An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Persona 4, Persona 5
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Dojima Ryotaro & Rumi, Maruki Takuto/Rumi, Dojima Ryotaro/Maruki Takuto
Characters: Dojima Ryotaro, Rumi (Persona Series), Maruki Takuto
Additional Tags: Mindless Fluff, Light-Hearted, Everything is Beautiful and Nothing Hurts, Gardens & Gardening, Mud, Play Fighting, Polyamorous Vee, Polyamory, metamours, Age Difference Between Adults, Post-Canon
Summary:
Although Rumi and Ryotaro both love Takuto and have agreed to share him, they don’t really understand what he sees in the other partner. To Rumi, Ryotaro is scruffy, boring, and too jaded for someone like Takuto. To Ryotaro, Rumi is immature, impulsive, and too childish for someone like Takuto. But they make it work, because it’s not like they’re dating each other anyway.
Thankfully, their unflattering opinions on each other finally change when Takuto invites Rumi to visit Inaba with him, and she and Ryotaro spend some time together on their own. Turns out, neither of them is all that bad.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Persona 4, Persona 5
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Dojima Ryotaro/Maruki Takuto
Characters: Dojima Ryotaro, Maruki Takuto
Additional Tags: Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, Disagreements, Psychological Trauma, Pillow Talk, Cuddling & Snuggling, Sharing a Bed, Literal Sleeping Together, Rare Pairings, Post-Canon, Comfortember 2021, Darkness
Summary:
Ryotaro and his partner sleep in the same room for the first time... but, as it turns out, Takuto can’t sleep without his obnoxiously bright night light on, apparently. Oh, joy.
dojiruki vampire/researcher au?????????????? 👀👀👀👀👀👀 (i'm already weak for vampire aus............. but with this ship???????? OvO) i would like to know more................
HONESTLY IT IS A CRIME THAT I'VE NEVER DONE ANYTHING FOR THIS AU CAUSE IT'S IS SO DEAR TO ME <3
Under the cut cause this got unexpectedly long oh lord
Okay, okay, so it's not an AU as much as it's a mess of vaguely related ideas I've been trying to organize into something coherent for over a year BUT it’s a slice-of-life-y slow burn and basically the gist of it is that Takuto is a supernatural researcher who gets captured by Dojima for blood.
Dojima has no interest in humans and avoids them whenever he can, but he needs to feed Nanako somehow, and Takuto is the perfect target because Dojima doesn't like supernatural researchers very much. He says that their research makes monster hunters' jobs easier, thus putting Nanako in danger. Takuto begs and cries for his life, insisting that he isn't affiliated with monster hunters, but Dojima doesn't listen, until both of their screams wake up Nanako, who walks in on them and instantly becomes fascinated by Takuto, because she was born a vampire and barely gets to see any humans due to Dojima's rules about staying away from them except for feeding purposes.
So, Nanako looks at Takuto and goes, "Whoa, a real human! :O :O Aww, he's cute! :D But he looks so scared... :(( Can we keep him? :3" and Takuto is like "GOD YES yes yes I'm very cute and very scared please let me go - wait WHAT?!"
Fortunately, Dojima is like "uh. no. that's a whole ass human right there. I'll get you a wolf or something instead." But Nanako keeps saying that she wants the human because they can talk and do tricks, so, eventually, he manages to strike a deal by telling her that they can't keep a human as a pet, but he'll spare Takuto's life and release him into the wild.
And so, Takuto gets kicked out and Dojima warns him to never come back again because he won't be so merciful next time.
Of course, Takuto does what any sane, rational person would do in that situation. He writes about his encounter in his diary and then goes back to the Dojimas! :D
For some reason, he has decided that Dojima's place is a prime spot for some field research, and that, if he gets captured again, he can just exploit Dojima’s soft spot for Nanako to save himself. He tries to sneak in as silently as possible, but, because vampires have amazing senses, of course he gets caught, first by Nanako (who doesn't tell on him, of course) and then by Dojima, who, despite his threats, has no option but to kick him out again, because Nanako is watching. However, Takuto is very persistent, and the same happens a couple more times (I'm assuming he only sneaks in at night, at a time when it's guaranteed that Nanako will be around), until he realizes that sneaking in isn't working for him, so he begins trying a more aggressive approach, with more traditional methods to ward off vampires, like garlic. His attempts fail, though, and Dojima calls him a joke of a researcher ("If you had told me you were a fraud, I would've let you go a lot sooner"), which only makes him want to set his research right even more.
Anyways, Takuto's repeated attempts wear Dojima off to the point where he reluctantly accepts that this lowkey masochistic human coming over every other day is just a thing that happens now, I guess. Don't get me wrong, he's still tough on Takuto, scolds him for the tiniest things, and doesn't like that he's a researcher, but at least he doesn't want to suck his blood anymore because he does have a personal policy about only feeding off bad people, and, now that he has seen more of Takuto being a dumbass who can't defend himself, he feels hesitant to try to kidnap him again. Like... what harm can he even do? He’s a dork and a weakling. Besides, there’s also the fact that Dojima hasn’t seen Nanako so happy in a while... (she's. very lonely ;-;) And, the more Takuto keeping coming back, the more he bonds with Nanako (especially when Dojima is away), which means that, if Dojima were to hurt him now, it would just break Nanako’s heart even more...
Eventually, as he reluctantly gets more and more used to Takuto's presence, he just begins letting him in, much to Nanako's excitement. He’s tired of going through all of the song and dance of having to play hide and seek with him and threaten him with murder, so he might as well just leave him alone. Besides, if Takuto ever steps out of line, Dojima can still take him pretty easily. And, on the other hand, he is kinda curious as to why Takuto keeps coming back, or, rather, why is this research so important to him that he's willing to put his life on the line like this for it.
Okay, so at this point Takuto is really close to becoming part of the family. He starts joining the Dojimas for dinner, observing their behavior from up close, asking questions, and making notes, helps them with chores, keeps them company, and begins earning their trust until he practically finds himself babysitting Nanako whenever Dojima is away.
So, Takuto and Nanako develop a symbiotic relationship where Takuto answers Nanako's questions about humans and, in turn, she answers his questions about vampires (which Dojima is reluctant to answer). She's still young and isolated from supernatural creatures other than her dad, so she only knows so much, but, of course, as a primary source, her input is still infinitely valuable to Takuto. As for Nanako, she's fascinated by the human snacks and human food that Takuto brings with him, so she becomes interested in learning human recipes, and that’s how they start cooking together :)
(Well, part of the reason why she's interested is because she still kinda sees Takuto as a stray animal and wants to feed him, but give her a break, she's trying, she still has to unlearn all of Dojima's conditioning cause he deliberately taught her that humans were an inferior species that's only valuable for their blood T-T)
Okay, but, the more Takuto hangs out with the Dojimas, and the more Dojima sees him and Nanako acting like a family, the more he warms up to Takuto, until he even asks him to come over himself. Of course, he says that it's for Nanako's birthday, that he wants Takuto to be there because his presence makes her happy, but, on the other hand, you don't invite someone over for your kid's birthday unless you want them for be there, am I right?
Anyways, one night Takuto cooks some gyoza and the enticing smell brings back memories for Dojima, so, in a rare moment of vulnerability, he admits that he doesn’t let him hang around just because it makes Nanako happy, but that he actually enjoys Takuto’s company too (he’s. also very lonely ;-;). He finally opens up to him, telling him that he appreciates all of his help around the house, and he reveals that the reason he's such a cringe fail vampire that couldn't even follow through with his threats towards Takuto is that he used to be a human not too long ago. He’s so overprotective of Nanako and unsure of of his parenting skills because he had to figure out how to raise a vampire all on his own after Chisato (the vampire who turned him) died. I dunno when he was turned exactly, but it was probably shortly before her death, but, either way, that explains why he had a more down to earth view of humans, as opposed to Nanako.
(Not to mention that he might’ve also sympathized with Takuto over his loss of Rumi... I think Dojima generally sees a lot of the human part of him in Takuto)
In any case, Nanako tells Takuto that the reason Dojima is so wary of humans is that they were the ones who killed Chisato, and she makes him promise that he won't hurt them, cause he’s different to other humans, and both of them like him a lot :)
And, well. Takuto feels icky about his research now :)
At this point, the Dojimas barely see him as a source of food, if at all, and he barely sees them as an object of research, so he has begun questioning if publishing his paper is worth it. Technically, he doesn’t need their consent to study them because they’re not human, but.... that’s literally his boyfriend and his daughter... his research might be important to him, but he can’t sell out his family for it!
Okay, so here’s where the mess of vaguely related ideas I mentioned comes into play, because I’m not really sure how Takuto’s research fits into the grand scheme of things and how that affects the plot. My initial idea was that he used to work for Wakaba until she died, and thus honoring her memory is a huge part of the reason why he’s so intent on finishing his paper even if it costs him his life (he thinks it’s honorable that Wakaba gave her life for science and that anything less than that would be unacceptable for him when she’s such an inspiration for his work), but now I’m considering letting Wakaba live so that she can encourage Takuto to continue his research when he starts having doubts about it. Either way, Takuto starts questioning her methods and her intent after bonding with the Dojimas, cause. you know. let’s not forget she’s a mad scientist on her own right <3
Oh, and I guess I forgot to mention there was initially supposed to be a political subplot where Namatame and Shido are running for office and they both have their eyes on Takuto, cause Namatame wants to hire him and Shido wants to kill him for his research. Namatame is also a well-known monster hunter who thinks Takuto is on his side, but the bigger threat here is Shido, of course, With him on Takuto’s trail, it’s only a matter of time until his supporters track him down and find out about the Dojimas, which can’t end well... But, to be honest, I think I’ll probably scrap that entire subplot because it feels out of place within the overarching narrative, even though I do like the idea of Dojima entrusting Takuto with Nanako’s care so they can run away while he holds them back, since he’s the only one who stands a chance...
Anyways! What I mean to say is that the main issue here is that I don’t have an ending and I thought that adding some external conflict could fix it, but I haven’t been able to get that to work either ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I’m. not good at external conflict cause I’m too much of a sucker for internal conflict lol. Either way, everything else is extraneous haha, the main focus is the love story between Dojima and Takuto and their respective arcs as Dojima overcomes his fear and his prejudices against humans and learns to open up while Takuto overcomes his prejudices against supernatural creatures and starts reflecting upon his own morality and what he truly wants out of life. And so the moral of the story is that Nanako is the number 1 Dojiruki shipper ever and we owe everything to her. Thanks for coming to my TED Talk :)
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 1/2
Fandom: Persona 4, Persona 5
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Dojima Ryotaro/Maruki Takuto
Characters: Dojima Ryotaro, Maruki Takuto
Additional Tags: Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Character Study, Self-Reflection, Psychological Trauma, Rain, Driving, driving anxiety, Cars, Car Accidents (mentioned), Canonical Past Character Death, mental health stigma, Denial of Feelings, Pre-Slash, Post-Canon, Persona 4 Spoilers, Fear of Death
Summary:
It was raining, back when Chisato died. It was raining, back when the murders started. It was raining, back when Nanako got kidnapped.
It is raining now.
----
Ryotaro won’t admit it, but his past can still get the best of him from time to time. Unluckily (or, perhaps, luckily) for him, Maruki is persistent enough to break through his walls.
Wait just saw ur pinned post and now I HAVE to ask how maruki is being inserted into p4 ABDHDJFJ
SO GLAD YOU ASKED
ASDFSHFG OKAY where to start?
I must have some kind of curse because whenever I try to write a fic I cannot physically resist the urge to put Maruki in it. So every time I start writing a P4 fic it feels like the how do you do fellow kids meme except it’s Maruki going “how do you do, fellow Persona 4™ characters?” This is funny in my head.
I also have tons of crossover ships involving Maruki and P4 characters (okay, they’re only three, but three crossover ships are three sources of pain too many), so it makes sense to put him in P4 so he can interact with them, right?
Usually, the way I put him where I want him to be is very basic. I just say that, after P5R, he moved to Inaba to get a fresh start in life. There, he meets Dojima and falls in love and gets married and becomes Nanako’s father and has a family of his own and they LIVE HAPPILY EVER AFTER.
(Hi there, hello, I’m the CEO of Dojiruki, nice to meet you :] )
But, well, using a post-canon setting ensures that neither him or the P4 characters can interfere with the main plot of the games.
HOWEVER, one of my fics, Tristitia, takes place during the main plot of P4 in an AU where everything is the same except Maruki is there and is dating Namatame. Well, they’re not dating, but it’s not really platonic either, it’s complicated. To be fair, though, Maruki doesn’t really affect the plot there, because he’s not close to any of characters (besides Namatame) and the whole fic is basically just Maruki reacting to Nanako’s kidnapping, combined with a bit of a character study and comparing and contrasting him and Namatame.
So, moving on. I do have an AU where Maruki plays a huge part in the plot of P4 and that is the Adaruki Roleswap AU, which is exactly what it sounds like. Maruki and Adachi are swapped, so Maruki is Dojima’s partner and the Inaba murderer while Adachi is Shujin’s counselor and can bend reality to his whim during the third semester. It’s the most elaborate AU in this list but it’s pretty half-baked, mostly because I cannot figure out Maruki’s motives for murder and Adachi’s motives to NOT murder the Phantom Thieves during the third semester.
Still, it’s a fun idea to toy around with, and I’ve written two fics about Maruki interacting with the P4 setting in this scenario, Credit Where It’s Due and Pink Alligator in a Forest of Green. I don’t consider any of those as strictly “canon” to the main plot of the AU, because that was just me playing around and seeing what I could do with the idea of Maruki being Dojima’s partner, but he gets to interact with six year old Nanako in the second one, so that’s nice :3
A similar AU that I haven’t talked about but that has been on my mind for a long time is the Dojiruki Roleswap AU. That one doesn’t change much in P4, only the Hierophant SL, but it’s also half-baked because I have no clue what to do with Nanako’s kidnapping since she’s not in Inaba but in Tokyo with Dojima. And, when it comes to the P5R side of things, Dojima’s reality bending shtick is a whole other can of worms. He should be easier to figure out than Adachi because at least he cares about people’s wellbeing, but that doesn’t mean it’s not gonna take a lot of planning too.
Maruki is still a counselor in this one, but I was thinking that Dojima could maybe be Akiren’s probation officer? We’ll see.
Oh, and I know we’re talking about Maruki and not Rumi, but I thought this might be relevant since we’re talking about P4 x P5R crossovers. In the Phantom Thief Rumi AU, the plot kicks off when Rumi moves out of her grandparents’ and moves to Inaba. But this AU is in its very early stages so I probably shouldn’t say much because else I might end up spoiling the whole plot :)
Anyways, I guess I just have a thing for putting Maruki and Rumi in Inaba and seeing how they interact with the setting and the other characters. Probably because P5R came out right in the middle of my P4 phase, haha :)
