Finished writing my first pegoban fic. A drabble anyway. You can check it out on ao3: here. Crossposting it here.
Summary: A drabble pegoban series. Was it a secret admirer? Or a prank? While everyone but his friends liked him in Shujin, whether it was a prank or some secret admirer, he welcomed it.
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"You're Ren Amamiya?"
A gentle, honeyed voice rang.
Ren couldn't help but look as no one had ever spoken to him like that.
Everyone in Shujin saw him like some leper. Exaggerated rumors had spread wide. Ranging from saying how he had a long list of crimes: alcohol, smoking or theft. Some had even mentioned he carried some firearms with him and was scary enough to have almost killed someone. No one would dare to look at him. Eyes tends to avoid his. If you dared to look into his eyes, you're the next guy to disappear. And so on and so forth.
He only knew a handful of people in Shujin that differed.
There was Ryuji's excitable voice, Morgana's childish yet proud tone and Ann's fiery and determined voice.
What greeted him stupefied him in ways like no other.
"For you." What looked to be a senpai Ren thinks. Silver eyes and silver hair. His eyes revealed nothing as he handed him a bag of pastries.
"Uh..." Though his eyes were hidden by his glasses he blinked behind them unsure what to make of the gesture.
Plus he was studying at the library.
"Here. They're delicious." The senpai says then lays the mentioned gift on his opened notebook.
The silver-haired guy smiles, looking pleased with himself and turns back to leave the library.
Ren turns back to look back at the bag of mixed cookies, biscuits and chocolates.
He didn't know if it was a prank or someone passed it to the guy to hand it to Ren.
Ren knew no girl in Shujin would give him one. A prank or some secret admirer thing.
So later at night, after dinner, when he opened his bag to do some reading, there it was. The bag of sweets were there.
"Woooah. Where did you get those? Do you have some secret admirer or is it lady Ann?"
Oh yeah. He was living with a cat now.
Ren ignored the cat and opened the pastries. They looked mouth watering. The sweets were a mix of detailed cat faces and paw shaped sweets in a detailed manner. Cats with eyes as a chocolate chip, whiskers made of white chocolate he thinks. Paws with pink colored chocolate. They were very elaborate.
They looked so good that he put one in his mouth before thinking that they could be some prank.
No regrets.
They were delicious like no other.
First sweets in Tokyo. It made him feel that if this was a prank in Shujin or joke by some student, it was a really nice.
He ignored Morgana's secretly asking face. He was a proud not cat thing.
He savored every last bite.
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It was one horrible, nasty day. A suicide attempt, an expulsion threat.
He had a letter.
Elegant writing that only had one sentence.
I'm cheering for you, so don't give up.
It wasn't signed.
The writing was definitely handwritten.
Somehow, it made him feel better.
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The gestures continued.
"Ummm. Amamiya-san?"
It was lunch and he was supposed to head to the cafeteria to try to catch a bread before heading up to meet-up with his friends.
Ren gave a silent hum, his way of saying yes. He hoped the girl made her talk fast.
"Someone passed this on for you." And there it was. A bentou? With a note.
Another one? And a bentou?
So when he headed to the rooftop, he put the note beside him as he opened the bentou.
Ann and Ruji both gasped with surprise and maybe hunger.
"Woooah! Dude! You cook?"
"They look so delicious Ren!"
"No. I've never cooked."
Seeing their confused faces, Ren took the note and read it.
That had more than one sentence this time.
To cheer you up.
And instructions to leave the bentou with the lunch lady?
"Maybe Ren has some secret admirer?" Ann guessed.
"Do you think it's some prank?" Ryuji asked but eyes still looking at the delicious looking bentou.
"Only one way to find out." Was all he said before taking a bite.
And another.
"Well?"
And another.
"Is it really safe to eat that? Like what if you hurt your stomach later or you vomit or something?"
Ren just continued to eat.
Morgana just looked with an exasperated face as if expecting it. Ryuji and Ann just looking in curiosity.
After eating awhile, Ren stopped and looked at his friends.
"It's delicious. Hmmm. And if my stomach hurts later, I think it's worth it."
"Maybe he has some weirdo of a secret admirer." Morgana pipes up.
"Or maybe Ren-Ren's lucky? Dude, look at this writing." Ryuji waves it to Ann.
"That's some elegant writing. Maybe you do have some secret admirer!?" Ann starts off with excitement tingling in her voice. "Like maybe, she's just scared to come out because of the rumors?"
"That would be sort of too good to be true with the bad rumors around us don't you think?" Ryuji pointed out.
"Yeah. That's possible but it could be the other way too you know! Look! The note's isn't one of those cutesy letters. This is also sort of mysterious. Just one line. It's not signed. Not even anonymous. If the change of heart we did with Kamoshida works, maybe she would confess?" Ann says with happiness.
"No way she would confess. I say this is a prank."
"I think Ren has a secret admirer." Ann argued back, bending with ger hands on her waist.
"It could be a stalker?" Morgana asks.
"No way!" Ann says passionately, already lost in her thoughts of it being a secret admirer.
"You guys want some? It is delicious." Ren offered.
The two boys offered similar no's. Ann disagreed for a different reason, along the lines of the food for him and she should not eat them.
"If the change of heart works, and if that girl continues to give Ren gifts and confess. I'll believe it." Ryuji said.
"How about a bet? This girl is a secret admirer. Oh and if you lose, treat me to this new crepe shop." Ann says in response, glee all over her tone.
"It's a prank. Do my english homework for 2 weeks if you lose."
"This is so weird. And really not how phantom thieves should act. Ren, aren't you going to say anything?" Morgana asks the subject of the fiasco.
"They're delicious? Maybe I'll write a response."
And that gave Ann more excitement for a bet.
He got dubious looks when he later peeled a page out of his notebook and writes a simple "Thank you. They did." Attached to the bentou.
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Ann smirked over to Ryuji after Kamoshida's confession.
Ren reported receiving a book with another note.
"I always believed you were innocent. A gift for the truth of who you reminded me of."
It was a hard earned victory. People apologized.. For Ren, the note rivaled their victory and any apologies provided.
If this was a true to god honest admirer, then Ren wouldn't mind knowing seeing more of it.
I had a dream that I may use as a fic idea some day. PegoBan, but Souji is a girl (henceforth called Somi because it means "beautiful," I think?) and she and Akira are high school sweethearts with no friends and shitty parents that hold them to shitty expectations. So they pack their bags and hop the last train out of the city, heading to Inaba in hopes of starting a new life.
That's where the dream ended, but what if...???
So they ditch their old phones and change their names and Somi cuts her hair and they get jobs in the shopping district and have a tiny, TINY little apartment above Skiroku Shop or something, and it all takes some getting used to but they're happy together and they make it work, even though Somi works double shifts at Junes while Akira works at Aiya's and also the bookstore.
But then Akira gets arrested. Doujima, who is a better father in this AU and hasn't yet figured out Somi is his niece (she didn't know he was there either, oops), is on Akira's side because those charges are some bullshit. He's the one that calls Sojiro and asks him to take Akira in. Later, Dojima takes in Somi because she can't quite make rent anymore and everyone is hesitant to cut the girl dating a "criminal" much of a break.
Everyone's Persona journeys happen pretty much the same after that, and because Somi and Akira facetime CONSTANTLY, they're both fully up to date on each other's stuff. Yosuke is still Somi's best friend, and she comforts him after Saki's death and in return he comforts her after Akira's arrest. (He 100% has a crush, but he's kinda friends with Akira, too, and even helped Akira pick out a promise ring or something for Somi idk, and he's never gonna act on it. To both Akira and Somi's polyamorous frustration.)
Sometimes when he's in Mementos, Akira can feel the Fool bond vibrating, and he knows it means Somi is in the TV world and they can both kind of reach out to one another through that bond. When a fight goes ary and Akira is in legit danger, a Persona he didn't summon appears and shields him, and he knows, he KNOWS it's Somi trying to protect him because she watches the news RELIGIOUSLY now, for more than just Midnight Channel stuff. At first it's a beautiful woman bathed in gold light, with golden armor and a glittering crown, a massive two-handed sword held high.
("I am Guinevere. Villainize me, but I choose the truth of my heart before my duty to the world.")
Later, after Akira's phone is bugged he stops messaging Somi about persona and PT stuff because he doesn't want her targeted, and it's only after he fakes his death that he can tell her why, but Somi has a breakdown in the meantime because she thinks the love of her life, her fiance, her SOULMATE is dead. She forgives him, of course, because she understands completely after he tells her but she's also an emotional wreck right now and Nanako is missing so she doesn't talk to Akira for a little while after that.
Akira thinks she's pissed enough to leave him, but during the final battle, that golden, queenly persona reappears to protect him, only this time she's clothed in bright silver armor, with shining wings, holding a sword in one hand and a shield in the other.
("I am Jean D'arc! I will fight and live and die for what I love and know is just!")
And they win.
The IT wins and the PT win and Akira does his stint in juvie and at the end of it all, the rest of the Thieves drive him back to Inaba, where Somi is waiting, and the two of them RUN at each other because it's been a YEAR, and she's still wearing that crappy little ring because of COURSE she was still gonna wait for him, what the hell, Akira?
But maybe Inaba (other than the IT and the Dojimas, because you KNOW Nanako calls Akira "Aki-nii") still doesn't like Akira much, and he DOES kind of have a job offer and a mostly free place to live at Le'Blanc, so maybe Somi does wind up leaving Inaba like in game canon, but it's less bittersweet this time. They go back and live above the cafe, and Somi can hear Morgana talk, who flirts with her just like he does with Ann (Akira is going to put the fear of god into his cat if Mona doesn't stop, so help him.) Yosuke comes to visit them some times and WHOOPS POLYAMORY, because Akira and Somi are also dating like, half the PTs now, get in here, Hanamura.
(And also Haru pays for the Seta-Kurusu wedding and no one can stop her.)
