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You think that was your fault?

[Ha... Akechi slowly shakes his head. Oh, how funny.]

Oh no, Ren. I'm simply a deranged mess. Honestly, it's all so humiliating.

[His talons dig into the fabric of his sleeves... which isn't ideal, but he'll live.]

What sort of coward fears the one thing they've craved for years?

[Oh … OK, that makes a lot more sense. It’s not Ren himself that was the cause for Akechi’s spikes of fear, but what he was offering. It’s not hard to see where he misread the signals.]

Not a coward at all. Someone who’s been hurt over and over and doesn’t want to get hurt again. I just thought - the way that dream started - [with the violent stabbing] - you were afraid I’d hurt you like everyone else has. I don’t want that.

[Ren feels a bit stupid for not figuring that out until it was pointed out to him. It’s an uncomfortable truth to accept, but he accepts it all the same.]

You’re a lot less deranged than you used to be, you know.

[Ah yes, there he goes using humor to ease the tension. His trusty default tactic. It’s only part joke, though - Ren can never forget the absolutely broken way Akechi laughed and screamed in the engine room.]

[Okay, that actually gets another stare from Akechi.]

Ren, you'd be fully justified in stabbing me. I almost shot you in the head.

[Not that he can't see where Ren's coming from. There's even a grain of truth to it...

But Ren hasn't hurt him. He had so many opportunities, but he did everything right.]

But... I suppose I have had time to reorient myself. Months free from puppet strings, where I could finally chose for myself.

[He lifts one taloned hand, flexing his fingers.]

...Even if it's only an illusion of freedom.

[Of course Akechi would frame that dream violence in context to the first time he tried to murder Ren. Classic Akechi thinking. Ren leans back on his hands and tips his head toward the other teen.]

Are you ever going to forgive yourself for that? [It’s gentle, but still challenging.] I did a long time ago. You should too.

[Ren truly harbors no hard feelings over the attempted murder, or any of the other awful things Akechi’s done. He knows Akechi saw the error of his ways in the engine room, and he took steps toward setting things right afterward. He’s not the same person he used to be - Hereward is evidence of that, if nothing else. Akechi was a victim too, and he changed his own heart of his own volition. That’s more than many can claim.]

“Freedom is nothing but a chance to be better.” If that’s true, I’d say your freedom here isn’t an illusion at all.

You know I don't forgive easily.

[Least of all himself.

Still, that quote... Heh. That actually brings a ghost of a smile back to his face.]

Albert Camus? I suppose his philosophies do align quite nicely with the Phantom Thieves.

Says the guy who quoted Hegel at me the first time we met.

[Second time, technically, unless they’re counting the filmed debate about the Phantom Thieves, which would make Hegel their third interaction. But really, who’s counting. The crooked grin shifts to something softer, more serious.]

I know you don’t. But you should still try. It gets easier with practice.

[Kindness is a skill, learned and leveled up like any other. Ren believes Akechi can learn how to be kinder with himself. Maybe he just needs to be shown how.

Maybe that starts with honestly answering his earlier question, without the evasion and panicked backpedaling. Ren quietly sighs and stares out into the distance.]

You keep asking me the same question and expecting me to say something different. My answer won’t change. I don’t expect anything from you, Akechi. I don’t even expect you to feel the same way about me.

[How does he even respond to that? It's just so... generous. Accepting.

Yet again, everything Akechi could have dreamed of, but nothing he deserves.]

Well, I never said that I didn't.

[Even admitting that is... difficult, but there's no sense in being dishonest. No one else is listening. He owes Ren for so many things, most recently his lack of any meaningful communication.]

But you understand that such... sentiments hardly come naturally to me.

Yeah. I know.

[Akechi has been more than clear about his dislike for sentiment. Expression of feelings is vulnerability, and vulnerability means leaving yourself open to being hurt. Not hard to see why he wouldn’t be a fan.

So, a different approach is needed. Instead of feelings, maybe a focus on actions will be easier for Akechi to tackle.]

What do you want from me? Other than the rematch, that’s a given. Or, if it’s easier, what do you not want from me?

I want you to stay.

[Ren can read what he wants from that, really. It's still hard to be entirely vulnerable. Even revealing this much is... taxing, to say the least.

Too many people have left him behind.]

I realize that's rather hypocritical, of course.

Edited 2025-06-03 03:10 (UTC)

[Slightly hypocritical, yes, given that Akechi is the one who’s left Ren behind more than once. And though it’s a direct answer, it’s still ambiguous in the broader context of what they both want from the nature of their relationship.

But it’s a start. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither was Ren’s previous bond with Akechi. Stay. Ren can do that. He turns to face Akechi with a smile ghosting his lips and nods.]

Let’s make a deal. [Akechi has always responded well to those.] I promise to stay, if you’ll do the same.

[Simple enough terms, and it leaves them on even footing. Ren holds out his left hand for Akechi to shake if he finds the proposal agreeable.]

[It's so deceptively simple.

Staying could mean so many things. It's vague. Ill defined. Akechi knows that.

But it's... a start, and Ren has proven himself plenty of times before. He's the one person Akechi can trust without question, so...

Breathing in slowly, he takes Ren's hand.]

Fair enough. You've upheld all our prior deals.

[There’s a swelling of his heart when Akechi takes his hand, another freeing sensation like a heavy chain breaking in two. Ren hasn’t experienced the same kind of loss as Akechi, but he understands what it feels like to be abandoned. By his parents, when they sent him away to Tokyo for a year, over a crime he didn’t commit. By the rest of the Phantom Thieves, at the start of January, when none of them included Ren as a fixture in their ideal realities. He forgives them all, but forgiving is different than forgetting, and he can never forget how it felt to be so easily discarded.]

You too.

[It might seem illogical and dangerously foolish for Ren to trust Akechi, after everything that has transpired between them. But the heart is not a center of logic, and Ren is someone who follows his heart. His heart tells him that trusting Akechi is the right choice.

Ren gently rubs his thumb over Akechi’s knuckles, reassuring. He’ll let Akechi decide when he’s ready to let go.]

Wanna do a crossword with me?

[It's an odd feeling. They've shaken hands before, but... not quite like this, with gentle touches.

He has to be careful. The talons make handshakes a riskier ordeal, but he does his best not to accidentally prick or puncture.

Some of the tension dissipates. It's... fine. This is perfectly fine.]

Well, it's not as though I've anywhere else to be.

[Ren smiles, content with this rebalancing between them. The part of his heart that holds space for Akechi has been soothed; both have promised to stay. It’s enough, for now.

He retrieves the pencil and book of crosswords he’d tossed into the van earlier and turns a few pages in to a fresh puzzle.]

Five letters. “Sought the favor of.”

[Oh, well isn't that funny? Akechi snorts, but a wry smile hangs on his lips all the same.]

Wooed, obviously.

Obviously.

[Ren attempts to hold back a smirk as he fills in the boxes for the first clue. Task accomplished, he hums a quiet thoughtful note while picking out the second clue, effortlessly twirling the pencil through his fingers.]

Also five letters. “Expensive theater boxes.”

[Oho. There's a more niche answer. Fortunately, Akechi is well read.]

Loges, though that is a more obtuse one.

Pretend I know what you’re talking about.

[Definitely not something that came up in one of his class lectures. Still, Akechi showing off is … oddly endearing.]

Four letters, “from the top.”

This one should be simple enough for you to grasp.

[His grin sharpens.]

Anew. A fresh start...

Yeah, I know what that is.

[He returns the grin, full of warmth. This place is a hellscape, but it’s also a fresh start for both of them, and Ren can’t find it in himself to regret being here, if only for that reason. Maybe they would’ve been able to eventually start over back home too, but there’s no sense in lingering on hypotheticals. They’re together now, and that feels right.]

Seven letters this time. “Takes a turn.”

Rotates.

[He speaks swiftly, as if he knew before Ren even gave the question.]

Just as the world keeps turning, I suppose.

[Indeed it does. Ren glances up from the page with mock suspicion.]

You haven’t done this one before, have you?

No, I'm simply a model student who's well read.

[To his credit, he doesn't dip into his Detective Prince voice. In fact, his words are dripping with irony.]

Just checking.

[Ren hums thoughtfully as he glances over the remaining clues.]

OK, since you’re so well versed in theater, how about this one? Four letters, “Opera set in Memphis.”

Ah, Aida.

[Yes, he's researched opera, too. It makes him sound sophisticated and mature...]

Though, the Memphis in question is in ancient Egypt, not Tennessee.

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