Writing side-blog for Batsutousai.
eternally 30, living under a rock (though my heart lives in Venice). Writing fanfiction for over a decade and still going strong.
Buy Me a Tea var sc_project=11022161; var sc_invisible=0; var sc_security="fb1f8981"; var scJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://secure." : "http://www."); document.write("");
New pinned post for...idk, because I can reasons. (More like, stop sending people to my personal blog for an about me, whoops.) Old pinned post can be found here: Bats' List of Fandoms/Ships
I’m Batsutousai, but answer to most nickname variations (I understand my name isn’t really easy to spell at a glance), most notably Bats, Batsu, and Batty.
I think the pronunciation is obvious (my UN has origins in Japanese), but for those who need/want it: Bah-tsu-toe-sa-ee
I self-identify with she/they, but I honestly don't care what pronouns people use for me.
I am an American, but I spent over a decade writing and reading in British fandom spaces, so the English I tend to use has a very Queen's English slant. (Not always on purpose, tbh.)
I post my work on Archive of Our Own under the UN Batsutousai. I also post on Dreamwidth and LiveJournal under the same name. I do have a Patreon, where I post WiPs, but you need to pay a fee to access them.
I do not post anywhere else, as I’ve removed my work from FFN, and the HP archives I was posting on have been folded in to AO3.
I do give blanket permission for related fanworks of my writing. That covers translations, art, playlists, podfic, inspired fics, whatever. Have at.
That does not cover any use of AI. I do not and will never consent to having my work fed to an AI for any purpose.
I do like to know when people create/post related works, because I love them and I want to share that love with you. ;) But I won't get huffy if the creator doesn't tell me about it.
Some FAQs behind the cut:
When is (name WiP series/fic here) updating?
When it does?
Look, I get that you really, really like that series/fic – I do, too – and I’ve probably reread it fairly recently, to see if my muse will behave, but he’s a little shit, and every time someone asks about an update for any particular fic, that makes him LESS LIKELY to give me ideas for it. I’m happy to hear all about how much you like it, but asking about updates is more likely to keep one from happening.
Will you write a sequel for this fic?
My answer 99% of the time: Fuck you. No.
If I said somewhere there will be a sequel, yes. Eventually. Otherwise, NO.
Do you take requests?
For fanfic? Not really. I sometimes reblog those ‘give me a fandom/pairing/character(s) and a number and I’ll write the thing’ memes, but I can’t guarantee I’ll write everything I get.
Hey, I really like your work! Can I send you money?
You can, actually! I have a ko-fi here: Buy Me a Tea
I also have a Patreon, where I post WiPs and some related bonuses, which you can find more information about in this tumblr post.
I don't do commissions, because the muse takes me where he will, rarely with my own input on the matter.
I saw what looks like one of your fics posted on a site other than the ones listed above.
If it’s in English, isn’t almost certainly a stolen repost, and you’re welcome to report it to the site admins. (Good luck on Wattpad; that place is a shithole and seems to be where all the thieves are congregating.)
Translations have permission to post wherever the translator is most comfortable, so we leave those be.
Didn’t you used to post on Fanfiction.net? What happened to your fics there?
I stopped updating FFN back in...oh, 2016? I think? Around then. It was too much effort, and I much prefer AO3. Early/mid-2021 I started getting a slew of hostile or just plain weird reviews. Since there’s no way to block anon reviews on FFN, and I wasn’t actually using the site anyway, I made the choice to just remove everything.
Yes, my work will remain on AO3 for the foreseeable future.
I want to show you this thing!
You can @ tag me either here or with @batsutousai.
I don’t allow submissions, sorry, and I prefer you don’t send it to me via DM, as there’s a pretty constant problem with dangerous links being sent that way.
Can I create a physical copy of your work for my personal use?
Yes, you may.
I have nothing against folks saving copies of my work for personal use, be that in the form of old-school 3-ring binders, digital copies on kindle and similar devices, or through the increasingly common hobby of book-binding.
You don't have to show me what they look like when you're done, but you're welcome to.
I have another question.
Send me a DM or ask! Anon is always on, if you want to keep your identity a secret from me.
Hate to be that guy but I do think one of the reasons they tried to change how reblogging works is because they've also noticed how dire the reblog situation is, and I just want to remind y'all that this is the reblog website, they're rolling back the change because we LIKE how reblogs already work. Maybe in order to show them that we should actually reblog shit?
Since I can't send you an ask, I SEE YOU, @221b-bakerstreet-camelot, reblogging this post from me WITHOUT reblogging any of my fic posts, like I SPECIFICALLY SAID people needed to do in my tags:
#If you are reblogging this from me#You are required to also reblog one of my fic posts#Doesn't have to be a recent one#Don't think I haven't noticed that non-fic posts get more reblogs
Hate to be that guy but I do think one of the reasons they tried to change how reblogging works is because they've also noticed how dire the reblog situation is, and I just want to remind y'all that this is the reblog website, they're rolling back the change because we LIKE how reblogs already work. Maybe in order to show them that we should actually reblog shit?
FIC: Love's Mysteries ~ Persona 5 Royal ~ Akeshu ~ Teen
Title: Love's Mysteries
Fandom: Persona 5 Royal
Author: Batsutousai
Rating: Teen
Pairing: Akechi Goro/Amamiya Ren
Warnings: Post-canon, mourning & grief, Valentine's Day, White Day
Summary: On Valentine's Day, Ren leaves chocolate at a grave and doesn't expect anything back, least of all a mystery to solve.
A/N: @svnnnne sent out platonic Valentine's Day mail with an Akeshuake print and sticker, without requiring returns. Still, I wanted to send her something back, so I wrote White Day fic.
On account of Svn not having an AO3, I'm posting the whole thing here on tumblr (I sent her a copy in the post, but it seems unfair for the online copy to be inaccessible for her), as well as locked on AO3. (Because I am not dealing with the anon harassment campaign and AI scraping over there. Which, related: Do not feed my writing to AI and do not repost.)
Read on AO3 by clicking this text here, or hit the read more link below.
Ren had probably spent too much of January trying to decide if it would be weird for him to give Akechi chocolate for Valentine's Day. It was, after all, the day that women gave chocolate, and while a year trading between personae of multiple genders had left him feeling a little less solidly male, he also didn't really think of himself as female, and Akechi, presumably, definitely didn't. So, it would be weird.
Except, how else was he meant to tell the boy he maybe, possibly, definitely had a crush on, that he was interested in dating?
And then, the second of February happened.
And the third.
And Ren had definitely spent too much of January thinking about something that had never mattered to begin with.
A year back in his hometown had given him more time to think about things than he'd really wanted. There just wasn't a lot to do in his hometown, and his conviction being revoked in Tokyo, didn't mean a whole lot to the people who he'd grown up around, too many of whom barely cared who their prime minister was, never mind judicial matters. Especially given the strange mental dissonance in the general population regarding anything related to the metaverse and the Phantom Thieves of Hearts.
Ann was the one, when he foolishly admitted the thought to her, who suggested he make the chocolates anyway, even if Akechi was dead, because his spirit could still be lingering. (That was the reigning reason the Thieves had settled on for Ren's glimpse of someone that he'd sworn was Akechi, when his train had been pulling out of the station, and then the following absolute lack of sightings of him. Despite attempts by various of them still in Tokyo to find him, directed by Ren's own knowledge of him, as much as it was by Ann's slightly concerning obsession with his food blog.)
He hadn't made anything in his hometown, had felt a little too lonely, with only Morgana there for any anniversaries or holidays.
But, back in Tokyo, the next year, things had felt easier. And Ann had returned to Japan for New Years, with plans to stick around for a couple of months, at least through the end of Tokyo Fashion Week, since she'd got signed to walk the runway for one of her father's contacts.
So, two days before Valentine's Day, found Ren with a small group of his closest friends, who had all decided to 'assist' him in 'perfecting his Valentine's chocolate'. (As if he didn't know they were all there in the hopes of handouts.) It had, at least, made the experience more fun than he'd been expecting, and Sumire had been the one, when Ryuji asked what he was even going to do with Akechi's chocolate, to suggest leaving it as an offering at his family gravestone, and Futaba had let herself be bribed with chocolate to turn up the location.
Which was how Ren spent Valentine's Day freshening the Akechi family stone—it hadn't been completely abandoned, had seen some semi-recent care, and Ren assumed it was some of Akechi's fans, coming to pay their respects, or someone he'd paid to continue caring for it after he was gone, for his mother—and then kneeling there and just...talking. All of the things he hadn't known how to say, during their last, stolen month, had thought he'd have time to figure it out.
He felt lighter, when he left, and hoped that Akechi's spirit, even if he couldn't eat the chocolate, would at least appreciate the gesture.
Ren hadn't not expected to get anything for White Day—Yusuke had pointed out that, since they'd accepted Valentine's chocolate from Ren, those who had 'helped' him in February were obligated to return the gift—but he hadn't expected to come downstairs the morning of the fourteenth of March, to find Sojiro offering him a white envelope that had been stuck to the café door when he'd arrived, with Ren's name written on it.
He opened it, intrigued, and found a single ticket inside, for the aquarium, and a schedule for the penguin show, with a time in the late afternoon perfectly circled in thick white—edited on a computer and printed out that way, Ren decided, after eyeing it for a moment—standing out from the colourful page.
He checked with his friends and confidants, but none of them knew anything about it, and their opinions about whether or not he should actually go were...expectedly varied.
But, well, he was intrigued by the mystery, and he hadn't made any other plans for the day, except to work a couple of his part-time jobs. And he had fond memories of the aquarium, both from his visit with Akechi at the end of July, and when he'd gone with Sumire in January. He'd sort of been meaning to go again, and this seemed like as good a time as any to do so.
It wasn't as crowded with couples as a part of him had expected it to be, and he fully enjoyed watching the penguins do their little performance, even if he was a little distracted trying to spot whoever had sent him the ticket.
At the end of the show, one of the trainers came up to him and asked, "Are you Amamiya-san?"
"Oh, uh, yes."
She smiled at him and held out a new white envelope, again with his name on the front. "I hope you enjoy your stay!"
"Thanks," Ren murmured, distracted with opening the new envelope and finding inside a map of the aquarium, with a path marked on it in white—still carefully straight lines, but this time it looked like they'd used a gel pen, instead of printing it out pre-done on the computer, implying they either hadn't been able to find a map online to edit, or they'd needed to be on site to check the exact path—leading him to the glass tunnel that let you feel as though you were underwater, ending at the other end.
Curiouser and curiouser.
Ren followed the path, letting himself stop to enjoy the sights, unable to not be delighted by the various creatures on display. Could almost hear Akechi's voice as he citied facts, just a little smug every time he managed to surprise Ren with one. He'd so obviously studied up the night before, like he'd thought he needed to impress Ren. It had been endearing, but also a little weird.
But, then, Akechi wouldn't have been as interesting as he'd been, without his little oddities.
The map led him to a bench, and he took a moment to look between the map and his end point, then looked around, trying to spot if there was anyone there, watching him. Maybe waiting for him to sit down, so they could reveal themselves?
He sat.
When nothing had happened after five minutes, he turned back to the map, checking it over for any additional clues, and then the schedule for the penguin shows. And then the envelopes.
And then, when none of those turned anything up, he slid off the bench and peeked under it, and was rewarded with another white envelope.
Puzzles, Ren mused as he slipped back onto the bench to open the third envelope. Tricks and puzzles.
There was a sensation in his chest, something like a fluttering of wings, and Ren was determined to ignore it, to not give in to hoping for the impossible.
It was hard, though. Especially when the contents of the new envelope was a single, familiar dart, painted white, even the fletching.
He forced himself to sit there for another couple of minutes, watching the people, the fish.
Watched a shark swim lazily past overhead, and remembered Akechi talking about their skin, how it wasn't smooth, like it looked, but rough, and how they had multiple rows of teeth, the better to ensure that, if their prey got away, it didn't make it far. Remembered how close he'd been when he'd said that, mindful of a guardian with two kids who had been shooting them dirty looks, and the way his voice had gone low. Threatening.
A warning, perhaps, far too late for Ren to have escaped him.
He got up, walked back through the tunnel and out, turning towards the train station. Caught the line back to Shibuya, and hesitated there, afraid to let his hopes grow. To go, and end up only getting hurt.
Afraid to go, and find who he'd finally convinced himself to stop hoping for.
Well, being a coward had never got him anything worth having, so he scanned his pass at the Inokashira Line platform and got on the train to Kichijoji. Walked past the familiar shops along and surrounding the Sunroad, and climbed the stairs to Penguin Sniper.
"Welcome!" the proprietor called. "What'll it be: billiards or darts?"
Ren hesitated, then pulled out the dart that had been in the envelope. "I actually have something that belongs to you," he offered.
The proprietor smiled and shook his head. "No, sir. That one's yours, to finish the game." And then he turned and motioned to the DARTSLIVE3 machine they had always ended up playing on, when Ren came with any of the Thieves. There was a reserved sign on it, with a game in process, only fifty points left.
Ren needed a bullseye.
"Oh, you asshole," he breathed, because there was only one person he knew who always got bullseyes, and would give Ren shit any time he got anything but. Even though winning the game required one of them hitting something other than a bullseye at least once.
He let himself be waved over to the machine, his entrance fee presumably already paid for, and he stopped in front of the machine, closed his eyes, and took a breath.
This was easier with his own dart set, safely back in the attic, and the use of his third eye, which he'd lost when the metaverse closed in February.
But this was not a challenge he would lose.
He opened his eyes, shifted his stance, drew in another breath, and threw the dart.
Bullseye.
He stood through the celebratory fanfare and, when no further leads appeared on the machine's screen, he turned back to the desk, finding the proprietor holding out another white envelope. "Congratulations, you won the grand prize," he said with a wink.
Ren huffed. "What would I have got if I messed up?"
The proprietor let out a nervous laugh and admitted, "A drink with a napkin with the words 'better luck next year' written on it."
Ren laughed, because that was all the confirmation he needed: Akechi was still an asshole.
And he was alive.
The envelope contained a familiar drink menu.
"Thank you," Ren said.
"Enjoy your White Day," the proprietor said, and winked.
Yes, but was this really meant as a response to Ren's chocolates? And, if so, was this meant as a confession, or an obligation?
Or was this a game, like the one they'd spent a year playing, with Ren cast in the role of the detective, while Akechi played the thief, always one step ahead, leaving just enough of a clue. Was the timing, the constant usage of white, just meant to throw him off?
It fluttered in his chest again, that desperate little hope, and Ren didn't know if he could afford to let it take flight.
Not that anything would stop him from following this to its conclusion, he needed Akechi in his life again, even if it was just as friends, or even rivals. He needed to see him again, alive.
He walked over to Jazz Jin. Hesitated when he realised it was still before opening, the sidewalk sign not out yet.
"Go on in," a voice said from behind him, and Ren twisted to find the owner, poking his head out of the record shop next door. "The door's unlocked."
"Thanks," Ren said, swallowed against something climbing his throat, and headed down the stairs. Finding that, as promised, the door was opened.
He was standing behind the bar, pale hair pulled back into a low ponytail, leaving only a pair of small glasses obscuring his face, wine-red eyes glinting behind the lenses, over a smirk, softer, somehow, but still familiar. He was wearing a white shirt, and white gloves, and Ren would bet white trousers, hidden behind the cover of the bar. "Welcome," he said, voice low and warm, "to Jazz Jin."
There were a dozen things Ren wanted to say to him, questions he wanted to ask, threats about what he would do if Akechi vanished on him again.
What he ended up saying, was, "You missed a couple of dates."
Akechi looked honestly taken aback for a moment, before he threw his head back and laughed, loud and a little too wild, a reminder of January, of how he'd stopped caring about the façade he'd worn so long, as the Detective Prince.
When he smiled at Ren, it was warm, fond, lacking the fake edge from before the twentieth of November, or the sarcastic edge of January. "I felt those would be better saved for a time when we could go together," he said.
The thing in Ren's chest beat its wings against the inside of his ribcage, thundered in his ears.
"Can I kiss you?" he asked. Had to know, to set aside their games and tricks, just for a moment.
Akechi stepped out from behind the bar, still smiling, and said, "Yes."
WIP WEDS: On Summer Eves By Haunted Stream ~ Persona 5 ~ Last Ace in a Lost Hand series
Right, it's Wednesday.
Another scene from chapter one of the sequel to my P5 NG+ series. I'd actually thought to maybe share it last time, but it was...significantly longer than a Sunday Six post. So.
"I am meeting with my team, and I don't trust you," Ren said flatly, choosing honesty, because he genuinely didn't mind Minagawa, or even the other two Yakuza Nakai had been setting as his tails, and he didn't want to sour their relationship by threatening them.
Minagawa's whole face went hard. "You wanna talk trust Amamiya? We have been playin’ this by your rules this entire time."
"My rules?" Ren asked, raising his eyebrows. "No. We are, all of us, working within the constraints of Shido's rules. We've found a nice little middle-ground; where you get to send legitimate reports to Shido, and I get to plan what I do and don't show you. You're actually getting the better side of the deal, getting to spend your nights inside, instead of squatting in the grass, and all three of you have got at least one free meal out of this arrangement. Meanwhile, I've got someone I don't trust in the house with my younger sister when she's sleeping."
Minagawa grimaced. "I'm not gonna do anythin' to her," he muttered, but Ren suspected that the point had been made.
Anyway, I have apparently caught a cold, and I've been fighting not to doze off all day while working, so I'm going to turn in early, I think.
SUN SIX: On Summer Eves By Haunted Stream ~ Persona 5 ~ Last Ace in a Lost Hand series ~ Joker/Akechi
Lol, it's almost Monday, here, and this is actually 7 sentences, but we're ignoring all that.
This is from the first chapter of the sequel fic in my NG+ series. I was actually going to use a longer scene from earlier on, but tomorrow is 2/2, so I wanted some shippy, and then I remembered some comments on the first fic about Ren's level of scary to outsiders, so this was what got picked. (I'll save the other one for Weds, maybe, lol, you're already getting this fic very out of order.)
Goro caught a finger under Ren's chin and gently forced him to look up until they could catch gazes, something dark and hungry burning in his eyes that sent a delicious shiver down Ren's spine. "Why are you embarrassed?" he murmured. "You're dangerous, and they should be showing you respect."
"You just want them to be scared of me," Ren muttered.
"If Nakai isn't terrified of you, he's a fool," Goro said flatly. "As far as he should be aware, we have the same abilities. I am not allowed to kill him, but you are staying your hand because his death would not, necessarily, be convenient."
FIC: Whether It Be Dream or Truth (To Do Well is What Matters) ~ Persona 5 Royal ~ Akeshu & Sumitaba ~ Mature ~ Chap 46/46 ~ COMPLETE
Title: Whether It Be Dream or Truth (To Do Well is What Matters)
Series: The Last Ace in a Lost Hand
Fandom: Persona 5 Royal
Author: Batsutousai
Chapters: 46 of 46 -COMPLETE
Rating: Mature
Pairings: Joker/Akechi Goro, Futaba Sakura/Sumire Yoshizawa
Warnings: AU - New Game+, time travel, temporary major character death, character death (minor and OC), child abuse, implied/mentioned torture, implied/mentioned non-consensual research, PTSD, canon-typical violence, canon-typical subject matter (including mentions of rape and suicide), murder, grief, recovery, a lot of hurt, but also a lot of comfort, everyone needs a hug, everyone gets hugs, bisexual!Joker, queer!Thieves, Trans!Akechi, everyone needs therapy, abandonment issues, self-worth issues, homophobia, best Coffee Dad!Sojiro, protective adults, sometimes people do the wrong thing even if they mean well
Summary: The Thieves had thought that bringing Shido down would be the end of things, that Ren's stint in juvie would be the last any of them would need to do for bringing his conspiracy to their knees.
They were wrong.
When given the chance to go back in time and do that year over again, they grab for it, because that's the only way any of them will have a life again.
"Kinda funny, isn't it?" she murmured. "I spent months unable to leave my room, could barely stand to interact with Sojiro, and now I'm... I don't know. Itchy. Being in the house alone."
Ren considered that for a moment as he straightened his collar, then said, "The only enemy you had before was yourself, and you had to keep her contained. Now, our enemies, they're bigger, and infinitely more dangerous." He offered her a smile, small and grim, got one in return. "Isolation is their strength; together, we're stronger."
She glanced down at her toes, wiggled them. "Together, huh..." she murmured.
"Futaba?"
"I've been thinking," she admitted, peeking up at him, through her hair, "that it's kinda...icky, that Sumi's all by herself on the top floor. Especially right now, with Maruki running around."
Ren tilted his head, considering her. "You want to see if they'll accept you mid-year?" he guessed, and she nodded. "They should. I can check with Makoto, see what she knows about it."
"Okay. But...don't tell Sumi? Not yet!" Futaba added, when Ren snorted.
"Oh, I am the last one to be throwing stones about hiding things from your significant other," he admitted, and she snorted herself. "Sure. You talked to Sojiro about it, yet?"
"No?"
Ren huffed and patted her head, which she sort of nudged up into. "Please talk to your dad," he said. "He's gonna be the one putting through the request."
"Yeah, yeah."
"And do not hack the school registry and rearrange classes just so you can spend all day with your girlfriend!"
"Make me," Futaba shot back, and then let out a loud, villain cackle and dove off his bed, retreating to her own room.
Read the whole of this chapter on AO3!
Direct Link to the series page on AO3
Direct link to the first chapter of this fic
FIC: Whether It Be Dream or Truth (To Do Well is What Matters) ~ Persona 5 Royal ~ Akeshu & Sumitaba ~ Mature ~ Chap 45/46
Title: Whether It Be Dream or Truth (To Do Well is What Matters)
Series: The Last Ace in a Lost Hand
Fandom: Persona 5 Royal
Author: Batsutousai
Chapters: 45 of 46
Rating: Mature
Pairings: Joker/Akechi Goro, Futaba Sakura/Sumire Yoshizawa
Warnings: AU - New Game+, time travel, temporary major character death, character death (minor and OC), child abuse, implied/mentioned torture, implied/mentioned non-consensual research, PTSD, canon-typical violence, canon-typical subject matter (including mentions of rape and suicide), murder, grief, recovery, a lot of hurt, but also a lot of comfort, everyone needs a hug, everyone gets hugs, bisexual!Joker, queer!Thieves, Trans!Akechi, everyone needs therapy, abandonment issues, self-worth issues, homophobia, best Coffee Dad!Sojiro, protective adults, sometimes people do the wrong thing even if they mean well
Summary: The Thieves had thought that bringing Shido down would be the end of things, that Ren's stint in juvie would be the last any of them would need to do for bringing his conspiracy to their knees.
They were wrong.
When given the chance to go back in time and do that year over again, they grab for it, because that's the only way any of them will have a life again.
Futaba sent in chat, 'crow minus 1 asshole point'
'That's worth more than 1,' Sumire said.
'crow minus 1.2 asshole points,' Futaba sent.
'How many asshole points does he have right now?' Ryuji asked.
'5000,' Makoto sent.
'Damn Niijima tell us how you really feel about murder boyfriend,' Shiho sent.
'i was thinking like 200 but yeah okay,' Futaba sent.
'5000 it is'
'Stop dumping Shido's points onto Crow's plate it's mean,' Ren sent.
'FINE,' Futaba sent.
'What makes you say Crow doesn't deserve 5000 asshole points?' Makoto demanded.
'He gives me little kisses,' Ren replied.
In front of him, Ann choked and dropped her face into her arms on top of her desk, very clearly trying to muffle her laughter.
'Oh my gods,' Makoto said.
'I honestly don't know what I expected'
'Joker broke Queen because of kissing,' Ryuji sent.
'Did not have that one on my time travel bingo card'
FIC: Whether It Be Dream or Truth (To Do Well is What Matters) ~ Persona 5 Royal ~ Akeshu & Sumitaba ~ Mature ~ Chap 44/46
Title: Whether It Be Dream or Truth (To Do Well is What Matters)
Series: The Last Ace in a Lost Hand
Fandom: Persona 5 Royal
Author: Batsutousai
Chapters: 44 of 46
Rating: Mature
Pairings: Joker/Akechi Goro, Futaba Sakura/Sumire Yoshizawa
Warnings: AU - New Game+, time travel, temporary major character death, character death (minor and OC), child abuse, implied/mentioned torture, implied/mentioned non-consensual research, PTSD, canon-typical violence, canon-typical subject matter (including mentions of rape and suicide), murder, grief, recovery, a lot of hurt, but also a lot of comfort, everyone needs a hug, everyone gets hugs, bisexual!Joker, queer!Thieves, Trans!Akechi, everyone needs therapy, abandonment issues, self-worth issues, homophobia, best Coffee Dad!Sojiro, protective adults, sometimes people do the wrong thing even if they mean well
Summary: The Thieves had thought that bringing Shido down would be the end of things, that Ren's stint in juvie would be the last any of them would need to do for bringing his conspiracy to their knees.
They were wrong.
When given the chance to go back in time and do that year over again, they grab for it, because that's the only way any of them will have a life again.
"Wednesday, then," Akechi decided, "with a rain check for Thursday, should something come up requiring a reschedule."
"Fine," Morgana agreed, while Ren dropped a quick message in chat, so everyone knew the plan. "Ren doesn't need me for his exams, anyway."
Akechi turned on Ren. "Tell me you do not use the cat to cheat on your exams."
Futaba cackled.
Ren sighed. "He sits inside my desk; he can't see the exam paper. Mostly he just critiques how well I'm doing based on the speed of my writing. And naps."
"And offer positive affirmations!" Morgana added cheerfully.
Ren cleared his throat, then said, "Ooo, you can do this!" in a nearly pitch-perfect match for Morgana's favourite encouragement.
Futaba flopped face-first onto the couch, laughing a bit breathlessly.
"I do not sound like that!" Morgana complained.
"Strangely, I don't believe you," Akechi deadpanned, before turning to Ren as Morgana hunched down, letting out quiet offended noises.
FIC: Whether It Be Dream or Truth (To Do Well is What Matters) ~ Persona 5 Royal ~ Akeshu & Sumitaba ~ Mature ~ Chap 43/46
Title: Whether It Be Dream or Truth (To Do Well is What Matters)
Series: The Last Ace in a Lost Hand
Fandom: Persona 5 Royal
Author: Batsutousai
Chapters: 43 of 46
Rating: Mature
Pairings: Joker/Akechi Goro, Futaba Sakura/Sumire Yoshizawa
Warnings: AU - New Game+, time travel, temporary major character death, character death (minor and OC), child abuse, implied/mentioned torture, implied/mentioned non-consensual research, PTSD, canon-typical violence, canon-typical subject matter (including mentions of rape and suicide), murder, grief, recovery, a lot of hurt, but also a lot of comfort, everyone needs a hug, everyone gets hugs, bisexual!Joker, queer!Thieves, Trans!Akechi, everyone needs therapy, abandonment issues, self-worth issues, homophobia, best Coffee Dad!Sojiro, protective adults, sometimes people do the wrong thing even if they mean well
Summary: The Thieves had thought that bringing Shido down would be the end of things, that Ren's stint in juvie would be the last any of them would need to do for bringing his conspiracy to their knees.
They were wrong.
When given the chance to go back in time and do that year over again, they grab for it, because that's the only way any of them will have a life again.
"You seem to enjoy painting dichotomies," Haru commented.
Yusuke hummed and tapped a finger on the cover of his sketchbook. "As Madarame's apprentice, I often found my pieces infused with anger or pain. I...did not enjoy them, but they were, I have since come to see, my only real outlet against the reality of my situation. In my freedom from him, I discovered myself still attempting to paint those same pieces, but they lacked the full force of my suffering, because I was, in truth, no longer suffering."
"Hence," Ren murmured, "Desire and Hope."
Yusuke smiled at him. "Yes, the piece wherein I, at last, found myself again. Not in the desire I had observed in the landscape of Mementos, but in that dichotomy of Mementos' pain and the warmth which I had discovered in traversing it with you. With all of you," he added, nodding to Haru, who smiled in response and inclined her head. "In the following year, I found myself, again and again, painting a piece and finding it to feel incomplete until the addition of it's opposition. Just as Joker's piece had come to me, first, as his defeat, born of the nightmares we all, I believe, suffered—" Ren and Haru both nodded, Ren grimacing, while Haru's mouth went flat and thin "—but it had not felt true, for Joker has always been, to me, a beacon of strength. As such, it was in dichotomy that the piece found completion."
"Yes," Haru murmured, leaning against Ren's shoulder. "It was...haunting, I think, but there was something about it, the play of light on the other half, it softened the grief."
"Honestly," Ren said, "I mostly just found it creepy."
Haru snorted, while Yusuke said, "That is because you focus too much on that which you have deemed a weakness, and not enough on that which the rest of us see as your strength."
Ren winced, because he wasn't wrong, necessarily, but Ren wasn't certain that was the way he wanted to be told he needed to grant himself more grace. "Thanks, Yusuke."
FIC: Whether It Be Dream or Truth (To Do Well is What Matters) ~ Persona 5 Royal ~ Akeshu & Sumitaba ~ Mature ~ Chap 42/46
Title: Whether It Be Dream or Truth (To Do Well is What Matters)
Series: The Last Ace in a Lost Hand
Fandom: Persona 5 Royal
Author: Batsutousai
Chapters: 42 of 46
Rating: Mature
Pairings: Joker/Akechi Goro, Futaba Sakura/Sumire Yoshizawa
Warnings: AU - New Game+, time travel, temporary major character death, character death (minor and OC), child abuse, implied/mentioned torture, implied/mentioned non-consensual research, PTSD, canon-typical violence, canon-typical subject matter (including mentions of rape and suicide), murder, grief, recovery, a lot of hurt, but also a lot of comfort, everyone needs a hug, everyone gets hugs, bisexual!Joker, queer!Thieves, Trans!Akechi, everyone needs therapy, abandonment issues, self-worth issues, homophobia, best Coffee Dad!Sojiro, protective adults, sometimes people do the wrong thing even if they mean well
Summary: The Thieves had thought that bringing Shido down would be the end of things, that Ren's stint in juvie would be the last any of them would need to do for bringing his conspiracy to their knees.
They were wrong.
When given the chance to go back in time and do that year over again, they grab for it, because that's the only way any of them will have a life again.
"Maybe if she adds, like, an SOS button?" Ann said. "Some way to say, 'I am actively in real danger and need my mobile back on'?"
"That...might make it a little less dangerous," Makoto agreed.
"If she's adding an SOS button to brick mode, can something like that be added to normal mode?" Ryuji asked. "Because we didn't know what happened to Ren. We had no idea you'd got kidnapped."
Makoto, Ann, and Sumire all looked down, looking vaguely ashamed. Like, just maybe, they'd all tried to reason his vanishing away as something more innocent.
"Not sure I would've had time for an SOS," Ren admitted. "They grabbed me while I was waiting for a connection, got my mobile away from me first thing. Morgana put up most of the fight."
And, after they'd killed him, Ren hadn't had much fight left.
Ryuji frowned. "I think...they went after my mobile first, too," he murmured.
"Same," Ann said, nodding.
"Mako-chan and I were incapacitated," Haru said.
"Because they knew our mobiles had some sort of connection to the metaverse," Makoto said, her eyes lighting up. "Get them away from us, we have no way to escape or fight back!"
"Joke's on them; metaverse was already inaccessible," Ryuji muttered.
"Was it, though?" Makoto asked. "It's all based on cognition, right? If we had needed the safety of it badly enough, it could have opened back up for us."
Ren swallowed, wasn't certain how to feel about that. That, if he'd fought just a little harder, had been just a little more desperate, or scared, or something, maybe he could have made it back to the metaverse. Maybe he could have saved Morgana.
Maybe he could have saved Akechi.
SIDE STORY: (The Treason Past) The Traitor is No Longer Needed ~ Persona 5 Royal ~ Mature
Title: (The Treason Past) The Traitor is No Longer Needed
Series: The Last Ace in a Lost Hand
Fandom: Persona 5 Royal
Author: Batsutousai
Rating: Mature
Warnings: AU - New Game+, mentioned murder, hit people, Yakuza, mentioned child abuse, canon-typical subject matter, protective adults, background relationships
Summary: Side-story to Whether it Be Dream or Truth (To Do Well Is What Matters)
If Amamiya and his friend won't explain what sort of shit they're in, that's fine, Munehisa understands. He'll just have to go to his other sources.
When he got into his shop Saturday morning, he found Nakai waiting for him in his usual seat, jacket off to reveal a chest holster with a very real Glock 19, and feet up on the counter, relaxed in a way that could honestly mean anything. "Mune," he said in greeting.
"Masami," Munehisa returned in kind, choosing to take it as a good sign that they were on given name terms. Too, he didn't see anyone else in his shop—a quick glance outside let him spot a well-dressed man stepping into view across the alley, and Munehisa would bet his entire stock that there was at least one other guard in the vicinity—and Nakai wasn't pointing any weapons at him, even if he was making it clear he was carrying.
"Can't say you're the last person I expected to hear from," Nakai commented, "but you're not far down the list."
Straight to the point, then. "Heard you got yourself an apprentice." Because that seemed a good place to start, especially given that Nakai had once sworn he wouldn't be passing on his skills, that any replacements should have the balls to off him without trying any kissing up. Which, given he hadn't had any sort of mentor, so far as Munehisa knew, and the rumours had painted him the murderer of the best Yakuza hitman in the special wards before him, tracked.
Nakai frowned. "No." He dropped his feet to the floor and sat up. "Who told you that?"
Munehisa paused, realising that, no, the detective had never actually said he was Nakai's apprentice. He'd just come to that conclusion, based on the bits he'd overheard out in the alley, and what the kid had implied in knowing Nakai. "Might've misunderstood," he admitted. "That detective kid mentioned he knew you."
"Detective kid?" Nakai murmured, before he went tense and shot Munehisa a sharp look. "Akechi?"
Was that that kid's name? It was ringing a bell, certainly better than what must have been his given name, that Amamiya had kept using. "Yeah. Light hair, little messy?" He motioned with his hand to indicate the length of the kid's hair.
Nakai didn't lose any of his tenseness. "Mune, do yourself and your kid a favour, and stay away from Akechi."
WIP WEDS: On Summer Eves By Haunted Stream ~ Persona 5 ~ Last Ace in a Lost Hand series ~ Joker/Akechi
Made a comment on bluesky the other day that I should maybe get back into the habit of sharing snippets from Whether it Be Dream or Truth's sequel, especially since that fic is nearing completion, and the sequel is...not. (In my defence, there were holidays, holiday cards, my computer dying, and work getting in the way of writing time.)
It's Wednesday somewhere, so we're counting this one.
Featuring unapologetic Akeshu, trans!Akechi, and (previously) admitted-voyeur!Haru.
"You can do your disrespectful looking elsewhere," Goro said, dropping the folder onto the table and stalking around it to grab Ren's hips and tug him back against him. "This ass belongs to me."
Oh. Oh, that was the silicone packer. "Disrespectfully totally yours," Ren somehow got out, attention very much focussed on the solid shape pressing between his ass cheeks. "Haru, you might, uh, need to go downstairs."
And then Goro pulled back, very firmly turned Ren so they were facing, and tugged his hips forward, grinding them together. And that was.
Uhm.
Ren would like to do significantly more of that. Actually.
And also kissing. Because Goro's perfectly kissable smirk was right there.
Goro leant in, past his mouth—why?!—and breathed, "Get dressed," against his ear, then stepped back, dodging Ren's attempt to grab him and pull him back in.
He was aware, somewhat distantly, of Haru giggling.
Ren breathed in, swallowed, licked his lips, and then told his boyfriend, "You're kind of an asshole. By the way."
Goro hummed, looking smug in that horribly attractive way he had. "You like when I'm an asshole."
Ren regretted to inform the universe that that was…unfortunately true. Fuck.
This snippet is from chapter 19, because I just wrote it and it's making me stupid-cackle to myself. Uh, we will attempt to have future snippets be a little closer to the start of this monstrosity, take two. (You think I'm kidding, but chapter 19 is when we finally reach the one week in-fic point. I am crying. I am suffering. This fic is going to be just as long.)
Anyway.
Feel free to enjoy the first fic by clicking this link to read it on AO3. (You will need to be logged in to read. If you need a code, I have plenty.)
FIC: Whether It Be Dream or Truth (To Do Well is What Matters) ~ Persona 5 Royal ~ Akeshu & Sumitaba ~ Mature ~ Chap 41/46
Title: Whether It Be Dream or Truth (To Do Well is What Matters)
Series: The Last Ace in a Lost Hand
Fandom: Persona 5 Royal
Author: Batsutousai
Chapters: 41 of 46
Rating: Mature
Pairings: Joker/Akechi Goro, Futaba Sakura/Sumire Yoshizawa
Warnings: AU - New Game+, time travel, temporary major character death, character death (minor and OC), child abuse, implied/mentioned torture, implied/mentioned non-consensual research, PTSD, canon-typical violence, canon-typical subject matter (including mentions of rape and suicide), murder, grief, recovery, a lot of hurt, but also a lot of comfort, everyone needs a hug, everyone gets hugs, bisexual!Joker, queer!Thieves, Trans!Akechi, everyone needs therapy, abandonment issues, self-worth issues, homophobia, best Coffee Dad!Sojiro, protective adults, sometimes people do the wrong thing even if they mean well
Summary: The Thieves had thought that bringing Shido down would be the end of things, that Ren's stint in juvie would be the last any of them would need to do for bringing his conspiracy to their knees.
They were wrong.
When given the chance to go back in time and do that year over again, they grab for it, because that's the only way any of them will have a life again.
'Fine,' Akechi sent.
'This is one of those instances a change of heart may prove the best course'
Futaba sent a shocked kamoji.
'For the *victim's* sake not because her parents deserve to have their priorities changed for them,' Akechi shot back.
'i don't like kana-chan staying with them even with their hearts changed,' Futaba said.
'we don't know long-term: what if they decide it's okay when she turns 16 17 18?'
'what if they have money trouble again and manage to convince kana-chan that she has to do it again because it's her family duty?'
'what if they don't go back to being gross but they let other family even MORE gross alone with her'
' Futaba,' Ren interrupted.
'Deep breath.' Because she was spiralling.
'We could just kill off her entire family,' Akechi suggested.
Futaba, notably, was quiet.
'Think about it,' Akechi said, like the Western-style cartoon devil on her shoulder.
