona 5), and beat (the world ends with you). i’ll say this trope in particular is my #10 hahaha (and i’m too tired to find pics i’m sorry)

tysm if you managed to get through all this, my tastes are just... all over the place. and i tried to pick media that i’ve engaged with its fandom in some way, which made things even harder ahdlfkjg

not gonna tag 10 ppl because that’s so many and i’m sure most people have been tagged already, but by all means please do this if you want to! :’)

[ultimaid]

you said you were looking for ship+kiss prompts sooo may i offer the thought of ryukita with

their entire body freezing for a second when their love kisses them

that thing where someone turns into an unexpected kiss, like there were turning around and the other person was just super close

because after reading the prompts my mind is just screaming “first kiss scenario” over and over 

i hope you know the reason this has taken me so long to post is bc every time i look at this ask i start blushing and have to look away. you are a genius and i love these boys so much

send a kiss prompt and a ship for a lil fic!

Ryuji clicked the fidget cube in his hand back and forth over and over, the only way he could find to keep still. It was cool in his bedroom, comfortably so, and he'd tidied up a bit in anticipation of having company; still, he couldn't help but fidget as he waited for Yusuke to finish his initial sketch.

Yusuke had asked to come over, even though Ryuji had offered to come to him instead. "No need," Yusuke had said over the phone, "I want to see you in your own space." Weird, but sure, fine, just give him some time to clean up first and Ryuji would be okay with that. He still wasn't sure why Yusuke wanted to draw him... He'd said something about needing "fresh inspiration", and Ryuji didn't know what the hell was inspiring about him. But... He couldn't deny that he was really, really happy to see Yusuke. Happier than most guys would be to see their friend.

He wasn't sure exactly how long he'd had a crush on Yusuke, but he knew it was long enough to get his heart pounding at the thought of him coming over.

Right now, Ryuji was sitting on his bed, trying his best to keep still. Yusuke had told him he didn't have to pressure himself not to move, but Ryuji wanted to make sure Yusuke was getting his best angles, so he messed with the fidget cube and looked across the room. The more he looked, the more he saw that he probably should have cleaned up. Fuckin' clutter...

"How's it comin'?" Gotta fill the silence somehow.

"Hm." Yusuke had been nearly silent the whole time he'd been here, laser-focused on his work. Ryuji didn't want to bother him, but he had to know what was going through the guy's head.

"Hm, what?"

Silence. The sound of footsteps. Quiet consideration. Ryuji did not move.

"Look at me."

"Hmm?"

"Turn your head this way." Yusuke's voice was soft. "Look at me. I need to see your face in the light. You're facing away from the light source."

Ryuji shifted. "Just make sure you're gettin' my good side, man," he said as he turned, "don't want to--"

He stopped talking as soon as he turned, because Yusuke was closer than he was expecting.

Like... way closer.

Ryuji found himself eye-to-eye with Yusuke, something which was rare considering Yusuke's height. His gaze was intense, as if he was trying to absorb Ryuji's every feature. Ryuji found his face painted in red watercolors, warm and spreading across his cheeks to the tips of his ears. He almost jumped back, startled by the sudden proximity, but...

He was right there, and Ryuji couldn't help but glance at his lips.

Is he looking at mine, too?

Ryuji wasn't going to lean in first. He wasn't about to do that. But when Yusuke leaned forward ever so slightly, Ryuji went in and met him where he was.

The first thing Ryuji noticed was how soft Yusuke's lips were, and this was followed quickly by noticing the stiffness of Yusuke's body. He was frozen in place, unmoving, much like the image of Ryuji in his sketchbook. It immediately came to Ryuji's mind that he'd fucked up.

He pulled back, took a quick, panicked breath. "I'm sorry, man," he started to say quickly, "I'm sorry, I should've asked first--"

He couldn't finish his sentence because Yusuke had set down the sketchbook on the bed next to him and was cupping Ryuji's face in his hands, and this time he was the one who kissed Ryuji first.

It was Ryuji's turn to freeze. Less than a second later, though, he relaxed, and his arms found Yusuke's waist to pull him closer until they were pressed together.

The sketch wasn't finished for another couple of hours. Distractions continued to get in the way.

[daxieoclock]

ship bingo for ren x ryuji, aqua x larxene(ithink you ship them?? if not uhhh sorikai), and tifa x aerith!!

Thank you for the ask!!!

Ren x Ryuji

Ryuji is absolutely in love with Ren this is not up for debate it is a FACT. Evidence: Every other g-ddamn line this sunshine boy jock says to his goth theater kid bestie. Harold, they're bisexuals.

Aqua x Larxene

Disaster sapphic perfectionist and mean girl lesbian with different but compatible trauma-based complexes. They're simultaneously the best and worst influences on each other and I love it. Also they literally haven't ever interacted in any piece of canon KH media bc this is Kingdom Hearts and Nomura has an allergic reaction to passing the Bechdel test or something.

Sorikai

Sora and Riku are in love with each other. This is not a disputable fact. And while I really want Kairi to be able to have a strong bond with Sora and Riku, (especially Riku, though I want her bond with Sora to be better than milquetoast half-assed "romance") since, you know, they're BEST FRIENDS and she shouldn't be treated as an outsider, the bond Kairi has with them doesn't have to be romantic. It absolutely could be, and I think there's potential for that to be really sweet and heartfelt, but "two bisexual guys who love each other and their childhood best friend who is a platonic part of a phantom polycule" makes far more sense to me than most of the KH plot points nowadays and I think it's plenty reasonable. I just want Kairi to have fuckin character and autonomy and get to show the unbreakable bond she has with her besties.

Tifa x Aerith

I love them so fucking much your honor. Butch x femme supremacy let's fuckin GO. They're absolutely adorable and maybe this is just Square Enix Not Knowing How To Write Women but their interactions in FF7R at least come off so strongly as like. if not flirting then SOMETHING with the intent of infatuation. The way so much of their interactions are physical, with Tifa especially finding every fucking excuse to hold this pretty girl's hand, the way they take leaps towards "I want to trust you so much that it makes me act like a dumbass" after barely knowing each other for a few hours, the way Cloud unintentionally bungles his way into being a third wheel for them in his very first on-screen appearances with BOTH of them (Aerith gives him a flower in a very flirtatious manner, and he immediately passes that flower on to Tifa; which is either Cloud being kind of a jackass or a completely oblivious wingman, and I like Cloud so I'm aiming for the latter). Tifa and Aerith also foil each other so fucking well as people with similar traumas who address those traumas in completely different ways. Tifa aims for a constant approximation of both strength and vulnerability, trying to maintain her composure through the hailstorm of bullshit she goes through during the Corneo Arc and subsequent reappearance of The Locus Of Her G-ddamn Trauma while rescuing Aerith. She also in my interpretation is focused very heavily on running from her issues, keeping herself busy and constantly micromanaging inconsequential parts of her life to maintain a sense of control despite the fact that she's bottled up her feelings. She has a debilitating inferiority complex, and tries so hard to be a good person, to be kind and gentle to the people around her, constantly second-guessing herself and has a habit of giving other people praise that she would absolutely not accept from them (calling Cloud a hero while her own actions exemplify a no-hesitation approach to saving people regardless of the risk to her own life, such as nearly throwing herself off the Sector 7 Pillar to save Cloud from falling off it, showing far more selflessness and heroism than he ever has). Aerith on the other hand is a human defense mechanism, her entire personality is a heavily controlled performance that rarely reflects her true feelings, which she generally refuses to actually address in ANY capacity. Rather than fostering vulnerability, she keeps herself guarded and safe to the detriment of her emotions, maintaining a constant control over herself while otherwise allowing life to take its course and going with the flow of what the world brings; she's also surprisingly nihilistic, having a long-term outlook that generally leads her to undermine the moment-to-moment, treating even mortal threats with the same consistent playfulness and snark. The closest she comes to solemnity in FF7R is expressing disgust for Sephiroth / Jenova, and warning Cloud not to fall in love with her. Despite the fact that she carries not only the burden of being probably the last Cetra in existence, carrying some very deep emotional and pyschological trauma, AND being burdened with the memories of alternate futures, she still carries herself that unshakable nihilistic optimism through even the toughest encounters (the "He's tough." "Yeah, so what? Screw him." exchange during the Sephiroth fight, for example).

Anyway I care about them a normal amount thank u

[kareofbears]

persona 5 royal: my thoughts after finishing it five minutes ago

disclaimer: the only reason im writing this is because 1) i have a lot of thoughts and feelings that i need to write down and if i dont ill explode and 2) i want to be able to find this when p5s eventually drops so i can compare my thought processes. if you do not agree with what i’m going to say, that’s cool! just block me or ignore this post. 

now for the sake of sanity, i’m going to try and narrow down this entire list into chunks because this’ll probably be very very long and very much about me just screaming about stuff that i liked, loved, and don’t like. i will be spoiling both the original persona 5 and persona 5 royal, obviously, so i hope you finished both!

1) Akechi

so yes. Goro Akechi. Everyone’s favorite murderer. I’m going to by spewing a lot of hot takes, and this is probably going to be the spiciest: i am in the most intense love-hate relationship with this brown haired antagonist because jesus christ is he a complicated son of a bitch. I know i’ve complained in the past about how much Atlus often struggles with utilizing a character well, but that does not at all relate to Akechi in any way, shape, or form. 

I’ll say this now: He is a character I genuinely, truly hate, yet he is the one I want to hear from the most. He is someone who is a bad person (yes, he is a bad person) but whenever he comes on screen he makes me sit up, he makes me pay attention to him because that’s just the aura he exudes. He is a character who i would never, ever waste my time defending or justifying his actions, but every minute joker spends with him is a minute i want to stretch out as long as possible because he is just that good of a character. He is interesting, he is well defined, he is smart, he is clever, he is sassy, he’s a motherfucking asshole who’s never had a vibe check in my life and i still hate him. Goro Akechi is what Star Wars wanted Kylo Ren to be, and that allegory may not make sense to many people but it works for me so i’m saying it. It’s to the point where writing akechi in a fanfic makes me sweat because in my opinon capturing the essence of akechi is near impossible unless you know what you are talking about (i do not mean that in anyway to discourage people from writing him, im just saying that I am a coward because i will never be able to write a good akechi). Anyway, bottom line is: i despise him but my eyes are always glued to him at all times.

back to the main point-- Atlus absolutely nailed this character and every single addition they put in for Akechi. I’m so damn thrilled that you actually have confidant hangouts with him because every single time you talk to him, it services not only the plot, but it perfectly does what it is supposed to do: it makes you like him, but also leaves the player slightly unnerved. they do it so casually that I might have trouble explaining it, but bear with me: everytime you hangout with him, he always does or say something that unhinges you just a little bit, it leaves you asking ‘wait why?’ or ‘but how did you know that’ or ‘why are you saying that?’. akechi is constantly playing mind games with you. and not only that, adding backstory to akechi (moreso than in the original) is just fucking fantastic. he’s always been a fully fleshed out character but after playing royal, goro akechi actually exists in my mind, and i still hate him (but also i dont. but also i do. anyway)

2) the ending

just finished the game and this is the point where i am at odds with p5r for the first time. the ending to p5, in my opinion, was flawless; everything was perfect and had meaning. from the shot of akira being shown to not wearing glasses anymore because he no longer feels the need to wear a mask (character development: he was very unhappy at the beginning of the game and now he’s happy with his friends--i love it), to his friends being the one to drive him home (amazing, he left his home town and came to shibuya alone via transit, and one year later he’s now leaving with all of his best friends in a van they rented just so they could stay with him as long as they can--it’s perfect, i love it), and also all of them seeing how large and infinite the ocean is (because now there’s unlimited options for them because they all have a new perspective on life). 

But....none of that is there in p5r. it feels impersonal. no one drops him off at his hometown, he was still wearing glasses, and there’s no grand metaphor about what they all achieved. 

Now, i am not a (complete) moron. I know why they had to change it: it’s because of persona 5 scramble (i think). they wanted to set up a plot for the next game and i feel like thats the reason why persona 5 royal’s ending suffered for it: they were too focused on the next plot that they forgot to focus on the sentimental ending for p5r. don’t get me wrong, seeing akechi in the train station absolutely made me lose my shit and made me scream at one in the morning, but i think they lost the core meaning in doing the other stuff. i did not like the focus on maruki and kasumi (will be talking about them later), cause i feel like it took away from the ending, and i also didn’t like the fact that the whole joker outfit in the reflection thing (but i will be letting it slide since it was during the after credits anyway). So while i do love one (1) new aspect of the final cut scene, i still adore and stan the one from persona 5. 

3) the entire last semester 

i’ll be quick: the final palace? the best palace. fight me. it’s fantastic, it’s innovative, it’s interesting, and most of all, the palace ruler is actually the best one in the entire game and i know i wont be the only one to say this. maruki is not a villain: i know for a godamn fact that im not the only one to say that i almost agreed with his deal of allowing the reality (damn i almost agreed twice) because why wouldnt you?? it’s literally a perfect reality! the only reason i didnt agree is because i knew the game wouldnt want me to agree and would force me to have the bad ending! anyway, i love the last section so much. the palace design is interesting, the antagonist is brilliant (who doesn’t love a morally gray antagonist?), and finally, the payoff of kasumi happened and it made me silent for ten minutes. the entire reveal of her being sumire and kasumi being dead is just so genuinely shocking to me that it nearly broke my neck.

what actually broke my neck was the initial incident for the third semester. seeing everyone in this wild alternate reality made me so unsettled that i literally got a stomach ache. i saw morgana as a human and nearly passed out. shiho in the underground? wig. ryuji saying he’s on the national pedastal for running? literally my eyebrows just popped off my head. fucking WAKABA? FLATLINED. brilliantly executed and i love the initial akechi and akira buddy cop movie vibes in the beginning it was just so fun. 

one huge part of the third semester for me though, was of course, akechi. seeing him completely throw away his ‘charming ace detective’ speil was the most refreshing and interesting and not to mention, hilarious part of the game. he does not give a fuck about anyone and he is not afraid to let you know. he is the biggest savage and the most insane person on the phantom thieves group. he’ll roast you, he’ll roast your boyfriend, he’ll roast fuckin anyone and it’s fantastic. not to mention his dialogue is killer: he says the most bat shit insults ever and my favorite example is when you go up to him near the end of the game, you know, to hangout with him and be a nice guy, he just does not hesitate to say ‘what, you came just to see me? just the sort of brainless sentimentality i’d expect from you.’ i LOVE IT because why the hell would he try to be nice? the jig is up, he’s got nothing to hide. and he owns it. atlus seriously nailed akechi in this last semester and it’s brilliant and i love it.

4) everything else 

- one small thing that pissed me off in both games (but especially this one) is how many godamn fake out deaths there are. Morgana has one, Akira has one, Ryuji has one, Sojiro has one, Maruki has one, motherfucking Akechi has two. it just hurts me!

- sumire is an amazing character who has depth and she is lovely and my biggest complaint is that it feels like atlus shoved her in. like, she feels like a new addition to the game, you know what  i mean? maybe its because ive played the original p5 first, but you know, it’s not a big deal. but i love her so much

- on the topic of sumire, i cant say that im completely super duper happy with how different she felt from the other thieves? im sure that’ll be explained in p5s but she just got so much screen time that it just truly made me confused?? maybe im just a horrible person, or that’s just a really hot take. but anyway, yeah maybe im bitter because i really wanted to see extra hangouts/school trips during royal, but didn’t really.

-baton pass? literally orgasmic. it made turn base battles so damn fun and the addition of darts and billiards made me foam at the mouth it was SO SMART AND INNOVATIVE AND I LOVE IT ATLUS I LOVE YOU ATLUS YOURE SO SMART SWEETIE

-small thing, but making spells like ‘dormina’ actually useful just made the game so much more fun and dungeon crawling became something i truly, genuinely looked forward to

-being able to give gifts to my bros? absolutely incredible. thank you. side note: seeing akechi happy from giving him a multi vitamin cracked me up. side side note: giving ryuji a fuck ton of weights and him just smiling made my heart so happy i love that boy so much

- ah this game just looked so GOOD! i thought the original looked good but they really went all out. im not kidding, the smallest details in everyday life or even just normal cut scenes were out of this world. especially stuff from the third semester its just OOF good JOB atlus i love you buddy

-ahhh thieves den! how can i forget? i love it. at first i was a bit iffy with it since it really felt like persona 5 (undoubtedly the biggest game atlus has created) was just jacking itself off. but as time goes on, it became a huge addition to the game and seeing characters’ insights and extra lines of dialogue became super duper interesting and a highlight of the game for me. and don’t even get me started on how much i love love love the photos they added of them hanging out! so lovely, a bunch of them made me tear up

- i know it’s literally impossible, but i feel like the game just forgot that akechi is a person who can wield multiple persona and i just wish that could’ve been messed around with during Palaces

- showtimes are so, so crazy and i get so embarassed whenever they play on my tv because they are just outlandish and unashamed but i love them so so much it just defines persona’s personality 

-because i love ryuji: i prefer the final conversation you have with him aka ‘whaddya mean? you’re there’ but there’s still a lot of really tender and sweet moments like akira genuinely telling him that he’ll miss him, and also the fact that ryuji wants you both to send each other your times through the exercise watch so you can still race ahhhh i love him so much yall

so, overall, this game is better than the original p5 because of the extra content we get. if persona 5 was the perfect dinner, persona 5 royal is that same dinner and you get to enter the dessert buffet. it’s brilliant, it’s smart, it’s hilarious, it’s heartwarming, and it’s undoubtedly my favorite game of all time without exaggeration. while i do prefer the final cut scene (and final dialogues with some characters) in the original persona 5, in the overall experience, persona 5 royal is superior in my mind. i would willingly get amnesia to play this game again. 

I didn’t get to cover everything, but this is definitely most of what i wanted to say. if you actually get to reading all the way to the end, thanks! it means a lot. i hope we can all enjoy persona and look forward to persona 5 scramble together :-)

[mypunkpansexualtwin]

for the character ask: futaba sakura? (if she's already been asked, then you can choose whoever!!)

Send me a character and I’ll talk a bit about them!

Hi! Yes excellent, Futaba is a fantastic choice! I have not gotten her yet, I don’t get a lot of asks, probably because it takes me forever to actually answer them. Anyways! Like last time, under a cut cause I am A Wordy Bitch and this is gonna be long.

do I like them:

Bro, I fuckin’ adore Futaba. That’s my little sister. (First playthrough of P5 I sibling-zoned so many of the characters the protag could have romanced. Ann? That’s my sister. Sumi? Sister, which made That One Fight really, uh, well not fun, but. Yeah. Makoto? Definitely sister.) She’s fantastic, she’s relatable, she’s adorable, how could I not love her?

5 good qualities:

1) I shall reiterate: relatable. I may not know computers, but I do know not being able to hold a conversation unless it is in the Realm of Interests.

2) Ballsy. I knew from the first playthrough going in completely blind (and therefor not knowing What All Was Up With Akechi), when she grabbed Akechi’s phone, she was bugging that fuckin’ thing. Because that was not her usual behavior, outside of the lobsters moment at the beach or when she’s hiding behind the protag, she’s not the kind of person who gets in another person’s bubble, especially not a shady stranger, even if he’s got the fanciest phone on the goddamn planet. So going for that lie with a fuckin’ detective was just. -chef’s kiss- Futaba maxed her fuckin’ Guts stat and that needs to be talked about more.

3) Her little laugh. Nyehehe.

4) Girl just casually became the most notorious white hat hacker on the planet to help people and expose corruption on her own. Just doing good with what she had. Four for you, Glen Coco Medjed Alibaba.

5) Respect to her working with Akechi in 3rd semester despite everything they’ve learned. Doing it not only for the greater good, but also for the chance to roast him during Mementos conversations. It’s great, she’s great.

3 bad qualities:

1) Hacked a military base just to see if she could??? Okay to be fair this could also go on the good qualities list but also that feels like an unnecessary risk considering the line of business she’s in?

2) Can’t swim. We took you to a beach, why didn’t you say anything? We could have taught you!

3) Won’t tell Yusuke where she got her mask. It’s a cool mask, let him have one of his own. Actually maybe it’s for the best, better to not let him make the choice between that and food and set off my Inner Grandma.

favourite episode/etc:

Okay, I say this as someone who would sell their kidney for a mod that lets us be nicer to Mishima, but I about died when she obliterated that boy from orbit by calling him an NPC after he asks if she has a dirty streaming channel and says ‘kek’ out loud. I loved that bit and look forward to it every playthrough.

otp:

I mentioned on the Sumi answer that I adore Sumitaba. Also Kana is never seen in her social link but Futaba/Kana.

brotp:

Shutaba, but specifically in an “Autistic Siblings Just Vibing” sort of way where he’s never shamed her for her mask, he’s got his own that he’s just sneaky about, those glasses ain’t prescription. But also, like with Sumi and Ryuji, just give her all the friends.

ot3:

Futaba/Real Food/A Better Sleep Schedule

notp:

Much like most of the P5 cast, I don’t have a hard notp for her (barring that which is overtly gross, she’s 15). I personally read her dynamic with the protag as more sibling, but that’s in part cause I’m An Older Sibling and will adopt anything that moves. I’ve still read some good shutaba stuff, even if it’s not something I’ll seek out myself. Same with Yutaba, bickering doesn’t necessarily equate romantic chemistry, but I’ve still enjoyed stuff that paired them.

best quote:

"My whole world is expanding. Every day brings new and different discoveries. The direction of Sojiro's cowlick, the atmosphere of Yongen, the various types of coffee beans... Things might be the exact same as they were yesterday, but from my perspective, it's all spinning." Bro, the growth...

head canon:

Futaba is the autistic bicon we need and deserve.

[starlight-phantom]

OMG THANK YOU!!!! Ryuji is... Kind of a hot mess in this AU lmao, Poor boys been through a lot, possibly wouldve been the hermit if it werent for the fact I didnt have a place to put Haru :'D Also Black Mask!Ann! It'll be fun writing her in 3rd semester but idk what to do with Maruki :'D fun fact; I had an idea to swap Sumire & Morgana (with Morgana's twin being Ren due to me using Akira as Joker's name :'D)

Fhfhssgjsgjdgjdgj Yeah, I noticed that while I was reading his profile like damn it is one thing after another for this poor boy. It's like he managed to escape a car crash only to get hit by another car. Good thing he gets to go apeshit, he needs it.

And Hermit!Haru is so good!! It works so well when you consider her story in the actual game! Especially considering the fact that Sugimura did actually have a GPS thing so he could constantly track Haru's location.

And god, Black Mask!Ann is a concept I've seen before (but quite a while ago, I can't remember who did it) and I love it so much! Like I remember my first playthrough of P5, during the final confrontation with Kamoshida's shadow, I was just sat there like "DO IT! BURN HIM TO A CRISP!" so the idea of Ann actually doing that is 👌👌👌

Oh, that's so good! That reminds me of all human Morgana designs everyone did before they revealed that... Fuckin... Bishounen Mona for P5R. Like, all of the designs that made Morgana look like Akiren's little brother and they were all so adorable!

[primsycoldbottles]

give me ryuji .

RYUUUUJIIIIII MY BOYYYYYYYYY tysm griffy i love talking abt ryuji so much

sexuality headcanon: bisexual babey!!!!!

gender headcanon: idc but like.. trans ryuji is nice :]

a ship i have with said character: akira x ryuji!!!! akiryu good... theyre made 4 each other... ryuji is so intensely like No Homo Yes Bromo to him n its just... rlly fuckin gay lol

a BROTP i have with said character: him n ann!! theyre like siblings except ryuji doesnt feel the cain instinct towards her despite how much she teases him

a NOTP i have with said character: him n mishima :// i just think mishima is a weirdo hetero ngl.. also him n makoto cuz i think (like ann) makoto would just be a sister to him

a random headcanon: OUGUHHH WHERE DO I START??? hes a mommys boy... he knows how to cook/bake but hates doing it.... he has chronic pain after kamoshida broke his knee.... he got adhd..... hes worn one of anns skirts before and did nothing but like. turn his hips side to side to watch it go swishy swishy

general opinion over said character: I LOVE HIM!!!!!! ugh all time fav of p5 i think hes so cute even tho i think atlus did him So Dirty and made him unnecessarily girl crazy lol 

[mykedrop]

Persona 5 Royal Thoughts

     Alright so there’s a lot I want to talk about here. Fair warning, this write up is actually like, really damn long. Also like HUGE spoiler warning below the cut! I played the original when it came out, bought a PS4 practically only to play Persona 5 not even knowing if I’d like it. But I did! I loved it, loved all of it. Beat the game in just over 100 hours I think. Easily became my second favorite game ever. So now here comes Persona 5 Royal, adds a bunch of new stuff, a lot of little stuff and some pretty huge additions and reworks, includes all the dlc from P5 which is nice. It’s a strictly better version of the game I already thought was amazing enough.

     I remember being a little wary of going for it and reading a non-spoiler list of all the changes, which are actually A LOT when you list them out. Then I thought about how much I loved playing the original, and figured I’m not doing much else right now, so I got it. And BOY that game just checks all the boxes for me. It’s the same game, but better now. There’s a little more depth to playing the game and more stuff!

   One of the biggest additions and probably my favorite addition is Maruki’s story and confidant. Everything involving him I thought was incredible. First of all the man is a dreamboat. Secondly great voice actor. Thirdly the story built around him was really awesome to play through. Every time some new story beats came through while playing through the first parts of the game I always thought how great it all fit in. It made sense, it kind of opened up the world of the game a little more narrative-wise and it all felt right. And the SONG (Ideal and the Real) that plays in Maruki’s office is so GOOD. That song plays in my head 24/7 and I love it. He’s got such a great personality and story and it was a great time getting to rank him up. The song ALONE made me want to hang out with him as much as possible. It’s an angle I wasn’t expecting, his story I mean, and while the “right” choice was pretty clear, it still made me think about what he was trying to accomplish. And they drove the point home real hard during the final stretch of the game before you figure out what’s going. It’s so hard to look at your friends having such a good life and go, “yeah no I don’t think so.” But that’s a whole different  discussion. It felt sort of morally ambiguous, which was really cool. And I also like that Maruki gives you a choice, not only once but twice. Which again, gives you pause, even if only a short one.

    So that brings me to another one of the biggest additions: the new palace. BOY I love this palace. From the way it’s first introduced so early on, to how you keep peeking in every once in a while making a little progress here and there. Until finally you’re able to just go wild at the end. This palace feels like the team designing this was told go all out. The aesthetic, the mechanics, the layout. Going through this I had a big ol smile on my face the entire time at how different it felt compared to those in the original game. Those are good too, don’t get me wrong. I don’t have any palaces I dislike. But I can easily imagine some ideas and how incredible some palaces would be with the level of detail and complexity of Maruki’s palace. It’d be kind of ridiculous and extremely difficult no doubt, maybe even a little too much to ask for I think. Anyway, seeing the garden section of the palace for the first time was INCREDIBLE. They went so crazy with making almost every part of that palace look amazing! And that last area was easily my favorite of the palaces in terms of looks and theme. They did a good job of conveying the scale of that giant tree where the treasure is at with those stairs. Plus it’s another great moment to show of the smaller details of the palace like some flowers, the lighting, some other really neat effects. It was great! And the whole boss fight at the end was so fantastic to watch! I’ll say that even at the hardest difficulty, my SO (who is a turn-based combat FIEND) didn’t have too much of a difficult time with the fight. But the mechanics of it were so interesting! I loved the ideas they went with. Again it felt like they really gave it their all with this palace. The story beats during the fight were incredible as well, and they gave me one of my favorite moments back that used to be in the Yaldabaoth fight: Press X to Fire! The fight with Maruki at the end was also pretty novel too, and so dramatic! The snow falling at the end, the glass platforms collapsing, it all looked so GOOD. One of my favorite things in any game like this (remake/remaster/GOTY version/etc.) is getting to listen to NEW MUSIC. And this palace KILLED IT with music, as did the rest of the game as usual. There’s no feeling that compares to being right at the edge of beating a Persona game. And this palace was a hell of an out of the park home run. After 170 hours, it was so bittersweet to beat the final boss and move on towards the rest of the story. I loved playing through that palace and it’s a shame I’ll never get to experience it for the first time again.

    On to one of the more advertised additions: Yoshizawa! My first thought when I saw her way back when when they first revealed her is I thought she’d be a female protagonist. Which I thought would be INCREDIBLE. Even if it’s not exactly my preference, I would’ve been so HYPE to romance one of the guys. I didn’t really think about it from a gameplay standpoint, as there are way more girl confidants than guys, but still I thought it’d be fun to potentially explore that! Obviously that wasn’t the case, but now on to what I think of the new confidant! I love her! Like absolutely 100% love her so much! Let me tell you just how those concept meetings went down when they were making Yoshizawa: Cute girl, in cute clothes, who has a cute personality. Done, the perfect character. Of course she’s much more than that, but on the surface level it’s easy to see where they were going with this character. Playing the game I had zero idea about her eventual involvement in the final section of the game, so seeing her only have 5 confidant levels I was a little disappointed! Maxed her out as fast as possible and waited... Seeing her story woven through the original narrative was also super fun. Like Maruki, I really liked seeing her in places where she wasn’t before, and adding new scenes and such around to flesh out her character throughout the first two semesters. Then came the new part of the game after the holy grail fight. I was absolutely not expecting that twist with Yoshizawa. I had no idea that they would go somewhere like THAT in this game! It totally caught me off guard and I LOVED IT. What an incredible story all around. And like super fucked! The whole reveal moment was FANTASTIC! Had my jaw on the floor and everything! Her entire confidant was fun, using her in combat was fun, and her romance path was extremely fun! There’s nothing I don’t like about her really. She had such a wild story and such an amazing arc that I can’t not love her! She’s not my favorite confidant, but still adding in a new character like her into such a tight-knit group like the phantom thieves that i already loved as is is such a risky move! It’s so hard to improve upon a dynamic like theirs I think, but they made it work when they needed to! Anyway I love her character a lot and her story and all that. Beautiful.

    Speaking of adding new characters to a dynamic, this might be my favorite addition/rework in the entire game: Akechi. Holy crap I can’t tell you how much I LOVED HEARING AKECHI JUST GO OFF EVERY BATTLE, or while we went riding through mementos, or just all his new dialogue and confidant level ups. Akechi very quickly and easily became one of my favorite parts about the new part of the game. His character was such a HUGE CLASH with every other character in the party, especially Yoshizawa! Which I have to imagine isn’t an accident. He is fuckin CRAZY. Unlocking his Showtime attack was BONKERS. That whole sequence with Yoshizawa and Akechi in Maruki’s palace was so GOOD. Having Akechi be part of the team was an amazing breath of fresh of air. Trust me when I say I have ZERO problem or complaint with the overly positive nature of the party. But MAN it is FUN to see Akechi just be an ABSOLUTE ASSHOLE. Every new interaction with Akechi was a TREASURE. Dropping the “detective prince” act was 100000% the right move. Even more fun was seeing Haru and Akechi’s interactions in mementos. The way every character acted towards him was pretty good, but something about Haru’s overbearing positivity towards him was really fun to watch. I can’t stress enough how much Akechi added to the experience of the final act of the game. His persona? Badass. His personality? Absolutely cutthroat and also badass. His hair? Still incredible. Also the only character in the game who will only play 701 in darts. That threw me for a fuckin LOOP the first time I invited him out for darts. Dude is a STUD in like every way. Love Akechi A LOT. He singlehandedly brought the experience up from an 11/10 to a 12/10. This game is so much better with Akechi being able to go batshit crazy. One of my favorite interactions is during battle: when you heal the whole party, with Akechi and Ryuji being two of the active members, depending on their order, you’ll have Akechi say “No time for thanks” right before you hear Ryuji say “Thanks!” Just thought that really exemplified how much of an ass he is, and how much I love him for it. He is THE badass asshole character this game didn’t know it needed but absolutely deserved. How much of a bad ass do you have to be to able to look at your inevitable death in the face and say “this is how it has to be.” One of the coolest parts of the whole game is him not only accepting his eventual fate, but actively driving you towards making that decision.

     Next up I suppose I’ll talk about Maruki as a character. Love the way he was included, and liked all his interactions with all the characters during the first part of the game. He’s just so likable and honestly very relatable for me. Helping people through counseling has always been a personal goal of mine, so it’s always interesting to see how characters doing the same are portrayed. And while his overarching plan is something I don’t agree with, wanting to help people drives you to do crazy things sometimes. I felt for the guy. I enjoyed all the hangouts with him, and felt like I really understood his goals. The way his entire story was crafted did an incredible job of divulging all the right information at the right time. Before Akechi 2.0 came around, he was my favorite part of the game! I love the confidants and the stories they tell and interacting with them and all that. I looked forward to ranking up Maruki and trying to see what he was all about. The more I learned the more I liked him. Before, during, and after the palace my feelings about him didn’t change much. The man went crazy sure, but I still couldn’t bring myself to hate him or even dislike him. I love the man! My SO had no mercy for the man during the boss fight, but I felt bad seeing her kick his ass! I thought they did a good job mixing up the motivations for Maruki as a villain. Making him a confidant made it so much more difficult to picture him as the big bad evil guy. Plus he has like one of the best songs tied to him in Ideal and the Real. I’ll mention that as much as I feel is necessary.

      So now I’ll go through all of the smaller details that I really liked in no particular order. Kichijoji was a great destination, gave me a lot to do over the course of the game. The phone calls after you hang out with a confidant are a very welcome addition! It’s a way to fit in more dialogue which I always love, and gives you a chance to rank up the confidant a lot quicker. There’s the fact that Morgana no longer forces you to sleep nearly as often, letting you at least mess around in LeBlanc, which helps rank up your social stats. I LOVE THE DARTS MINI GAME. And I’m so glad it also gave you an upgrade for your baton passes. I did not play enough darts. The jazz club was also MY JAM. Again more dialogue, great music, and a fun way to give your confidants new skills or stat boosts. One thing that I find really funny is the way they handled Valentine’s Day. They CHANGED IT. I know they added a lot of new stuff to them for new story reasons. but they CHANGED THE CONTEXT OF THE DATES. For example, in the original P5, Kawakami makes it VERY CLEAR what’s going down later. Ann too! But in P5R, that context is GONE LMAO they really went and changed the dialogue to be less sexual. It’s strange, but mostly I found it funny considering Takemi’s max rank conversation is untouched, among plenty of other ones. Anyway White Day was a GREAT addition! The final part of the date overlooking the city is AMAZING. That reveal made my jaw drop. Speaking of things that changed, the Christmas date also changed, and I like the change a lot! Watching the snow fall from the window on the bed was a great touch. The changes to boss battles and some parts of palaces because of the grappling hook were very welcome. The grappling hook itself was also extremely handy. The thieves den is an incredible addition that adds SO MUCH NEW DIALOGUE AND CONTEXT THAT IT’S A CRIME THAT IT’S HIDDEN IN THE DEN! Anyway. I’ll never say no to new personas. The showtime attacks are a GEM. The new music in this game is AWESOME. I can’t stop listening to the soundtrack. I really enjoyed getting to see a little bit of the dynamic between Sojiro, Futaba and Wakaba. I never knew just how much I wanted to see that until I saw the bit of it in the late part of the game. I don’t remember if it was in the original game, but I LOVE that one of Yusuke’s battle lines is “How do you want to do this?” LOVE IT. Oh Chihaya’s confidant boosting fortune reading was SUPER CLUTCH. Extremely good quality of life right there. I love the extra little bit they added to the warden’s confidant, getting to take them out of the velvet room and show them around. Super cute. Iwai’s gun customization was pretty sweet. Adding Jose to mementos was strange, but very welcome! It made going around much more interesting. Oh speaking of, buffing Ryuji’s instant kill was a GREAT idea. Haha Morgana go vroom vroom. The alarm in the velvet room was also awesome and made making the perfect persona a million times easier.

     It’s been a few weeks now since I’ve finished the game, and it’s unfortunate that I can’t remember more of the little things. This whole write up has been an on and off thing since I finished P5R. Still I love the game and don’t really have any complaints. Well maybe one: LET ME FEED YUSUKE. Someone please feed that man. I forgot how much I loved playing the original game, and going through it again with all the new stuff was a total pleasure! And obviously the 3rd semester was an incredible experience. If you like the original a lot, and it’s been a while since you played it, get P5R. If you never played the original but were interested in it, get P5R. Anyway that’s all I got to say about it.

[ffamranxii]

First Impressions Of P5 Characters VS What I Think Now

PROTAGONIST

Then: Ren Amamiya. Soft boi. Good boi. Who the fuck is Akira?

Now: Hooooo boy let’s unpack this three in one character, my friends. Ren is still a good soft boi who did nothing wrong. Akira Kurusu, however is a bastard in love with a feral boy and is the sarcastic fuck. Joker? Goddamn, Joker is a maniac from the depths of hell. What is heterosexuality

RYUJI

Then: Vulgar Boy! He must be the Best Friend(TM) of Ren

Now: Ryuji is best boy and he and Ren are in love and this is a Ryuji hate-free zone!! T^T

ANN

Then: Oh she’s cute! If she’s the Lovers, I’m gonna ship her with Ren!

Now: Gaaaaaaaaaaay. Ann x Shiho are OTP

MORGANA

Then: She’s so cute I want twelve!!!

Now: Omg I fucking hate this fucking cat if this motherfucker shits on my bb Ryuji one more time I stg I’ll punt him across Tokyo DO NOT TEMPT ME

YUSUKE

Then: Asexual weird AF art boi

Now: Asexual weird AF art boi with a tragic past who is still deeply hurting, and loves lobsters and is definitely best friends with Futaba

MAKOTO

Then: Eh. Whatever.

Now: I COMPLETELY UNDERSTAND YOUR FEELINGS OF USELESSNESS AND YOUR DIFFICULT HOME LIFE WHERE YOUR FAMILY TAKES THEIR FRUSTRATIONS OUT ON YOU GIRL YOU ARE VALID 😭😭😭 Also bisexual. Was attracted to Akira for the DANGER but then set eyes on Hifumi and was like “Akira who?” Angry badass.

FUTABA

Then: Cute little ginger nerd! I’m love her

Now: 😳 Bb I will love and protect you with Coffee Dad for as long as you live, holy fuck, you need so much therapy, also I think you’ve broken several laws both national and international. Her chat name is CoffeeGremlin you cannot take this from me. NO ONE SHOULD BE DATING FUTABA SHE IS A VICTIM OF HORRIFIC TRAUMA AND ABUSE AND NEEDS TO WORK ON HERSELF BEFORE GETTING INTO A RELATIONSHIP

HARU

Then: What a cute little floof! She is sheepwife

Now: Oh god there’s a lot of trauma and emotions to unpack here. Sheepwife 😭 The game makes it seem like you get over your father’s death so quickly but your whole confidant is a metaphor for the close relationship you two used to share and you never really truly get any closure 😭 Sheepwife is one of the most tragic characters because of this. T^T

GORO

Then: This bitch is Light Yagami. I bet he kills someone.

After vanilla: Motherfuckin Light Yagami... but at least there was a reason for his crazy, I guess. Sad

After Royal: 😭😭😭 GORO IS THE MOST TRAGIC CHARACTER AND I CAN’T BELIEVE LITERALLY EVERYONE IN HIS ENTIRE LIFE HAS USED HIM - EVEN AKIRA CAN USE HIM IF YOU PICK THE SHIT OPTIONS - HE MUST BE PROTECTED BECAUSE AKIRA LITERALLY BENDS THE FABRIC OF FUCKING REALITY TO GET HIM BACK AND THEN HE FUCKING GETS KIDNAPPED TO KYOTO?! HOW MUCH MORE SUFFERING MUST HE ENDURE ATLUS JUST LET HIM BE HAPPY 😭😭😭

SHIHO

Then: So cute. I hope she’s a Phantom Thief

Now: Honorary Phantom Thief. Ann’s wife. Fuckin fight me

MISHIMA

Then: *Regina George voice* omg he is SO annoying

Now: Best boi. A good boi. Honorary Phantom Thief fuckin fight me. Mishima is a victim of horrific abuse at the hands of Kamoshida and is treated like shit by both the game and the fandom and I just... don’t get it??? Hug your Mishima today

HIFUMI

Then: Ooooooh pretty please be a Phantom Thief you know she’d be something quintessentially Japanese-themed, she and Yusuke would be aesthetic goals

Now: SHE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A PHANTOM THIEF AND THEY CUT HER? Bullshit. Still a Phantom Thief fuckin fight me. Definitely made the first move with Makoto. Into kinky sex.

KASUMI

Then: I love her

Now: D: I’ve only had Sumire for a day and a half but if anything happens to her I’ll kill everyone in this fandom and then myself. How is she not the protagonist or secondary protagonist of Persona 6? She would basically be just like Maki from P1! That is a HUGE story and they just... you know what FUCK you Atlus. ALSO REMEMBER WHAT I SAID ABOUT HOW NO ONE SHOULD BE DATING FUTABA BECAUSE SHE’S A VICTIM OF HORRIFIC ABUSE AND TRAUMA AND NEEDS TO WORK ON HERSELF BEFORE GETTING INTO A RELATIONSHIP? REPLACE FUTABA WITH SUMIRE THANKS FOR COMING TO MY TED TALK

[milquetoastboy]

post 3-5 songs for your muse || tagged by @craniumcarrus​

narrowing down my playlists is gonna be a struggle. if u start asking about my music and playlists i won’t shut up and this is proof. more rambling under the readmore. i am. so fuckin sorry. 

rigamortus || kendrick lamar

we all are sinners, won't you send us to bible study faster your hypocrite-esque reaction a blasphemy i assassin my casualty and it's casually done and tell 'em my salary come a lump sum of hundreds don't talk to be 'bout no money the sun is under my feet and i come in peace to compete i don't run if you rather leap, my statistics go up in weeks

tous les memes || stromae

quoi toi aussi tu veux finir maintenant? c’est l'monde à l'envers! moi je l'disais pour t'faire réagir seulement...  toi t'y pensais

handclap  || fitz & the tantrums

my flesh is searching for your worst and best, don't ever deny i'm like a stranger, gimme danger, all your wrong and your right secrets on broadway to the freeway, you're a keeper of crimes fear no conviction, grapes of wrath can only sweeten your wine

i will light you on fire || golden shoulders

"don't upset the wealthy, it's unhealthy, " everyone has a price, sometimes I have two and if I lack point or purpose on the surface it's only 'cause I was trying to fit in

c’mon || panic! at the disco feat. fun.

If i should die tonight, may i first just say i'm sorry for i, never felt like anybody i am a man of many hats although i never mastered anything but i am ten feet tall, ive never felt this tall since the fall nobody seems to know my name, so don't leave me and sleep all alone maybe stay lost on our way home

bonus round !! feat. instrumental lo-fi bc i have to or it’s not me

coffee on the beach || halberd

tagging: @phantasmxgora​ @vaciiviity​ (give me ur akechi songs.) @chains-of-rebellion​ @goofyfacade​ (or one of your other muses :3) @princemasked​ @ofsparsilestars​ aaaaaaaaand the person reading this!

more rambling under the cut

rigamortus

i just wanted a song that really gets the vibe of akira’s cockiness- this song is a maxed out, safe mode akira ready to fight god. it’s joker, really, at it’s core. it’s completely self assured and just absolutely jazzy to boot. honorable mentions: monster || kanye west ;; feel it still || portugal the man ;; paper planes || m.i.a.

tous les memes

this song was part of the peak nb crisis. the dramatic nb experience. so clearly, for a nb dramatic akira-- this one falls into the joker category as well. it’s a little cocky, it’s being fed up and angry and bored. it’s his turbulent relationships (parents, friends at home, akechi). honorable mentions: drunk groove || maruv ;; let’s have a kiki || scissor sisters ;; bom bom || sam and the womp ;; bad boy || red velvet

handclap

this song, very specifically, applies in my head to the shido calling card. it’s knowing what he’s doing is right and for good. it’s the boy who stepped in to save that woman, it’s the boy who takes down kamoshida after knowing ryuji for an hour. he’s supportive and a little feral. it’s where akira and joker meet. honorable mentions: alive and kicking || simple minds ;; you’re gonna go far kid || the offspring ;; he’s not a boy || the like

i will light you on fire

this is the akira that’s tired. he’s taking on the problems of literally everyone around him, he’s reforming society, and he’s committed but he’s exhausted. it’s the awkward part, the anxious part that can’t quite fit in- that always feels a step removed after being entirely cut off by his home. he’s still righteous, he still cares, but he’s strung out. ‘why can’t we talk about something good?’ honorable mentions: set fire || carina round ;; new soul || yael naim ;; the death of me || city & colour 

c’mon

the anxiety and unsureness of it all! it’s the part of akira that doens’t actually know if he’s doing the right thing. it’s the part of him that thinks maybe they’re hurtling towards something awful, the part of him that loves his friends so desperately but that also worries he’s going to be the death of them. everything is falling apart but he needs to be strong. he’s juggling so much and he always feels like one day, one of the balls will fall and everything will collapse. honorable mentions: francis forever || mitski ;; body || mother mother ;; devil town || cavetown

coffee on the beach

bro i just write a lot with lo-fi on. gotta have it. here’s some others i considered: it’s time to take my mask off || biosphere ;; cut my hair || mounika ;; i cried during a miyazaki film once || oneohkay ;; you’re in my head || moow

[goodlucktai]

past the places where we might have turned

persona 5 pairing: pegoryu word count: 6876 title borrowed from everything you want by vertical horizon summary: Ryuji bumps shoulders with him and says, “Their loss, man. You just keep doing you, and screw ‘em if they don’t like it.” It doesn’t feel like enough. “You deserve to be happy,” he adds, and that feels a little better. Akira’s smile stretches into a shit-eating grin. “Is that a confession?” “I take it back. You’re the worst person I know.” So they end up trying to push each other into traffic, but it still feels good. read on ao3

x

They tear through the peaceful countryside like it’s their mission to make a mark, gunning the engine and kicking up gravel with every hard turn. They lean out the windows so Akira can hear them coming from whole blocks away, shouting and waving, because it’s the kind of hello he deserves.

His neighbors stare, his parents don’t look pleased, but Akira’s on the sidewalk in front of his house with a bag at his feet and his cat in his arms and a grin on his face about three miles wide.

It’s a grin he used to only wear behind Joker’s mask, one that does something kind of wonky to Ryuji’s heart.

“You’re late,” Akira calls out. His voice is so fond. The phone calls didn’t do it justice. Ryuji missed him so goddamn much. “You didn’t forget about me, did you?”

“As fuckin’ if, ” Ryuji manages in the second before they crash into each other, bodies colliding in an embrace whole months in the making.

Morgana yowls in protest, Ann and Futaba complain about Ryuji getting there first, Akira’s parents watch with cold eyes from the front door--

But Akira is laughing. His hair is soft against Ryuji’s cheek, and his hands are hot against his back, and it feels like they haven’t missed a single minute. It feels like a homecoming, even though it’s literally the opposite of that.

Some jangling, dislocated thing inside Ryuji settles, and he holds on to his best friend as though the world would end around them for a second time if he ever let go.

  The last time Akira visited, he stayed at Ryuji’s little apartment for a snatched weekend between school days. There wasn’t enough time in that limited window for him to visit the staggering number of friends he’d made in the city, but obviously he’d make time to see the coffee shop he called home for a year.

Sojiro was surprised that day, when Akira pushed open the door with Ryuji, Ann and Morgana. Ryuji remembers him saying something like, “I thought I’d take you brats out to lunch somewhere,” and Akira quipping back, “In that case, we’re in the mood for coffee and curry. Know a place?”

Sojiro blustered and postured a lot, but it was obvious that he was touched. And it would take armies considerably bigger than the ones they were used to dealing with to strong-arm the former Thief out of his favorite place in the world.

This time, Sojiro knows what to expect. In the middle of a sunny Thursday afternoon, they push past the closed sign on Leblanc’s front door, and Sojiro’s waiting with a full spread of food. Akira breathes in the rich smell of ground coffee beans, the hot cinnamon-ginger of curry on the stove, and lets it all go with a sigh so content it makes Ryuji’s heart hurt.

“You’re sure you don’t mind keeping me for spring break?” Akira asks, setting his cat bag down. Morgana leaps up from it to sit on a stool instead. “I could find somewhere else to stay.”

He could, too. He’s got a lot of crazy adult friends who would happily house him for the next three months without batting an eye. Ryuji thinks of Akira living with that terrifying gun dealer or the flirtatious reporter or the medical practitioner who conducted experiments on him and blurts, “Don’t be stupid, Akira. You stay with Boss or you stay with me.”

“Stupid’s right,” Sojiro snaps, “I said you’re welcome and I meant it. And you’re not staying in the damn attic this time, either, Futaba would have my head. We’ve got a guest futon and a living room with your name on it.”

Futaba cheers “Damn right!” from somewhere in the room, and Makoto scolds him, “You were probably thinking of going to that arms dealer, weren’t you? Honestly, Akira, my sister is a lawyer and we have a guest bedroom and the first person you thought of was the arms dealer.”

“You don’t know that’s what I was thinking,” Akira says with a charming smile that doesn’t fool a single person in the room. Obviously that’s what he was thinking.

“You should come home more often,” Yusuke tells him firmly. “You always get these strange ideas in your head about not being welcome when you stay away for too long.”

And their leader’s face goes soft. “I’d visit every day if I could,” he says, and just like before, they all know what he’s thinking; if he had a choice, he’d never leave.

The first month is a bit hectic, because Akira really does have like a thousand friends to see. His time is always spoken for, though he’s happy to have some of his former Thieves along no matter where he’s going. Ryuji tags along every chance he gets, because it’s a little bit amazing.

Somehow, between being the top student in his class and working a handful of part-time jobs and training to exhaustion in Mementos, Akira had time to make all these connections with people. And he says things like “Hifumi taught me how to play shogi,” or “Shinya’s amazing at first-person shooters,” and it’s enough for someone who knows him well. Ryuji looks at Ann or Yusuke or Haru or whoever he’s with and sees them thinking the same thing.

Everything he ever did was for the Phantom Thieves. He poured his free time and all his energy into learning whatever he needed to be a better leader, earning money to keep their armor up to date, letting an intimidating back-alley doctor drug him just so they’d always have access to curatives.

When he made new friends, he learned things from them, too. Not a single meeting was meaningless. Not a single day was wasted. He seized every opportunity he could in both hands and dragged his team up with him every hard-earned step.

God, Ryuji thinks. He’s so amazing.

“God,” Ryuji says, “you’re such a loser.”

Akira moans at him, burying his face in a pillow to shield his eyes from the mid-morning sun. Ryuji beat him awake by like two hours. That has to be a world record or something. He already texted Ann about it, because it’s kind of a momentous occasion and all that.

“So this is what happens when there’s no Morgana around to make sure you go to bed on time,” he goes on, crouching by the bed. “I can’t believe that cat is the only reason you’re a functioning member of society.”

“Ichiko kept me out late,” comes the pitiful mumble. “I thought I’d swing by to see her for a couple minutes after dinner with Iwai and Kaoru but she was so drunk. She kept telling people I was her ex-boyfriend.”

All Ryuji can think to say to that is, “What the fuck?”

“It’s, er, an excuse we used once to get her out of trouble with her boss,” Akira explains, pushing himself upright as though it's a Herculean effort. Propped up on his elbows, the tips of his dark curls burning red in the sunlight, borrowed T-shirt too big and crooked on his shoulders, he looks both unreal and stupidly human. “I used to work at that bar, and all the familiars are used to her, so no one thought she was serious.”

“You used to work at a bar? And you didn’t sneak us in for free drinks? Fake friend.”

“You can get beer out of a vending machine three blocks from your apartment for six hundred yen,” Akira replies dryly. Then he smirks. “But good boys don’t drink, do they?”

Ryuji sputters, feeling his cheeks burn, and yanks the blanket over Akira’s head so he won’t have to look at his stupid face when his best friend starts laughing at him.

“See if I ever make you breakfast again, you asshole.”

“Wait, wait, you made me breakfast?”

Akira is struggling clumsily out of the blanket, and his voice sounds rusty and a little tired but he’s still laughing. Ryuji can’t think of a single person he loves more in that second.

Because mom had to work late, their breakfast is little more than the most appetizing prepackaged food the 7-Eleven around the corner had to offer, but it’s still Ryuji’s favorite kind of morning. Akira finally manages to peel himself out of bed and sits close enough to Ryuji that their knees bump and fights him for the best melon bread.

It’s so easy, with him.

Haru takes Akira’s hand in both of hers, so soft and sweet that Ryuji thinks the whole world slows down to hear whatever she's about to say.

“How have you been?” she asks kindly. “You haven’t said a word about it.”

Makoto pauses in the act of turning a page for a split-second, enough of a tell that Ryuji knows she’s listening closely. On her other side, Goro's writing slows down. Morgana’s tail is swishing, jewel eyes bright. Their sudden focus makes Ryuji think he should pay attention to whatever’s coming, too.

He supposes it is kind of odd that Akira hasn’t had anything to say about his parents, or his classmates, or his baseball team-- all those things he lost when that dirtbag Shido ruined his life-- but maybe he was just happy to be back. He's been busy, and he's had a lot to catch up on.

But Akira’s gray eyes are unguarded here, among his friends, and so Ryuji sees it. That split-second sadness before it’s wrapped up and hidden away again. He says, “There’s not much to talk about,” but just that says enough.

Because Makoto and Goro dart a glance at each other that speaks volumes, and Haru’s expression crumbles a bit. Behind the counter, Sojiro sighs like he’s just aged ten years.

Ryuji looks at Akira, the most magnetic guy he knows, the guy who made about nine thousand friends in Tokyo within a calendar year, and wonders how on earth he could have spent the last five months in his hometown and come back without anything to talk about.

He thinks of Akira’s parents watching their son’s reunion with his friends from the front door. He thinks of the weird looks from his neighbors. He thinks, for the first time, how weird it was that Akira was leaving for the whole spring holiday and there was no one there to tell him goodbye.

“Hey,” Ryuji says, when they’re walking back to the train station. “Was it okay?”

Because he’s worried and he doesn’t know if he should be or not. He hates the possibility that he should be.

“It was okay,” Akira replies. Morgana’s in his arms, rather than on his shoulder or in his bag, and maybe that’s clue enough as to how he’s feeling. “It just wasn’t home anymore. I was gone for a year, and there were a lot of rumors. I wasn’t the person my parents thought I would be. I didn’t-- keep my head down. I don’t know. I just don’t belong there like I did.”

Morgana says, “You know where you belong, Joker.” It sounds like an old conversation repeating itself, but it makes Akira smile.

Ryuji bumps shoulders with him and says, “Their loss, man. You just keep doing you, and screw ‘em if they don’t like it.” It doesn’t feel like enough. “You deserve to be happy,” he adds, and that feels a little better.

Akira’s smile stretches into a shit-eating grin. “Is that a confession?”

“I take it back. You’re the worst person I know.”

So they end up trying to push each other into traffic, but it still feels good.

Time crawls until suddenly it starts to sprint, and before Ryuji knows it Akira is standing by the cafe door with a couple bags at his feet.

“I have three times as much stuff as I came here with,” he complains, but Ryuji stayed over at Sojiro’s place last night and watched Akira pack every memento with care and affection. He’s not fooled by this act for a second.

“Shut up and give me another hug,” Ann orders. Akira shuts up and gives her another hug. It breaks whatever fragile barrier was keeping the rest of them back, and they converge upon him in a loving horde.

“You're sure we can’t drive you?” Goro asks quietly.

“I stayed like three days longer than I was supposed to,” Akira replies, somewhat muffled against Yusuke’s shoulder. “If you try to drive me, you’ll all either be late for your first day of school or exhausted. I’ll be okay on the bus.”

Futaba’s eyes have been red all morning and she’s starting to cry again, clutching at Akira’s jacket when he wraps his arms around her for the fourth time.

“Come visit on the weekends,” she insists. “I’ll pay for your tickets.”

“We’ll all chip in,” Makoto replies, and it says a lot that she doesn't tell him to worry about his homework instead.

“Iwai said he’d drive Kaoru out to see me,” Akira says carefully. He sounds hopeful. “I know you all think he’s scary, but he’d probably be happy to take a couple of you, too.”

“None of us think he’s scary,” Ann lies. “Where do you get these dumb ideas?”

“Futaba and I will stop by,” Sojiro promises gruffly. “And I’ll bring along whichever hooligan asks first.”

It’s a goodbye that extends almost to the point of Akira missing his bus. Ryuji offers to walk him to the station, and Akira smiles at him and tells him it’s okay. Morgana is wrapped around his neck when he shoulders his bags, purring loud enough to be heard above the ring of the bell at the front door.

Ryuji wonders if Akira needs the solitude now to get used to the idea of being alone again for the rest of the year. His fists clench and he has to steel himself not to reach out and grab him and somehow make him stay. There's a moment that passes between them-- a long look, one that's just for the two of them in this crowded cafe, one that feels stolen in front of the rest of their friends-- and then it's gone.

Akira says, “See you,” like it doesn’t cost him anything to say it, and then he’s gone, too.

"Akira went home?" Mishima says by way of greeting, their first day back in school. Ryuji, slumped bonelessly over his desk, doesn't bother lifting his head and mumbles something affirmative. Mishima leans against his neighbor's desk with a sigh. "It's not the same without him around here. I miss that stupid thing he does with his pencil."

Ryuji smiles against his sleeve. "The spinny thing? He does it with his phone, too. He's such a nerd."

"If he's a nerd, I don't even want to think about what that makes me," Mishima says cheerfully. He's mostly outgrown the self-deprecation that used to follow him around like a gloomy cloud, and it makes him a much more likable guy. "It's hard to believe a person like that spent a whole year single."

"It ain't that hard to believe," Ryuji says defensively. "We were busy as hell last year, case you forgot."

"Oh, for sure," their self-proclaimed publicist is quick to concede. "But I mean-- Ann told me she and Shiho are finally dating. So they must have found time."

The annoying detective tendencies are back in force, Ryuji thinks but manages not to say. Something about this conversation is making his prickly temper sit up and take notice. He props himself up an elbow and mutters, "Where you goin' with this?"

"Nowhere, I guess?" Mishima scratches the back of his head. "Just-- you guys were all really close, y'know? I think if Akira was going to have feelings for anyone, it'd be one of you."

"He'd have told me," Ryuji dismisses it easily. "He tells me everything."

Mishima excepts this with a nod, and heads back to his own class when the lunch break ends. Halfway through English, Ryuji props up his workbook and pulls out his phone.

His chat with Akira is still open from earlier that morning, and the last text Akira sent was an extreme close-up of Morgana mid-yowl, captioned "alarm clock." It made Ryuji smile when he woke up to it, and it makes him smile now. He taps out a reply, keeping one eye on his teacher.  

skull 💀 at 1:42pm You know you can tell me anything right?

Almost immediately, a little bubble pops up that indicates Akira is typing, even though he's in the middle of class, too.  

✨JOKER✨ at 1:42pm I tell you everything

Ryuji grins. He thought so. If Akira had a crush or a secret girlfriend, Ryuji would know. He'd be the first to know.

He says as much to Ann when they're walking to the hangout spot after school, and she rolls her eyes so hard he's distantly surprised she doesn't sprain something.

"You are so dumb," she says, but she throws an arm around him as she says it. "I'm praying for you."

Nearly a month goes by, and late on a Tuesday night Ryuji is startled awake by the raucous ring of his phone. He rolls over and gropes for it, nearly falling out of bed in the process, and swipes to answer as quick as he can so it doesn't wake up his mom in the next room.

"Whazzit," he mumbles, rubbing his eyes.

"You talk to this idiot!" Morgana's voice yowls at him from the receiver. It's enough of a shock to wake Ryuji straight the hell up.

"Mona? Did you call me? How did-- you don't have hands."

There's a scuffle and a distant, hushed disagreement, and then Akira is there. "Sorry, Ryuji. Go back to sleep."

"Hey, no." Ryuji sits up, forcing his mind to focus. "How many times did I call you in the middle of the night last year? It's cool, man, what's up?"

There's a pause long enough that he starts to think he won't get an answer, and then Akira mutters, "Had a fight with my parents."

Something in the pit of Ryuji's chest goes painfully tight. He violently dashes thoughts of his own father away. "Wanna talk about it?"

Morgana insists yes you do! from somewhere on the other end of the phone call, which means Akira is definitely thinking about deflecting. Considering the entire phone call was coerced, Ryuji shouldn't be surprised. But it does kind of make him feel sad.

"It's stupid," Akira finally says. There's wind on his side of the call, creating a soft crackle of white noise against the speaker. He must be outside somewhere. "They don't think I should move back to Tokyo when I graduate. They're trying to get me into the university dad went to. It's-- if I went there I'd never see you. I'd have to fly out, or spend two days on a train, and I can't-- I don't want-- "

His words are beginning to run together, the way Futaba's does when she's panicking. Ryuji's heart is beating a frantic tattoo against his chest, because it's close to three AM and he's not equipped to deal with this, he never knows what to say.

The last time Akira sounded this bad was the night they brought down Shido's palace. The girls were getting in Ryuji's face, terrified at how close they thought they'd come to losing him, and Akira snapped at them to stand down. His voice was almost unfamiliar and his gray eyes were so big and hurt and scared, and he didn't say anything else, as though for all his charm and wit he couldn't say anything else. Ryuji had simply leaned in the rest of the way and hugged him, and Akira hugged him back just as hard, and they never really brought it up again.

Ryuji isn't there to pull him into an embrace this time, and he can't bear the thought of leaving Akira alone even for as long as it would take to call Haru or Goro, so he reaches for the right words.

"You don't have to do anything you don't wanna do," he says slowly. "I know they're your parents, but they're not your only family. Frankly, you got a scary number of people in your corner. They started a riot for you last year, dude. You're not-- you're never in this alone. Not ever. Even if it was just you and me, we'd make it. It's okay to freak out and be scared, but I swear to god, you're gonna be fine."

Akira's breath is shaky, and he doesn't answer for a long moment. Somewhere behind him is the muted ambiance of night-time traffic, and his footsteps crunching through gravel. Ryuji sits in his warm bedroom and wishes he could pull Akira through the phone and wrap him up in the blanket he always steals when he sleeps over and make him watch stupid videos on Ryuji's phone until the last sharp edge of this bad night is smoothed away into peaceful sleep.

But he can't do that. They don't have magic anymore. All he can do is sit here on the phone like an idiot while his best friend is hurting miles and miles away.

"You and me," Akira says suddenly, like he's found a way out of the pit and he's grasping at the first rung of the ladder.

"You and me," Ryuji reaffirms without a second of doubt. "Hell, Akira. Look at it this way. Even if you move to the other side of the world, you're just gonna have to find an apartment big enough to fit everybody who's gonna move with you."

That draws out a muffled laugh, and it sounds a little watery, but his voice is so much warmer than it was. "I'll keep that in mind."

"You better." Ryuji can feel his heart start to settle, can hear Morgana purring from Akira's end of the call, and thinks, somehow, he didn't fuck this up. "Go home, you loser. You're not a Phantom Thief anymore and you have class in the morning."

"Ouch," Akira says, but he's smiling as he says it. "I'm going. Goodnight, Ryu."

Ryuji says goodbye and hangs up the phone, and gets a text before he has a chance to minimize the call log.

✨JOKER✨ at 3:13am thank you

He scoffs, mostly to ignore how damn pleased he feels, and starts looking up train schedules. There's a two-day weekend coming up, and he's got a great idea. Yusuke would call it inspired.

The noise Akira makes when he sees Ryuji in front of his school is worth changing lines twice and standing for the first half of the entire trip. He runs down the rest of the steps, nimbly weaving through the crowd of his fellow students, and slams into Ryuji at a hundred miles an hour. Ryuji laughs and catches him in both arms, squeezing hard enough to bruise and using the momentum to swing around in a few giddy circles.

"What are you doing here?" Akira demands. He looks so ruffled, his glasses slipping down his nose and his curls all tossed around, that Ryuji can't bring himself to let go right away.

"Well, gee, I dunno." Ryuji rolls his eyes. "It's not like I have any best friends in the area I wanted to visit or anything."

They're attracting a lot of attention, Ryuji realizes. He looks around and meets a few stares dead-on, daring them to say a word. Whether it's his bleached hair or the piercings in his ear or the rumors that supposedly followed Akira around since he came home, no one steps up to Ryuji's silent challenge. Everyone just averts their eyes and moves on, talking in whispers.

"Jesus, do they think you're in the mob or something?" Ryuji mutters as they turn to leave. "A guy like you?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Akira's voice is mock-indignant, Joker's cultured leer. "I'll have you know I used to run a very successful organized crime ring."

They get a few more wide-eyed looks at that, three schoolgirls who look alarmed to have overheard them, and Ryuji's mouth is working as he desperately tries not to give in to a grin. "Keep your voice down, man. One of these punks is gonna rat you out, and I'll have to bring the whole gang out here to rough 'em up."

That clears the sidewalk fast. Akira's shoulders are shaking, a hand shoved against his mouth to keep the laughter in. Morgana says, "You guys are the worst. This isn't gonna help Akira's reputation at all."

"Who cares?" Ryuji says, draping a shameless arm around Akira's shoulders, just so everyone who sees them gets the right idea. "He's not gonna be here much longer. Once he graduates he's comin' back home, and everyone there already knows he's a danger to society. He won't have a reputation to worry about."

Akira grins, sideways and silly in a way that digs right through Ryuji's heart like it's got an express pass. He's warm against Ryuji's side, lined up against him like they're two pieces of a matching set, and it's just like every single summer day they had to leave behind.

"Snacks," Akira says, pointing out the conbini on the street corner.

"Lemme check into my room at the inn first," Ryuji says, waving the bag at his side for emphasis. "Then you can show me all your favorite places to sneak off to at three AM."

Something sort of strange happens to Akira's expression. Ryuji would almost call it disappointment. "You're staying at an inn?"

"It's a surprise visit, dude. That means you didn't have time to convince your parents to let one of your hooligan friends stay over." He rolls his eyes and gives Akira a nudge that almost trips him off the curb. "I'm not going to tell all our friends you're a bad host because I didn't get to sleep at your house."

Akira sulks for a moment, because he's a big baby, and then says, "Is the inn cat-friendly?"

"You think Haru's gonna book me a room my best friend can't bring his cat chaperone into? Please. Obviously you're staying there with me, idiot, she reserved it for two."

"Like a staycation!" says Morgana, who picks up the strangest things from all the conversations he listens in on. In a rare show of affection, he jumps from Akira's shoulder to Ryuji's, tail swishing in anticipation. "This'll be fun!"

It is fun, but it has nothing to do with the town.

Akira's hangout spots are quiet little nooks and forgotten rooftop corners, places where he obviously goes to be alone. There's a batting cage that's a lot bigger than the one in Yongenjaya, but Akira walks right by it, waving his hands as he tells a story about a grizzled old shopkeeper he made friends with recently.

"Her name's Miss Ito. She made a grown man cry yesterday because she didn't like how he was talking to his kids," Akira says gleefully. "She's kind of my hero."

"Let me guess, you're gonna convince her to give you a job," Ryuji says dryly. His friend shoots him a flashbang smile that's answer enough.

Akira is balancing on the hand rail as they walk, lining up each neat step without wobbling. Morgana is threading through his feet to try to trip him up, and Akira seems to enjoy the additional challenge.

"If you fall on your ass, I'm taking a picture and sending it to the group chat," Ryuji tells him firmly. "I won't try to catch you at all."

"You'll catch me," Akira says with total confidence, pretending to list giddily to one side. "You're a gentleman."

Ryuji kind of wants to push him off now, actually. He does reach up to take one of Akira's hands, giving him a tug back down to earth. Akira doesn't jump down, but he also doesn't let go, and Ryuji maybe doesn't try his absolute hardest to yank his hand away. There's a group of kids their age at the end of the street, casually leaned against a low wall. They don't make a move or say anything smart, they just stop talking to watch Akira and Ryuji go by.

A small, cowardly part of Ryuji wants to drop Akira's hand and go pick a fight like he's got something to prove. The bigger part of him really ismore concerned with Akira slipping and busting a tooth out on the rail, and so he holds on and keeps pace with Akira's steady progress.

"You're gonna get a ticket or something," Ryuji tries next. "Small town cops are the worst."

"I find it hard to believe you know anything about small town cops," comes the cheerful rejoinder. "City boy."

"Definitely not catching you," Ryuji grumbles, but they both know it for a lie.

That night, the rest of their friends realize where Ryuji is, and there's a storm of messages in the group chat that mostly boil down to "how DARE you leave us out, we're gonna kick your ass Skull." Somehow Haru, co-conspirator, is left blameless. Akira, the traitor, giggles and screenshots his favorite texts to save in the photo album on his phone labeled "RECEIPTS." Because he's actually literally the worst person in the world.

Morgana is out exploring the rest of the inn, and probably begging scraps off other patrons with his big blue eyes, so Ryuji and Akira have the room to themselves. They have a mountain of junk food between them, and a pile of DVDs from the rental store, but two movies in and they're both starting to flag. Ryuji can blame his long commute; Akira's just lazy. How people like Mishima think he has his act together is a mystery.

"Which closet are the futons in?" he yawns, wandering along behind Ryuji as they search for bedding. "Oh, here they-- are."

There it is, anyway. Ryuji pulls out the single futon and they both stand there and look at it for a moment. Haru did this, Ryuji thinks at once. Then guilt creeps along. No, she wouldn't. Not Haru.

"Let's just go down to the front and ask for another bed," Ryuji says, rubbing the back of his head.

Akira glances at the clock, and Ryuji reluctantly follows suit. It's late, and the inn is a privately-owned place, run by a mom and her daughter. Ryuji doesn't want to wake them up over a few blankets any more than Akira does.

"It's okay," Akira says, "I'll just come back in the morning."

"What? No." Ryuji spreads out his arms, as though to block Akira's exit. "That's stupid. We share a bed every time you sleep over at my apartment. We can share one here."

For a brief, fleeting moment, something very fragile darts across Akira's expression. He hesitates, his fingers curled into loose fists, uncharacteristically vulnerable for the space of about two seconds.

And then he relaxes with a smile that's as familiar to Ryuji as his own name, and everything goes right back to normal.

"Just don't hog all the blankets."

"Oh, that's rich, coming from you."

They leave the window open for Morgana, and turn out the overhead light, and leave the TV on with the volume turned down low as they crawl under the duvet. The screen throws flickering shadows across the room, the darkness in the corners stretching and shrinking with every new scene, and somehow it makes the room feel smaller, makes everything feel closer and more intimate and oddly comfortable.

Ryuji finds himself watching the colors as they wash over Akira's face. His glasses are folded by the pillow, and his eyes are impossibly dark. There's a curl of hair hanging over one of his eyes, and Ryuji moves before he realizes he's doing it, brushing careful fingers across Akira's forehead to tuck the stray curl out of the way.

Akira shivers beneath the touch, but he doesn't pull his eyes away from the movie.

"'Night," Ryuji murmurs, halfway asleep already.

"Yeah," Akira whispers. His voice is strangely thick. "’Night."

The rest of the weekend vanishes in what feels like the blink of an eye. The innkeeper was so embarrassed about forgetting the second futon that first night that she tries to give them a discount for their whole stay, but Akira talks her out of it.

"No harm done," he said with that winning smile. "It was just one night."

Ryuji groans as he hauls his bag down onto a bench at the station. "I can't believe you're sending me home with all the extra food."

"You're actually complaining about that?" Akira says incredulously. "You won't be when you actually have snacks in your house for the next two days."

"Shut up," Ryuji says intelligently, and then opens his arms for a hug. "Your turn to visit next."

Akira smiles and slips into his arms like he belongs there. They linger together for a long minute, until the platform starts getting a little too crowded, and then Akira reluctantly pulls away.

"Thanks for coming," he says softly. "I know you only did it because I worried you. It means a lot."

Ryuji is not going to let Akira make him cry after the awesome weekend they just had. He shoves his hands in his pockets and says, "You keep saying thanks, but you got nothin' to thank me for. I'd do more than this for you, easy. A thousand times more. And I want to. You don't have to say thanks, not when I want to."

Akira hitches Morgana's bag up a little higher on his shoulder, and hitches up a lopsided smile sort of unlike the one he was wearing a few seconds ago. "Text me," he says, drawing away. "See you."

Morgana mutters something that sounds like "You're both idiots," and Akira doesn't answer him. Ryuji watches him go until he can't see them anymore, and then he sits down by his bag to wait for the train. His heart feels like it's somewhere near his feet, as heavy as concrete.

His phone chimes, and he pulls it out, happy for the distraction.

👽 at 5:46pm soooo how'd it go???

skull 💀 at 5:47pm anytime you show interest in what i'm doing i feel real fear

👽 at 5:47pm that's very wise.

👽 at 5:47pm but seriously, how'd it go

skull 💀 at 5:48pm it was cool. he showed me around town and stuff. and the inn was great, i gotta thank haru again

👽 at 5:48pm the inn was great?? how great??? DETAILS

But Ryuji's not paying much attention to his phone anymore. He's thinking of the inn, now that Futaba brought it up in her roundabout way, and their first night there. It was easy to dismiss at the time, but he's thinking about it, now-- the way Akira looked at him, and the unguarded gray of his eyes, and the two seconds they stood there with a distance between them that Ryuji had never noticed before.

The way he looked in the half-light, his face inches away from Ryuji's, soft lips pressed together, eyes trained safely on the television screen. The way he trembled under Ryuji's hand, and how close he was, close enough to--

Oh.

Abruptly, Ryuji's on his feet. His phone is chiming again but he ignores it, cramming it into his pocket and snatching his bag off the bench. He makes tracks through the station, up the street, and stops dead at the second crossroad, not sure which direction to run in.

"Fuck," Ryuji mutters. His heart is racing, and he's afraid to stop moving, because reason might catch up to him and make him turn around. There's-- something just ahead of him. Something important. He just has to reach out and grab it, but he's two seconds from understanding, two seconds too slow.

"S'cuse me," a soft voice says behind him. He turns to find a girl about his age, with short dark hair and a baseball jacket. She's got a catcher's mitt in her hand and a pleasant smile on her face. "You're Sakamoto, aren't you?"

He blinks, taken aback. "Uh, yeah. How'd you-- "

"Kurusu talks about you all the time," she says. Her voice is a little brighter. "I'm glad I finally got to meet you. I knew I’d see you around eventually.”

Somehow, it's like the final piece he's been missing. Somehow, it explains all the curious looks they've been getting, walking through town hand-in-hand. Somehow, he's missed it every single goddamn step of the way here.

"I think I've been an idiot," he confesses to this person he doesn't know. She laughs. She's got the wrong idea, but also kind of the right one.

"Luckily, I think you'd have to do a whole lot worse than that for him to wanna break up. He's kind of stupidly in love with you, y'know."

She's happy to give him directions. Akira's house isn't far, and the black and white cat sitting on the low wall just ahead is a dead giveaway.

"Mona!" Ryuji shouts, causing a few neighbors to look over and the cat to give a wild start. "Tell Akira to get his ass out here!"

Morgana disappears up to the front of the house immediately, and a second later the door swings open and Akira tumbles out. His eyes are lined with red, and Ryuji is not going to think about that, because it's his own stupid fault why.

He throws his bag down at the gate and stomps the last few feet between them.

"You tell me everything?" he says scathingly.

"Mostly everything," Akira replies. He looks stunned, like he can't believe this conversation is happening. Like he's daring to hope it means what he wants it to mean, but there's no way. Because Ryuji has been so clueless for so long it's a miracle Akira still has any hope left. "Almost everything."

"How long were you gonna let me hurt you?" Ryuji demands. There's something white-hot in his throat, in his heart, in the spaces behind his eyes. He can't stand that he hurt Akira, that he was hurting him without even knowing that's what he was doing.

He thinks of all those afternoons lamenting about a girlfriend, dragging Akira along when he and Mishima tried to score dates, giving him a Valentine's Day chocolate he didn't even mean. Akira, quiet and commiserating and supportive, while his crush complained about being unlucky in love from the seat right next to his.

"You never hurt me," Akira says firmly. "Don't be stupid. You can't change how you feel."

Ryuji grabs him by the shoulders and gives him one solid shake. He's stupid, but Akira's stupid, too, because it's obvious. "You're my best friend, Akira. I've loved you this whole goddamn time. I dunno if it's love like yours, but it's fucking there. You don't see me crawling into bed with Yusuke, do you?"

Akira laughs, but it's a choked little gasp of a noise. His hands come up to Ryuji's wrists, holding him where he's holding Akira. He says, "Well, there was that one time right after Yusuke's birthday-- "

"Oh my god, shut up," Ryuji blusters, and drags him in for a kiss. It's the most effective way anyone has ever made Akira stop talking. He's still and shocked for a moment, and then he melts right there under Ryuji's hands, and then he tilts his head and kisses back, and oh.

This is why people get all stupid over this stuff.

This is why they make movies about it.

This is what they could have been doing for months.

Akira makes an appreciative noise when Ryuji's grip tightens around his waist. His hands are curled in the front of Ryuji's shirt, and he's shivering again, like he just can't get warm. So Ryuji pulls him a little closer, holds him a little tighter, and thinks he'll have to thank Futaba for that brief conversation on that platform--

And then a sudden realization slams him out of his honeyed thoughts: "I missed my train."

Akira leans against him and laughs like it's going out of style.

"Joker, this is serious!"

"Miss Ito will give you a ride," his best friend says, eyes shining. "I may have, uh, mentioned you to her. She's gonna give you the best shovel talk you've ever heard. You'll probably cry."

"Well, I'm glad I have that to look forward to."

Akira's mother is glaring from the doorway, and a few passing teens are hooting good-naturedly at their display, and apparently a terrifying old woman is going to threaten Ryuji with bodily harm if he even looks at Akira wrong for the entirety of the very long ride back home....

But Akira's gray eyes are dancing and his smile is brilliant and he's altogether the most beautiful thing Ryuji's ever been able to call his, so it's a pretty fair trade.

Ryuji kind of hates that it took him this long to catch up, but he's here now. And they've got the rest of their lives together to figure it out.

[merthems]

Okay I just finished Persona 5 and I LOVED IT but I have some uhh issues (kinda mild spoilers I guess)

So I know the romance isn't the biggest, most important part of Persona 5, it's just a fun lil extra for those who wanted to date their fuckin waifus or whatever BUT hhhh oh boy do I have some grievances.

There's no gay. And I see people all over the internet going 'uhhhh why do they need to shoehorn gay relationships in lol' and I'm like all !!! The relationships !!!! Are shoehorned In!!! Why does it make a ffucjkinh difference if it's gay?? It doesn't take up much of the screen time anyway, like I said, it's an optional extra! And I take a lot of issue with the fact that you can't date Ryuji or Yusuke in the game ((both very healthy relationship options with a lot of chemistry)), but you know what I can do??? I can date my teacher in a maid costume!!! While the main character is still underage!!! Oh but healthy gay content where both the characters are the same age range?? Nah that's too 'shoehorn-y', that's way too much fan service right???? As if fucking the maid teacher isn't the worst kind of fan service smh.

Oh and hey while I'm on thhhe subject, why the hell is Futaba a romance option? It's not just the fact she's a year younger than MC, but she's been a shut-in for several years, knows nothing about social interaction or how to be a functioning human really and tbh, from all the interactions with her in the game, it seems like her mental age is a couple of years behind her physical age. And sure, the group spends a good amount of time helping to rehabilitate her, with MC specifically spending a lot of time with her to help her get a bit better at functioning socially. So basically, she's in a critical point in her life where she's catching up on the development she missed from cocooning herself after her mother's death. She needs platonic love and support !!!!!!! NOT a predatory boyfriend whos much more developed than her in terms of mental age!!!! Gfhhfh

Sorry rant over, maybe I'm getting a lil too worked up here (Its just a game I know) but the game has such a messy relationship system that seems to be validating these weird ass people who insist that being gay is somehow way more unnecessary 'fan service' than it is. ALL the relationship stuff is fan service. And the fact that the weird teacher maid and the poor bab who is still recovering from her awful trauma are romance options just didn't really sit right with me.

Enjoy ur evening

Ps. I'm laughing a bit at the fact I typed the word shoehorny

[myrainydayloves]

Plz gush about sunshine incarnate Ryuji

Ry👏🏽uji👏🏽Saka👏🏽Mato👏🏽deserves👏🏽better👏🏽

Honestly I fell in LOVE with Ryuji the second we met him in P5!!!!! My heart was like, “💖💓💗💝💖💕💞💗” instantly.

When he runs up to the car to try and stop Ann from getting in I was like, “Oh here comes a good fucking boy” and then when we get into the palace and he tells us to run away and that he’ll hold these guards off, my heart was doing FUCKING FLIPS!!! I was ready to whoop Kamoshida’s ass the millisecond he hurt this angel boy. And when we’re escaping from the palace and Ryuji is made fun of by Morgana for the first time I was literally like, “I will put this fucking cat back in that cage.”

THEN LATER WHEN KAWAKAMI IS LIKE, “oh stay away from that bad Sakamoto boy” I was literally looking at my screen like:

“Okay whatever sis, fuckin’ come for my boy like that again and I will end your life”

And then we runs around with Ryuji!!! And we get back into that palace!!! And he admits that KAMOSHIDA BROKE!!! HIS FUCKING!!! L E G???

I literally was like, “Fuck Ann, we beating up this bitch rn.”

You have no idea how I fucking threw a fit when I found out Ryuji was on track to becoming an OLYPMIC LEVEL runner and Kamoshida fucked that up for him. I was ready to throw the FUCK down you have no idea.

And then after Shiho tries to kill herself and Ryuji marches his ass to that office and is like, “HEY MOTHERFUCKER!”

I was like, “HAUL OFF!!! GET THIS BITCH!! FUCKIN’ WORLD STAR LET’S GO!”

Which brings me to my second point which that Ryuji is like,,,HEAVILY coded black. Like not only are his dance moves LITERALLY black dancing trends, his backstory is REALLY similar to that of African American ones in media. His dad was abusive, skipped town, left him and his mom to fend for themselves, turns out Ryuji can run and tries to use that to help his mom, and THE MAN breaks his leg! Like!!! That’s EVERY BLACK COMING OF AGE STORY IN MOVIES???

So Ryuji being the only low key brother in the video game was nice. Like Atlus??? Where are the black people? But whatevs I guess we have Ryuji.

And my heart broke for him constantly. Like were both abused at a young age but we went complete separate directions. I vowed that if anyone ever laid a hand on me, I would utterly destroy them. I put all my effort into becoming a person who fits in with society. RYUJI never got over his past trauma and thinks that the only way to make amends with people is to let them beat the shit out of him. Which fucks me up So Bad.

When he saved our lives and the girls responded by whooping his ass and leaving him passed out on the street?!?!?! If I had been protag I would have Lost My Fucking Mind. Like I would SERIOUSLY start throwing hands with Makoto and Ann.

It’s part of the reason I like Ryuji becoming close friends with my Ultra-BF Sho so much. Because yeah Sho’s violent but he’s Loyal and outside of a practice fight he would never hit Ryuji. Ryuji would fuck uo and would be like, “sorry man. Go ahead and take a swing at me.” And Sho would be like, “What the fuck? No!”

Ryuji is BEST. BOY. AND DSERVES BETTER!