Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Alexa, how many teens are affected by heart attacks every year?

Because the longer he's around Ann in that damned swimsuit, the closer Ryuji gets to being a statistic. It’s not like he’s never seen a girl in a swimsuit before; he’s been to the beach, and he’s got his own stash of mags at home that he takes a peek at every now and again when his own imagination is running dry. But never has he been assaulted with such physical camaraderie from a swimsuit-clad model he’d had a crush on since middle school.

He thinks it has something to do with the tropical air, or maybe there’s something weird in the flowers, because she’s never touched him so much for no reason. Or for any reason, for that matter. Every time she puts her arm around him or jokingly punches him in the chest (and he feels hers resting against his arm), it’s like she’s grabbed his heart in her fist and squeezed. He doesn’t know how much more he can take of this incredible closeness. Even when she’s got a tank top covering her for the tour parts of the day, it’s like he can feel everything.

They toured some cool cultural spots that Ryuji couldn’t really pay attention to, and now, for the rest of the afternoon, they were allowed to run around Waikiki and enjoy the sunshine. He, Ann, and Ren had found a small wooden bench to relax on, with an armful of fancy-looking drinks with the teeny umbrellas.

“Ah, this hits the spot!” Ryuji exclaimed after chugging half his drink in one go.

“Dummy,” Ann scolds him, “you’re supposed to sip and appreciate it, not throat it all down at once!”

“UH, dude, not the right use of that word AT ALL, first, and second, I’m thirsty! It’s not like you have room to talk,” he gestures to her drink that she’d mostly finished while the other two stood in line for theirs.

“Okay, yeah, but take a look at how cool Ren looks enjoying his.”

They both turn their heads to the wild card; true enough, he looks like he’s out of a ‘Travel Hawaii’ ad.

“That ain’t fair, Ren looks cool no matter what he does.”

The Phantom Thief leader offers a laid-back shrug.

Something behind them catches Ann’s eye and gives her an idea. She sets her now empty cup on the ground and picks two hibiscus flowers from a bush against the back of the bench and sticks one in Ren’s hair, who makes no fuss as he continues to enjoy his beverage.

“You’re totally right Ryuji, even with a flower in his hair, cool as a cucumber.” Ann then turns to Ryuji, who was too busy placing his own finished drink on the ground to see the mischievous glint in her eye.

“Your turn!” she pounces on him, using his surprise to finagle the flower into his hair.

“What the hell- Ann!” Ryuji yells, fighting to push her off while not wanting to touch her bare skin, and as such, loses his balance when she pushes too hard, taking them both down. In a moment of instinctive defense, his hands move to catch the fall; one hand grabbing at the bench behind him, and the other reaching forward and unintentionally groping her breast.

He’s watching Ann stomp away before his brain can register the stinging pain in his cheek from where she’d hit him. He cups his cheek, and only remembers his suave companion when he hears a rather unattractive snort from his left.

“You know, it’s really like a soap opera, watching the two of you.”

“Ren. Dude. Shut up.”

Chapter Text

Ann had been off with some female classmates he couldn’t bother to remember the name of through dinner, and it wasn’t until he opened Ren’s hotel room door that he saw her again, looking as shocked as he felt to see her there.

“Uh, hey, what’s happenin’?” he tries.

She awkwardly greets him and walks past to tell the two other inhabitants about her current predicament with her roommate and her own locked door.

After Mishima is finally tucked in with some stomach medicine and he’s sure Ren is asleep on the couch, he silently makes his way to the bed Ann is laying on, seemingly as sleepless as he is. Her back is to him, and he can see her scrolling through pictures on her phone; she’s stopped on one of her and Shiho from middle school that gives him a weird tightness in his chest.

“Ann? You awake?”

Knowing he can see it, she simply nods.

“Listen, I’m really sorry ‘bout earlier.”

He thinks he can hear her huff out an “idiot” before she turns to face him. It feels incredibly intimate, to be this close to her. Even with all of the skin-on-skin contact from today, all of the friendly side-hugs and arm-slinging, it’s this: this lying in the bed with her mirroring him, moonlight filtering in through the window illuminating her face in a pale, ethereal glow to the point he can see every little freckle brought out by the sun. This is what really makes him worry his heart will stop. He’s had a crush on her for so long, so he’s always thought she was cute (or hot as they got into high school, and sexy as they began their escapades in April), but looking at her now, it’s the first time the words “beautiful” and “love” have been on the tip of his tongue.

She reaches out to take hold of the hand resting in front of his chest with her own. “You have nothing to apologize for. I’m sorry I hit you.”

“S’okay, Ann, no big deal. You OK, though? You seemed more, like, freaked out than anything.”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” she looks away as she says it, “it just caught me off guard is all.”

“Look, Ann,” He sighs, squeezing her hand. “A blind guy could see when you’re lyin'. If you just don’t wanna talk about it, then fine. That’s fine. But don’t lie to me. Please.”

“I just… I thought I’d be better about this stuff by now, y’know?”

“Ann…” He knows, all too well. He still wishes he’d been able to do more. For her, for Shiho. Hell, even for himself. But, the him now also knows that’s why they were given the chance to change it. To keep going. And, he supposes, that doesn’t just extend to the metaverse.

“I just don’t want to think I’m never going to be able to… to 'be' like that with anyone because of what he did. I don’t want to only think of the way he'd touch me. I want to… I don’t know, do something better. I want to remember something better.”

For as much as Ryuji may miss, he gets the feeling that Ann is going somewhere new with this, somewhere that sets his cheeks aflame, but he sits up and lets her finish what she’s trying to say. She looks up at him from under her lashes, biting her lip, as she contemplates her next words.

“Can you… do it again?”

“Can I what?” he’s pretty sure his brain short-circuited.

“Ugh, don’t make me say it,” she whines, pulling herself up and curling into a ball, hands over her face, no longer able to look at him. He finds her hands on her cheeks and coaxes her gaze back to his.

“Ann,” he makes sure she’s facing him, “I need to be a hundred percent sure of what you’re asking me to do. I ain’t gonna risk doing something wrong, I need you to tell me.”

She searches his eyes for insincerity and finds none, only finding genuine care and respect for her that causes her own heart to beat a little faster.

Her voice is barely a whisper when she asks, “can you touch me?”

“Forreal?” She can’t help but smile at the phrase. “You really want me to?”

“Yeah, I really do. I trust you, Ryuji, and I want this with someone I trust. With you."

He takes another peek at Ren, who hasn't moved, to make sure they were well and truly alone. He flips Ann's phone face down onto the bed, just in case a certain teen coding prodigy decided to look in on her friends an ocean away.

And then, he looks back at the beautiful sight before him, resting his hand in hers once again. "What do you want me to do?"

"Um, maybe start on my arms or shoulders? Is that okay?" Ann tries. She's almost surprised with how seriously Ryuji is taking this, but at the same time, she knows he wouldn't joke around about something like this. She knows he cares so genuinely and so deeply for his friends that he'd do anything he could if it meant it would help her.

His hand almost unconsciously finds her upper arm, just as she'd asked, stroking her in a comforting manner. "This is all about what you're okay with, Ann. I'm cool with whatever you need."

She isn't sure what it is, but hearing him say that made her emotional; maybe it was the relief from having someone to rely on, maybe it was his want and willingness to get her consent for something so simple, or maybe it was just how different his touch felt from the dirty hands of that pervert, how pleasant and gentle and caring. Maybe it was all of them that led her to drape her arms around his shoulders and rest her head in his neck.

Ryuji remained unmoving until he felt her whisper an encouraging word against his skin, and only then did his arms find her middle, softly squeezing and filling her with an unimaginable comfort, a fluffy cloud of brilliant warmth wrapped around her, never to let go. She breathes out a "thank you" and punctuates it with a gentle kiss to his pulse point.

Ryuji hadn’t even taken the time to get flustered by all that was happening, because he was so concentrated on how she was feeling and not how she felt in his arms. Now that the room was quiet he could hear how thunderously his heart pounded in his chest, he could feel her supple, smooth skin beneath his fingers, he could smell her shampoo that she’d used in the shower not hours before. Too focused on her previously, he was now aware of himself and how nervous he had become.

She must have felt the involuntary tension in his limbs, because Ann pulled away just enough to face him. “Ryuji? Is this okay?” she searches his eyes, and adds, “Are you?”

Not trusting his voice, he nods gently.

She bites her lip, and leans in ever so slightly, “Then, what about…” her eyes flash down to his lips very deliberately.

He’s gobsmacked. Absolutely flabbergasted. He cannot believe that Ann would want to do this with him for whatever reason. “You… You serious, Ann? Y’really want me to…?”

She answers him by taking his face in both hands and lightly pressing her lips to his for a single moment, just long enough to get her point across to him.

“Yes, Ryuji, I want you to. Please, kiss me.”

He ever so softly brushes a few stray strands of her hair, now free of her usual pigtails, away from her face, glides his hand from her ear down to where her neck meets her jaw, and guides her to him.

When their lips meet this time, the open circuit closes, and the electric rush of the completed connection is felt from both ends. Even though it’s a simple kiss, It’s warmth, it’s tenderness, it’s love, and it’s everything Ann could have hoped Ryuji would give her. When they part, they both immediately find themselves wanting to be right back where they were; like magnets, or magic, they find each other again, and again, and again, each time sweeter and speaking more of their feelings than the last.

When they separate for the last time, she’s afraid to open her eyes and find that the extraordinary tenderness she’d just been shown would turn out to be a dream, and only takes a peek after feeling the same (surprisingly) soft lips she’d just been kissing press lovingly against her forehead. She’s glad she does, because she’s greeted with the warmest, softest smile from the hard-headed goofball sitting in front of her.

“I’ve been wantin’ to do that for a long time, Ann,” he admits.

“Really?” It’s not that she couldn’t believe what she was hearing, she just hadn’t really expected it from someone who talks about women so frequently and his lack thereof, so she can’t help but be curious. “How long?”

He looks away as his hand finds the side of his neck as he confesses, “Like, middle school ‘long time’.”

She especially didn’t expect him to have harbored feelings for her until now. “How come you never said anything?”

All of the bravado and solidity from earlier had completely faded at this point, as the conversation moved from her reservations to his reserved feelings. He should have figured he’d ending up opening his big mouth and saying something stupid that he’d managed to keep under wraps up to now.

“I- well, y’know- I’m- and you’re, uh,- shit, I suck at this.” He sighs, takes a moment to think. “I didn’t want stuff to change, y’know? I was happy with the way things were, I still am. I also didn’t want you to feel like you couldn’t trust me with, like, important shit. Like this. Didn’t want you thinkin’ I had some kinda creepy reason for doin’ this besides actually wanting to help you, either. So, yeah, that’s why I never said nothin’.”

“You know,” Ann starts, “I’d have been okay with that. If you’d have told me.” His eyes snap back up to hers and she continues. “I might have even said yes.”

“What about now?” he reaches for her hand again, instantaneously filled with comfort from the warm palm against his own.

“What about it?” she teases. It’s still Ann, they’re talking about.

“What would you say now?”

There’s something in his darkened amber eyes that Ann’s never seen before, and she doesn’t take the time to unpack them before she leans in with, “I’d probably say…” and seals their lips for the umpteenth time that night.