Archive of Our Own ^beta

“I can’t believe you! You stupid, goddamn, moron!” Ann’s voice cried out. Her cheeks were puffing red and her hands were clenching his shirt. “What the hell were you thinking!?”

“Wha… god, seriously?” Ryuji muttered.

Apparently, Ann was not done. He thought she would have moved past it by now, seeing as they had escaped Shido’s palace hours ago and had dinner to as a group to regain their energy (after they beat Ryuji up and left him in a heap, Akira texted him the restaurant they were at and he struggled to catch up). The whole time during dinner, Ann complained and pointed a fork at Ryuji accusingly.

Flashback to a few hours ago: They all thought they were goners, that this unreal world was going to be their demise. The looks on all their faces was utter despair, and then it turned to astonishment as Skull decided that their fate was up to him.

And he did it—he had raced to the lifeboat and watched his friends get on it safely before flashing them a cocky grin. There was something different about his grin, Panther decided. It was softer, a lot less arrogant, and she could have sworn he was staring right at her.

“Ryuji!” she had screamed at the top of her lungs when the blast went off. The rest of them had made it on the boat safely, but the flames and smoke had enveloped Ryuji completely. All around her were gasps and sounds of distress, but she drowned it all out. The only image left in her mind was that cocky grin of his and the strange softness in his eyes. In the back of her mind, she realized that was possibly the last image she would have of him.

Except it wasn’t.

After all the crying, Ryuji arrived, nonchalant as ever. And he had the gall to insult her, calling her ‘so not cute’! That thoughtless—

He was left in a heap on the floor courtesy of the girls, who seconds before had been crying their hearts out for him. Talk about a sudden change of direction. Akira gave him a helpless look through it all.

After dinner, the group split up, and Ann insisted on walking home together with Ryuji. She seemed too scared, as if she couldn’t believe that this was him. After watching him get engulfed by flames, she was too frightened to let him go again. And he understood. The rest of the group understood as well. They all knew there was something unspoken between the two, they had all seen it in the way that Ryuji had stared at only Ann when he thought it were his last seconds.

“Ann, I’m fine, I swear!” he complained. They were standing by a secluded bus stop. He couldn’t remember how they made it here, but the last bus had passed by a few minutes ago and they didn’t get on it. Ryuji looked at Ann’s expression and he just knew: he screwed up. He also knew: unspoken or not, he thought he was going to die, and Ann was the last face he had wanted to look at.

Ryuji gave her a grin and ran his hand up and down her arm to comfort her.

“Okay, okay, sorry,” she sniffed, finally letting go of the front of his shirt and rubbing her eyes. He had said her crying made her look not cute, but she didn’t care. The first time he had told her that was back in middle school and some assholes had made fun of her hair during the first day of classes. Then there was this stranger, this insufferable kid called Ryuji Sakamoto, who told her not to cry because she looked hideous. She had punched him in the stomach back then.

“C’mon, let me walk you home,” Ryuji said. Seeing as the last bus had passed and the train stations were closed, it was either walking or a cab—and a cab was much too expensive, and much too quick.

“Okay,” she said before wrapping herself around his arm and walking towards the direction of her block. The physical closeness was no big deal. They were good friends… and now, she wanted to be as close as possible to him. As if reading her mind, Ryuji kissed her forehead, softly and quickly. “I don’t feel like going home, though,” she added.

“Don’t tell me you’re still hungry…” he muttered.

Ann pinched him.

Silence.

“I don’t want you out of my sight, Ryuji,” she said simply. “At least not right now.”

“Uh…” he started. “I think your dad has made it clear enough that I’m not welcome in your house after hours.”

Ryuji shuddered at the thought, and Ann gave a soft laugh. Back in middle-school there was a group project and Ann’s house, big as it was, was where they decided to meet up. Afterwards, Ryuji had fallen asleep on the couch and Ann had forgotten about him… she only remembered once her dad came home and found the blond-haired boy that looked like bad news fast asleep on his couch. He had woken up Ryuji with a foot and made one rule clear for Ann: No more boys in the house after hours, especially if nobody else was home.

“That’s true, my dad would kill you,” Ann giggled. Ryuji gave a smile in reply.

“It’s fine, I’ll bring you home, and let’s meet up at Akira’s tomorrow,” said the high school boy. “He has a new game. It’s called—”

“No.”

Ryuji blinked. “Fine, I’ll bring over some magazines.”

“No,” she shook her head and looked up at him. “Ryuji, I’m serious. I don’t want you out of my sight right now.”

The high school boy sputtered. “What d’you wanna do!? Sleep out on the streets? You crazy or what!?”

Ann pouted.

“Didn’t you mention that your mom’s in Okinawa?” she said. Her voice was straight to the point, but her eyes were staring at the pavement.

“Ann…”

“I’m serious.”

“Here,” Ryuji said as he handed her one of his shirts and a pair of boxers. “Sorry, that’s all I got, might be weird if I grab some stuff from my mom’s closet. She’d notice.”

“These are fine,” Ann smiled at him. She retreated to the bathroom for a quick change as Ryuji brought out a futon and fixed it on the floor of his room. He sighed—he didn’t want to sleep in a futon tonight, but Ann was in one of her moods (not that they had done this before). She could sleep on his bed and he’d stay on the floor, just like their school trip to Hawaii.

He grabbed a change of clothes for himself and used the other bathroom to change. After brushing his teeth and freshening up a bit, he found Ann on his bed, yawning loudly. She had wrapped herself around his blanket. Ann was texting someone, most likely her parents, and most likely to tell them she’d be staying at a classmate’s tonight.

“This is so weird,” he muttered.

“Shut up, Ryuji.”

Ryuji switched off the lights and plopped down on his futon. He heard Ann shuffle to lie down on his bed. The moonlight entered from the window but the room was mostly dark, and he could see her silhouette. She was facing towards the wall with her back to him.

They were silent for a while, but clearly neither of them was asleep.

“You gonna tell me what this is about or what?” he finally said out loud.

“I’m just scared. Isn’t that obvious enough?” Ann replied defiantly. Really, if he wasn’t comfortable with this set-up, he had all the time to complain about it before!

“Nothing’s gonna happen here, you idiot,” he told her. “This is reality!”

“I know!” she shot back, annoyed.

“Well, good night.”

He didn’t say anything more and he started to daydream about what food they could buy with their newfound money after they sold Shido’s treasure. Perhaps lamb, or an entire cheesecake for Ann, Futaba might insist on a new gaming console, or—

Shit.

He realized that Ann had been silent for about a minute now, not even responding to him from a while ago, which always meant something not good. Fortunately, she wasn’t crying. Unfortunately, her silence often meant she was annoyed.

Okay, okay…

Ryuji got up from his futon and gently shook her shoulders, which caused her to reach up and pinch his hand.

“Ow!” he complained before forcing himself beside her. Against her struggles, Ryuji wrapped his arms around her waist and nuzzled her hair. “Fine, I’m sorry for worrying you so much!”

“I just thought you were dead, that’s all!” she replied, clearly annoyed. “You think that’s so easy to deal with? I mean, yeah, you made it out alive but at that moment it was torture… so, ugh, forgive me for being so emotional!”

“I understaaand…” he muttered against her hair. She smelled like lavender. “Sorry I was being so obnoxious about it.”

Ann shifted and turned to face him. They were inches apart, and she brought up a hand to caress his cheek. Ryuji looked at her in such a soft way. There were so much pent-up emotions beneath his stare, emotions that had built up since middle school.

Back in middle school, Shiho often teased her and Ryuji. Once, they even kissed. It had been spontaneous and a one-time occurrence that they never talked about. It was right after gym and Ryuji had just yelled at some of her bullies. At that point, she no longer cried from the bullying, and she had started to fight back with unladylike hand gestures. This was before she had grown into her body and she looked like a strange, foreign child with messy blonde hair. Ryuji was always there for her, intolerable as he was. And she had kissed him that day, and he had kissed her back, and then graduation came and they never spoke about it again.

The Phantom Thieves had brought them together again.

“I’m sorry,” she replied. “I know I’m being incredibly silly.”

“Nah,” he told her. Ryuji rubbed his nose against hers playfully and she laughed. The heat radiating between the two of them was undeniable.

Shiho had been the one who told her that there was something clearly unspoken between her and Ryuji. Shiho had always said that Ann brought out a different side to the obnoxious boy. She had read it between the lines, in his softened stares, in the way he sneaked juice packets into her bag, and how his language was just a little bit nicer with her.

They stared at each other in the darkness. She could feel Ryuji trailing soothing circles on her waist, could feel his thumb through the thin material of her shirt. His touch left a trail of warmness every time.

“Ryuji,” she called out.

“Mm?” he said in question. He was shaking, but he nudged her chin with the tip of his nose, as if asking for permission. Understanding his question, she tilted her head and pressed her lips against his.

They kissed softly, her hand against his cheek, his arms around her waist. They were both shaking and nervous, but soon all the pent-up emotions made its way to the surface and the kiss deepened. They kissed with all the energy they had left. Her hands soon made it to the front of his shirt and she clutched it, and he tightened his hold around her waist.

Ryuji shifted their positions and she was under him now. He kissed her lips, her neck, her collarbone. Their fingers were tangled in each other’s hair as their actions became more intense, more wanting.

“Ann, you look… tired,” Makoto blinked.

“Err…” Ann looked utterly embarrassed. She was wearing the same clothes she had been wearing the night before. In Makoto’s expression, she wanted to ask—Ann, why are you wearing your school uniform on a Sunday? Is everything alright?

Ann didn’t think she would run into anybody this early, and she had only been on her way home. That’s why she didn’t try to borrow any other (ugly) boy’s clothes from Ryuji, which would just warrant questions from her family.

“Shit…” Ryuji muttered from beside Ann. He, on the other hand, was not in his uniform, but in jeans. And why were the two together so early in the morning?

“Oh, uh…” Makoto looked as embarrassed as they were. “See you later at Akira’s?” she asked, abruptly changing the subject. “I heard he has a new video game.”

Makoto was not interested in video games, and they all knew that. But Ann and Ryuji nodded furiously and were out of her view.