acatalepsy_rpg

[Please, the scientific term is roberculosis. And yeah, his head was in the right place, but the application of it didn't quite pan out. It's cool, it was just a thought. And, say, what if he was some sort of sick? There's not much he could really do- he had a wealth of home remedies that his mom used to use on him to try to get him back in better shape, but he doesn't think biting into a lemon laced with honey is going to do much if he actually does contract something horrible.

He'll have to figure something out.

In the meantime, though, he can do this thing- sitting and chilling with Akira pretty much all day, just talking and doing whatever.]

Hm? Yeah. Like, a ton, actually. [The whole... not existing, the world merging with Mementos, their Last Heist, all that jazz.]

And then all the stuff that followed, too. I don't even know how many voice mails I musta left you while you were in the slammer.

At least twelve. [comes Akira's quick answer, accompanied by the slightest quirk of a smile] I stopped counting after that.

[but he was counting. and the more Ryuji talks about Christmas Eve and the aftermath of same, the more Akira finds himself settling. there was something a bit. . . comforting, to know that the two of them were on the same page. it had taken him nearly two months to find out that he and Ann weren't, even though they had been able to quickly rectify that afterwards]

[huh. speaking of Ann. . .]

Hey. . . Ryuji. This is going to sound like a really weird question, but what month was it back home before you arrived here?

Hah... yeah, I just really wanted to see you back then.

[He doesn't even want to know how embarrassing some of those must've been. There were so many times where he just wanted to go over and hang out, or had the urge to do something, but it wasn't possible. So he'd just end up calling Akira's phone so that he had someone to talk to, keep him up to date on what was going on outside in the free world. Those months were pretty rough for all of the thieves, honestly, but for Ryuji? Man, those were brutal.]

Last week of May. Uh... It was Sunday. I was goin' for a run and then tripped, passed through the pavement and wound up here. I thought I seriously had lost it. Or that I wandered into the Metaverse, or somethin'. Not that it coulda happened that way, but it was real confusing at first.

[That said, he's not 100% sure why Akira's asking that.]

Why?

[last week of May. so they're close to the same page, but still not quite there. Akira lets out a deep breath and offers up casually]

Because it was March 23 for me.

[not even twenty-four hours had passed since the thieves had ended their impromptu road trip and dropped him off back home, where nothing but judgmental parents and a community that had cast him aside had waited for him. two days past his seventeenth birthday (March 21, and spending it with his most important people on the road had been heaven). that amount of time was nothing compared to the months Ryuji had apparently lived without him]

Ann only remembers up until November, and our infiltration of Niijima's Palace. That's why I asked.

You, me, and her are all from different points in time back home.

[Considering that he didn't even know Ann was from November, that left a lot on the table and made him realize that she... didn't know what happened. Didn't know about Mementos, wasn't there when Mona had to steal a spark plug from a cop car to get a run down bus from going, and wasn't there for that somber ride back to Tokyo after leaving Akira back in his home town. It sort of explained a few things, then- not major ones, but, she was still living through it.

Ryuji bites the underside of his lip. From his perspective, July was just around the corner, and it had been two months since the last thing Akira remembers.]

Yeah, that's... uh, that's kinda weird. You would've thought we coulda been brought here all from the same time. Or maybe that magic doesn't work like that?

[Leaving all the nebulous machinations of time and space up to... whatever the hell it was that decided that would be a good idea, Ryuji doesn't feel angry about it- more so, just confused.]

But, yeah. These past two months, er- the two months before comin' here, that is. Man, it's kinda sucked. Like, in a big way.

Heck if I know. I don't really understand how Astoria's magic works.

[Akira admits with a small shrug. sure, Astoria had explained that time was frozen for them all while they were here. that sure did alleviate some of the concerns Akira had when he first arrived. but he still wasn't 100% sure how the whole. . . different timeline thing happened. but that was neither here nor there, and there's something else Ryuji says that he takes far more interest in]

Two months. . . the two months after I went back home?

[if Akira was being honest, he suspected his first two months back in his hometown were destined to suck, too]

Why. . .?

[but he still asks for details]

[Ryuji doesn't think too hard on it- magic bullshit was just that; magic bullshit. And for a moment, he completely misses that Akira was asking about the two months time span that he hasn't lived through, the maximum suckage that Ryuji had just referenced.]

Maybe she's kinda a newb at it. Like we were when we first started goin' through palaces. What would Mona say? Total rookie.

[Honestly, he has no idea how powerful she is or what extent of her powers are able to be honed in. Or maybe she was all knowing and omniscient? Maybe she pulled people from various points in their timeline that would be most advantageous to both the Circle and the people involved. Mysteries.

It clicks, then, that it wasn't what Akira was (probably?) talking about.]

Uh... oh, that ain't what you meant.

[He sheepishly smiles back, scratching the back of his head. It's an awkward topic to breech, but he doesn't hold his account back from Akira.]

Like... why did it suck? I guess, man... like. Y'know. Without a reason for us all to stick together, somethin' to work towards, we all kinda started drifting a bit? Haru and Makoto were already a year ahead of us. Yusuke was in a totally different school.

[Is he supposed to be telling Akira this? Wouldn't knowledge of the future intrinsically change the shape of it? Ryuji has no freaking clue.]

And uh... y'know. The only reason I even felt like showin' up to school half the time was... 'cause you were there. I know I said I'd figure out a way to make Shujin work, but, shit. Just started feelin' like a huge part of my life... eh... you know where I'm goin' with this. And I guess I was too chicken shit to tell you how I felt about it.

[it might be awkward, but hey, it's not like potential awkwardness has ever stopped them from talking about serious subjects before. and as always, Akira lapses into silence and latches onto every single word]

. . .

[it was true. . . he hadn't lived through the same two months Ryuji is talking about. he hadn't experienced the thieves all drifting to their own corners of society, linked only by their shared aesthetics and memories. to be honest, he never thought it would happen. not after everything he had been through]

[and, hell. even if it did? Akira knows he'd do his damnedest to bring everyone back together again]

[but even if he hadn't experienced it the same way Ryuji had, that didn't mean he couldn't understand. that didn't mean there wasn't a small part of him that had been terrified of being left alone again the moment he stepped out of the van and back into the hometown that had forsaken him]

You're telling me how you feel it now, aren't you?

[he lifts an arm, elbowing Ryuji lightly and affectionately in the side]

I'd say that counts. [. . .] But do you really think, after everything, that we wouldn't stick together?

[Admittedly, Akira had just made a really, really good freaking point. It was easier to tell him these things when he was just there, in person, sitting next to him like they had just wandered up to his room to read some manga, or whatever the soup de jour was for their antics at the moment. Ryuji lets out a breathy laugh when he's ribbed, and just doesn't really know what to say.

For him, that time away had been hard because he didn't have a real friend before Akira, and to have that snatched up away from him hurt a little more than a lot. He remembers being asked how school was going back in one of their trips to Mementos, and he had turned his head ever so slightly towards Akira, and replied that it was getting better. Those sort of sentiments can't be replaced, but, yeah. He's here now, and they are back together. Ryuji doesn't have a single complaint about that.]

Eesh, I swear, your elbow's gotten pointier than I remember, dude.

[What does he want to say right now? Taking it slow, he tries to decompress the zip drive of his bundled up thoughts in a way that isn't pure verbal diarrhea.]

No, I guess not. I just. I really missed you. I'd have these really, really goddamn stupid ideas the first few weeks of... you're gonna say this sounds really dumb, but I imagined myself just skipping out on school and windin' up at your doorstep one day. I dunno, like... maybe coming to kidnap you back to Tokyo. Or maybe just staying there for a while. Didn't... really think it through that well.

[His shoulders slump as he admits it, and he's being hard on himself again, wondering if telling him all this is too much maybe?]

But, as it kinda turns out, that sorta happened here anyway. And it did kinda suck, before. Sucked major ass. But, y'know. It's getting better.

[it's. . . such a grandiose fantasy that Akira can't help but laugh an endeared laugh, breathless and maybe just a bit wistful. that actually sounds pretty nice. both the "kidnapped back to Tokyo" and "Ryuji hanging out with him back home" flavors of that dream]

Wanna know a secret?

[he asks, lowering his voice to a conspiratorial level as he shifts so he's facing Ryuji properly, legs crossed and elbow propped on his knee]

The first two months Ann and I were here without you, I missed you like burning, too.

[it isn't quite the same as what Ryuji is talking about, but it's close enough. and another part of him misses the other thieves who aren't here as well, of course-- Mona, Haru, Futaba, Yusuke, Makoto. but he's long since accepted that Ryuji has a special place in his heart, somewhat separate from the rest of the group. a place that beats just a little faster when he hears the words I really missed you]

Soooo. . . I'm thinking, when we get back home from our world-jumping adventures with Astoria, we should make plans.

[and he wags his brows a bit to emphasize the word plans]

[That laugh is a familiar sound that he could chill with all day given the option. Like one of those 8 hour rain mixes on MeTube. Not that he... will ever admit to listening to those to calm down every now and then. It's going down with him to the grave.

But, man, does he wanna know a secret. He nods, not that the response is necessary, since it would've come either way.]

O-oh...

[That's, uh.

Oh man, it's not just missing, but a burning kind of missing, and that descriptor adds an entire contextual layer on top of things that makes Ryuji soft around all his edges. Disarmed completely, he finds his chest kind of tight over it, but it's not a bad feeling. Maybe something that he wanted to or needed to hear for a second, because, shit.]

Hey. We're here now, though, together. Kinda like your 'verse gloves started unraveling into a long red string and pulled me right outta lonely hell.

[Too corny?

Probably too corny.

But the deviousness behind the plans leaves a little bit of excitement behind, too. He doesn't know what those look like, but he already feels completely comfortable with wherever it's going. Jump in the catbus, losers, we're going somewhere. Where? Who knows. Who cares. A cool place.]

Yeah? My place or yours. [He's smiling, brightly, for a moment before adding in real quick-] I mean, if it's mine, mom would probably totally be okay with taking in a fugitive on the run like you.

[. . . occasionally, Akira wonders if Ryuji ever realizes that half of his corny lines could be yanked straight out of a romance novel. HIS HEART CAN'T TAKE THIS. . .]

[although it doesn't have much of a choice but to take it, huh? that cheesy reference to the red string of fate gets Akira to snort and duck his head, fingers curling into his bangs and tugging at them a bit sheepishly. but then they move on to plans, and he slides right back into the mischievous best friend role as though he never left it]

Your place. The cops know where I live. Leblanc is compromised. How good is your mom at keeping a secret?

[sure, they can make it sound like some kind of super secret spy mission. that'll make Akira look forward to it all the more]

[He looks Akira straight in the face when he asks that, dead flat in his response, despite the fact that he just cornballed his way straight into forcing him to start playing with his bangs.]

She is a Sakamoto, y'know.

[and Akira meets that gaze steadily, features blank. and, you know. . . there are two ways he could respond to this. one that playfully ribs at his best friend, and. . .]

Hm. I'll add her to my list of "people I could trust with my life," then.

[something kind of sweet hidden by a deadpan]

[Ryuji was ribbing himself with that comment, but Akira going straight for the kind words about his mom hits him hard. He missed her, of course, but the other handled it so expertly that he can't help but let the sides of his mouth curl upward. That's... that's not fair, dude. Because if there's a few people he loves unconditionally in this world, one's sitting next to him, and the other is back home, at some point in time frozen and not having to worry about where her son is or what trouble he's getting into this time.

Ryuji rests his hands behind his head and wistfully sighs.]

Effin' smooth talker.

[There's no bite behind his bark, Akira can probably see how non-committed he is to the tease.]

She'd take you in, though. I've talked about you enough, y'know? Probably thinks you're the dude that put me on the straight and narrow and all that shit.

Which, yeah. I guess it ain't that far from the truth.

[there are times when you take potshots at your best friend because it's funny and that's just how you both are. . . and times when you remind said best friend that he's one of the most important people in your life. now was definitely the latter]

[the comment about Ryuji's mom taking Akira in, however, gets a few surprised blinks in response]

You've told her about me?

[for some reason, he wasn't expecting that. and he can't really explain why something about that makes him feel pretty happy. the idea that he's someone worth talking about with a friend's family]

Technically, I'm the one who dragged you into the Phantom Thief thing. [well. it was more mutual dragging, but you know] Are you sure that counts as being on the straight and narrow?

[he's teasing again]

[Akira's level of surprise at this piece of news matches Ryuji's own for a second.]

Well... yeah. I mean, with the amount of work she does and all the stuff we had going on during the weekends and holidays, we don't get a ton of time to talk about stuff. Most nights it was kinda just... bring home dinner for us and then she'd go to sleep since she was so tired. Or... I'd try to cook something. Not that I got that great at it or anything.

[He laughs, don't get illusions of grandeur here- it's mostly little things like hamburg steak or soups.]

But. Yeah, we talked about you. She was all excited that I made a friend. Shit, I think she apologized once for not having enough time to make a bento to bring to school for us. And I was like... ma, c'mon, we ain't 12.

[He's always so full of happiness and light when he talks about his mom, even the embarrassing stuff like this.]

Eh? Man! You know what I mean. Shut up!

[Akira has definitely listened to Ryuji talk about his mother before, but never in this much detail. it gets a smile out of him, something fond and soft and endeared at how clear it is that Ryuji loves her. and maybe just a little touched to know that to Ryuji, he's worth talking about]

She sounds pretty cool.

[vaguely, Akira thinks he doesn't really know what it feels like to have a mom as attentive and interested as that. but it's a thought he brushes aside immediately, because this conversation is about Ryuji. not himself]

I'd like to meet her one day, when we get back.

[It doesn't really take a genius to figure out that Akira's situation with his parents wasn't great. Or at least that they weren't tight. One instance of trying to help someone out from a really, really bad fucking situation and the next thing he knows... getting shoved off to some place in Tokyo, to a stranger that had no real connection to him to begin with. Yeah, Ryuji's screwed up a lot in his life and his dad might not be in the picture anymore, but when everything went down with Kamoshida, his mom was still there for him.

Everyone deserves that.

Akira especially deserves that.]

Yeah? I'll make sure it happens. Super promise.

[But they can't go back, not yet. Ryuji picks at the fabric of his pants idly for something to do with his hands.]

What was it like? When you went back home? I know you probably didn't get like... a hero's welcome or anything. Even though that's definitely what we were.

[Akira has that, now. he might not have had it before being shipped off to Tokyo (and he hadn't realized he didn't have it until that empty space in his life was occupied by so much warmth), but. . . that wasn't the important part. at least, not in his mind]

[Akira gaze grows kind of distant when Ryuji asks that question, flickering away to focus on a random point on the wall opposite. he shrugs]

I was only there for a day before I got dragged here.

[noooot too long to really soak in the fact that he had been shoved back somewhere he didn't belong]

My parents welcomed me home, but they both had a business event to attend. So dinner on my first night back was kind of on my own.

[. . .]

[in the past, he might not have thought much about it, because wasn't that how all parents were? focused on their careers, driven and ready to succeed? it was an attitude they had tried to foster in their son, and he had been fairly understanding of their casual neglect. they gave him food and shelter, and the things he needed to survive, and wasn't that supposed to be enough?]

[but it's only now, as he says that aloud and contrasts it to the time he spent living at Sojiro's, that he realizes that it's perhaps. . . wasn't]

-- anyway, it wasn't so bad. I've gotten way better at cooking.

[If Akira won't be offended by the thing he just said, or take it just as a fact of life, then Ryuji will gladly say exactly what's on his mind when it comes down to it. It pisses him off that anyone would treat him that way, exacerbated only by the fact that it's his parents, and he doesn't have nearly enough tact to skirt around the fact that---]

Dude, your parents effin' suck.

[Not that Ryuji isn't halfway there himself, what with his own dad having left their family behind, but. Still. They're probably both on the same wavelength in thinking that he had better care provided to him by Boss. Which says a lot, considering Akira had went around the corner to get experimented on by a doctor from time to time.]

It just. It makes me so goddamn angry. We went through all that shit just for everything to return to normal. Like, shit! The praise or anything like that--- that even ain't what I'm talkin' about. When we get home, you definitely ain't going back there. I don't give a fuck.

[there's no an ounce of offense to be found in Akira's reaction. he laughs, actually. . . wry and kind of humorless, but a laugh nonetheless]

I sure wish it was that easy, Ryuji. But it's not like I can stay in Tokyo without a place to live, and I don't think Boss's attic is open indefinitely.

[well. truthfully? he's never asked. that's just an assumption]

[but the fact that that's his reason for not being able to stay in Tokyo, and the fact that he says nothing about wanting to have returned home to the countryside, sure says a lot]

Edited 2018-09-17 00:49 (UTC)

[You just can't tell Ryuji no when he sets his mind to something. That's just how he is, and at the core of his being, he's wired to work toward things he wants to do with his own will and determination, even if there's nothing else out there to give him a leg up.

It sounds like an excuse to him. He can't shake that feeling.]

So? You really think he'd turn you out into the rain if you showed up one day with just a backpack? You... 'n him and Futaba, too. You had like. A thing going on there. A real thing? A definitely real thing.

[. . . .]

[a definitely real thing. Sojiro had said as much himself. and as Akira was walking out the cafe door for the very last time. . . he could have sworn he heard a muffled sniffle from his guardian]

[but nevertheless, Akira isn't used to asking people for favors when he isn't actively providing them something in return. that's just the way he was-- the kind of guy who didn't expect too much from others, because expecting things always meant disappointment]

Pretty sure it was a real thing. He didn't rat me out when he found out I was a Phantom Thief, after all.

[his response is deceptively light]

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