If you identify as female and play video games. Please reblog this. I want to prove a point that there are LOADS of us. If you can spare the time. Tag what you play!
Akira pushed the group a little bit too hard in Mementos one day. Ryuji
decides to spend the next one relaxing and unwinding with his best
friend. They find a new thing to make lazy days like this meaningful.
Akira,
honestly, would rather be anywhere else than Mementos right now.
There were no palaces to raid, not right now anyway. Madarame’s had
collapsed the week prior and now all that was left was to wait for
their next target. On a whim Akira had suggested they dip into the
collective unconscious for a quick training session, but they’d been
there for the better part of two hours now chasing treasure demons to
restock their supplies and maybe get some better armor and weapons.
They were sore, they were tired, at least two of them had complained
about being hungry already, but Akira wasn’t quite ready to call it
quits.
“Just
one more…just one more Regent. Then we can go,” Akira insisted.
He rolled his shoulders and popped a chewing soul in his mouth before
swinging back into Mona’s driver’s seat. The door slammed shut just
as the others opened and the rest of his team made their way inside.
Ryuji settled down into the seat next to him with a tired groan.
“Dude…I
dunno how much more I can take. My legs’re fuckin’ up. I need to let
‘em rest.” Akira had noticed that the more tired Ryuji got the
lazier his speech would be, and a part of him found that absolutely
adorable. “Can I sit the next fight out?”
“Yeah,
sure. I think we can get a Regent quick enough now,” Akira
promised, leaning over and patting Ryuji’s thigh absently before they
took off. He noticed the blond squirmed ever so slightly, but decided
not to comment on it. They had to go off and get another treasure
demon, and the longer they waited the more difficult they would be to
find.
Surprisingly
luck was on their side, as the next floor down they managed to find
one behind a cracked wall. Just as Akira promised the fight went
smoothly, and Akira happily pocketed the cash from dropping the
thing. With tired and lazy steps he dragged himself off to the bus
and crawled up into the seat to get them to the next landing so they
could pop up to the entrance finally.
Leaving
Mementos had never been such a welcome feeling, the distortions
disappearing and leaving them bone-tired and ready to just go home.
There were a chorus of goodbye’s and see you tomorrow’s as everyone
peeled off. Akira barely made it upstairs and into his nightclothes
before he was flopping down into his bed and into unconsciousness.
The
next day he was woken up by his phone…ringing? Who the hell would
be calling him at the asscrack of dawn? He sleepily swatted around on
his makeshift bedside table to find his phone and struggled to swipe
his thumb across the screen to answer it.
“H’llo?”
“Hey
man. I was wondering if you wanted to hang out today? Mementos
yesterday killed
me
so I’m wantin’ to just dick around today. Maybe play some games?”
The gears in Akira’s head took their sweet time kicking on, but when
they did he gasped suddenly and pulled himself up into a sitting
position.
“Oh
shit. Shit, yeah, I don’t mind,” he hummed.
“Dude,
did I wake you? Shit, I didn’t mean to man. I’m usually up right
about now getting’ ready to run so I didn’t think about lettin’ you
sleep in. Be over there in an hour and a half, probably. Give you
some more time to sleep.” Akira was silently grateful for his
friend’s consideration and hummed quietly as Ryuji bid him good
morning and hung up. Akira managed to drop his phone on his table
before crawling back under the covers for a little bit more sleep.
The
sound of Ryuji tromping upstairs woke him up later, and with the
added benefit of an extra hour of sleep he felt decidedly less grumpy
about it. He yawned and scratched at his hair and slid out of bed
slowly to greet his friend.
“Hey.
Brought you some breakfast, figured you might want somethin’ other
than curry,” Ryuji said as he raised a plastic bag at his side.
Akira snorted and rubbed at the back of his neck.
“Don’t
let boss hear you say that. He might get offended,” Akira teased.
Ryuji flashed a warm friendly grin and rolled his eyes. The bag was
deposited on the table beside the TV as the pair set up the attic for
their lazy day.
They
settled on to the floor side by side, controllers in their hands and
easy grins on their face. Taking an easy day off like this…Akira
didn’t realize how much he’d needed it. He didn’t even get to take a
bath last night to ease his muscles and he deeply
regretted that now. Everything hurt from his head to his feet; it
felt like someone had dropped a cinder block on top of him.
“Fuck
man, I’m so sore
after yesterday…think we could hit the bathhouse today?” Ryuji
asked suddenly. His controller clattered to the floor as he leaned
back onto his palms with a painful hiss. “Feels like I got hit by a
truck…”
“You
know, I was just thinking that. Stop reading my mind,” Akira
laughed and began pulling himself up to turn the game system off.
Ryuji did the same, taking a moment to stretch his muscles out with a
groan. Once they were ready they happily made their way out of
Leblanc and off towards the bathhouse to soak their cares and pains
away.
When
they felt the heat of the water seep into their bones they both let
out appreciative moans and leaned back against the edge of the wood.
It took them a few seconds before they both slid down further into
the water almost in sync. They shared a smile and tapped the back of
their hands against each other under the water.
“This
is the life…runnin’ around in the Metaverse all day ‘nd then comin’
to soak in a nice hot bath. Feels so nice. Like we really
accomplished somethin’, ya know?” He let out a quiet sigh and
closed his eyes to continue relaxing. “The days we’re runnin’
around are great, but it’s the days after when you can just relax ‘nd
be lazy that really makes what we’re doin’ stick. Makes it feel
serious.”
Akira
looked over to his best friend, his right-hand man, the one who had
been with him since the beginning, and something in his chest
swelled. They’d become so in tune with each other during their time
fighting together…and the sudden realization that he had fallen for
his sweet bumbling nerd slammed him in the face. He felt his breath
stolen from him and a huge smile spreading across his lips.
“Yeah.
You’ve got a point. Couldn’t imagine doing it with anyone else in the
world, either,” he hummed. The look Ryuji gave him almost reminded
him of a deer in headlights. The slight blush on Ryuji’s face only
made it cuter. Was it because of the heat or Akira’s weird
almost-yet-obvious confession?
He
was given his answer in the form of Ryuji very shakily taking his
hand to squeeze it.
“…I
couldn’t imagine doin’ it with anyone else either,” he muttered
nervously, and the blush spread further. Akira felt a laugh bubble up
in his chest before he leaned forward and set a hand gently on his
friend’s cheek. There he hesitated, waiting to make sure that he’d
understood Ryuji right. When Ryuji leaned forward and pressed their
lips together he felt his heart sing.
If
this were what lazy days would consist of from now on, sign him the fuck
up.
Summary: Sometimes the most dangerous enemies are the ones that live in your head.
Akira felt his stomach twist as he looked at his reflection in the
mirror. The bruises were still there, covered up by cheap foundation and
even cheaper concealer. His black eye had finally begun to go down in
swelling, though it still hurt to so much as blink sometimes. Angry red
marks circled his wrists from the cuffs biting into his skin.
To put it simply, he looked like hell. Too rough for a
seventeen year old boy who was trying to save the country from a
horrible dictator, however questionable their methods were. Sometimes
the end justified the means. He firmly believed that he and his friends
were in the right, that changing the hearts of corrupt adults was the
only way to save the victims they threatened. But the pain he endured,
the struggle of fighting through palaces and protecting his friends…he
wondered if it was really worth it sometimes.
Had they gotten in over their heads with this mess? What started out
as a small band of friends working to seek justice for one of their own
had snowballed into a family that sought out evil to protect the greater masses. First Yusuke, then Makoto, Futaba, Haru…Goro…
He wondered what would have happened if he hadn’t founded the Phantom
Thieves. Perhaps Ann would have given in to Kamoshida’s demands, maybe
Yusuke would have followed the other pupils in their same grim fates,
Futaba would likely still be holed up in her room and blaming herself
for her mother’s death, Makoto would be some sex toy or dead in a back
alley and Haru would be stuck with Sugimura and a father who couldn’t
care less that his daughter wanted to live.
A jaw-cracking yawn tightened a few muscles in his jaw that shot fire
through his nerves and left a throbbing pain in the back of his skull.
Sleeping since the interrogation had been hard, between the pain and the
nightmares and the flashbacks that Morgana shifting on his chest would
sometimes cause. Stupid things, but they were enough to cause problems.
Sometimes he could still feel a hand tugging his hair too hard, or a
full four knuckles sinking into one of his eyes. Before he’d thought
that he’d experienced the worst pains of his life from claws raking into
his sides or fire singeing his skin through his coat. Going through
those long, painful hours had changed his mind more than he’d liked.
They had plans to infiltrate Shido’s palace soon, but the lingering
pain really made him think twice. Made him rethink a lot of things,
honestly. They were just kids. Teenagers throwing themselves in harm’s
way and they were ready to charge in head-first to challenge the future
Prime Minister and change his heart. The palace leaders had steadily
been growing in strength since the beginning, and Akira would be a fool
to believe things would be different now.
It would be so easy to message the group chat, call the infiltration
off indefinitely and continue to site his injuries as an excuse. Let
things run their course and make sure that all of his friends would be
safe, at least for a little while. No risk, no chance of death, nothing.
Just surviving under Shido’s eventual iron grip. It wouldn’t be that
difficult, right? Keep their heads down, maybe separate…Akira would
have to continue playing dead, to protect himself and his friends.
He knew they wouldn’t let that fly, though. Even if he wasn’t with
them they would walk into that cruise with their heads held high and
their drive carrying them all the way to the treasure. They needed him,
just as much as he needed them. His friends had been his saving grace
since he’d been released; every day one of them would come check on him,
play games with him or just simply sit and talk with him. They meant
everything to them, and he was their leader. He couldn’t let them down.
A voice in the back of his mind suggested he turn that train of
thought on himself, and realize that he couldn’t let himself down
either. Doubting his abilities and his skills and his friends would only
lead to trip ups and costly mistakes in the long run. They fought
shadows and demons on the regular basis but goddamn, fighting his own
was more draining than a palace run sometimes. They had become steadily
more vicious since his incarceration; now it felt like they were beating
against his head over and over and over and over and over–
The sound of the stairs creaking pulled him from his thoughts.
Instinctively he slipped down into a crouch, the position burning in all
the wrong places, and waited with bated breath for his guest to be
visible.
When two tiny blue eyes peeked at him from around the corner he
forced himself to straighten back up and tucked his hands into the
pockets of his sweats. Morgana hesitated just a moment before padding
over to twine himself between Akira’s legs.
“You okay? You don’t look so good,” he chirped. Akira dropped down to
one knee to stroke a hand slowly across Mona’s back before bringing it
underneath the feline’s chin to scratch it. “Hey, don’t stall! I want an
answer!”
“I’m not. I’m just…trying to figure out how to word it,” he
explained quietly. For a little bit the only sounds in the attic were
the occasional creak of the wood settling and the constant vibrating
purrs beneath Akira’s hand. He settled down onto his backside before
pulling Morgana into his lap and setting a hand on his flank.
“You ready to talk about it now?”
“Yeah.” Akira fought back a sigh and reached up to scratch an itch
behind his ear. “The interrogation just sort of…brought a lot
insecurities out, I guess. Doubting myself, our choices, our
motives…it makes me worry that I’m not good enough to be a leader.
That I’m a bad friend.” Morgana raised his head from his paws snuffed at
him.
“You shouldn’t think like that. You’ve been with us since the very
beginning, and you’ve always been a great leader. The choices that
you’ve made have carried the Phantom Thieves farther than we could ever
have imagined, I’m sure. We trust you with our lives because we know you
trust us with yours. We’re your friends because you’re a good person,
and because you deserve us. We couldn’t imagine doing anything else but
this, now.” Akira chuckled softly and slid a thumb across the back of
Morgana’s right ear slowly.
“Yeah. Guess you’re right. It’s just hard to think that way after
everything we’ve gone through. I mean, one wrong choice, one little
accident, and each one of us could have very well ended up dead in a
palace, or Mementos. Doing this for so long, having everyone rely on me
to make decisions and keep us safe…it gets to you after a while. I’d
been having doubts before but after getting arrested everything just
seemed like it was worse. That plan shouldn’t have worked. It was
hair-brained and a shot in the dark at best. If Akechi hadn’t fallen for
it, if Sae hadn’t gotten him to go into the Metaverse, she would have
been carrying my corpse out instead of my barely-conscious body.
Realizing how close I got to death just made everything seem so much
more real. Scary.”
Talking about it seemed to be helping. The tension he’d carried for
the past few days seemed to be melting off of him. The aches in his body
felt like they were some sort of far away dream that refused to
disappear with the rising of the sun. They lingered, but they weren’t
overpowering. The haze that had clouded his mind and judgment the past
few days began burning away, and it felt wonderful. Morgana seemed to realize this, as he slowly picked himself up and made his way over towards the bed.
“They may seem more real and more scary, but you should remember you
aren’t going through any of this alone. You have the Thieves to help and
support you.” He carefully hopped up onto the bed and began lazily
kneading the recently-replaced comforter. “It’s late, Akira. You should
try and get some sleep. We’ve got a big day ahead of us,” he said. Akira
pulled himself up from the floor and followed after his companion to
happily crawl underneath his covers and let himself drift off into a
pleasant and restful sleep.
As fun as the “we’re all Hugo nominees now” posts are, let us not forget that this nomination recognizes the founders and approximately 700 volunteers who work tirelessly to make Ao3 everything that it is. The folx doing the hard work of maintaining and running the site so we can all have a place to share and enjoy fic–that’s who’s nominated for a Hugo, and let’s not forget them.
> The Jester Card resonate through your body as you crush it
> You’re able to see through the fog without the glasses.
> You never felt happier.
I draw this when I was a bit moody at someone, I like the accomplice end alot…. its my guilty pleasure. Also i’m still in a bit of a hiatus i’m on mid term and doing zine stuff atm.
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