Persona 5 Chat Fic

here, have some akeshu angst with a nice end

spoilers for the first dungeon of Persona 5 Strikers btw, Akechi's dead (or is he ;)))) in this short fic

also its not part of the chat fic ofc

also also is Zenkichi supposed to be the replacement Akechi???? ugh fine hes lucky he looks funky

once again, no spoilers for p5s if youre gonna comment please
~~~~~

"Hey, you---Joker, right? Did you come back to me so you could be mine?"

Alice Hiiragi's Shadow asks, twirling her candy cane around and swaying her hips. The grin on her face disgusts Ren. The pinks and yellows and basically all other colors that are everywhere disgust him, too. Maybe he'd gotten too accustomed to the mellow colors of Leblanc, or the brilliant blues of the Velvet Room.

"Hell no."

There's so much more he wants to say. So much more he wishes he was able to say. I've got a boyfriend. That's a lie. I've got a date tonight. Another lie. The lies go on and on, seemingly without end. There's only one thing he could say that wouldn't be a lie.

My heart belongs to a dead man.

But he couldn't say that. Not without worrying his friends, who he had convinced he'd moved on. Who he convinced that the smile he wore was real, the laugh that came from his throat wasn't forced. That he doesn't carry the singular glove in his pocket, eternally looking for its other half.

So instead, he forces those feelings into two words.
How he wished, when Goro was still alive, that he had channeled those feelings into three words instead.

~~~~~

"Aw, you Phantom Thieves seem like best buds. Are any of you dating?"

We could have been, Ren thinks. Might have been. Was it really possible that someone like Goro had held feelings other than hate and scorn for Ren? Sure, he'd seen the looks his teammates gave him every time he said he'd be going out with the detective, but they couldn't possibly know.

Deep down, something tells him, "Futaba knows." She'd told him, too: "I saw Akechi nearly confess his love for you over text!" Ren simply laughed it off. "Oh! Oh! And, his search history is filled with stuff like where to go for dates and how to confess properly!" Morgana peeked out of Ren's bag, tail twisting and turning. "Futaba! You're only supposed to snoop through his phone for information, not personal stuff!" It was Futaba's turn to laugh. "Well, we don't really know what's personal and what isn't personal to him, right?" The "discussion" had turned into an argument, and Ren had stopped listening.

~~~~~

The feeling of remorse only grew when he met Zenkichi.

He was strikingly similar to Goro. The real Goro. Not the pretty boy detective on TV, who only existed to please the needs of the masses. He was like the Goro that was snarky, that wouldn't hesitate in cutting off your arm if you annoyed him in any way. The Goro that Ren fell in love with.

That's why Ren can't help but trust him. Even if the other Phantom Thieves give him weird looks. Even if Zenkichi himself suspects him of planning something. Deep down, his friends probably know why he feels so attached to Zenkichi. They probably see the similarities between the two. It's probably the reason they're so inclined to deny his deal.

But Ren doesn't care. He stopped caring a long time ago. He stopped feeling a long time ago.

~~~~~

Ren doesn't know when he started trying to feel again. Doesn't know when he started acting like such a playboy, finally monopolizing on his youthful face and charming voice. He can't remember why he thought dating half of his school's students (hell, even one of the teachers) would be a good idea. He knows these little relationships won't end well. His friends know, his fucking cat knows, and he's sure that the people he's dated know too.