JSHK Headcanons, Oneshots, & Musings

Thieves of Hearts (Hananene)

Author's Note: This is an AU based on Persona 5 Royal, so this HanaNene oneshot will contain spoilers for that.

-

Back in April, Yugi Amane met a band of misfits who found one another.

Back in April, Yugi Amane was crowned leader of a team of vigilantes.

Back in April, Yugi Amane's heart was stolen.

Back in April, Yugi Amane decided he'll do everything to keep Yashiro Nene by his side.

Phantom Thieves. That's what they call themselves. Shadowy figures of justice who change the hearts of the deserving, and are valiantly led by their unshakable leader. Except, that isn't true when faced with the prospect of happiness without suffering.

—

The red and black card slid smoothly across the café table from Amane's coat pocket and into the waiting hands of his dear brother.

"I see how it is." Tsukasa lets out a hum as he stashes it away. "I heard you loud and clear, Amane."

In one gentle motion, Tsukasa got up from the booth, brushing past the spectating Nene and over to the entrance. He glanced back at the two with an indecipherable smile.

"Just remember what will happen to me and her if we go back.....we'll be waiting for you."

The bell chimes softly as the door closes behind him, but Amane could hear it echo throughout the empty café and ring in his ears.

His gaze is slow when he moves it across the room to meet with Nene's own. In her eyes, it told a story of conflicting emotions. If Amane tries to read it; it tells of determination, anger, and exhaustion. Pure exhaustion.

He watches Nene move her mouth but he could barely register the words that fell from it. Something, something, being trapped? Tired of her choices being tossed aside? Something about her life not worth it when it was just cooked up to satisfy someone else? Amane couldn't hear her over his beating heart and rushing blood. He tries to look back at Nene, but it's too much for him to keep focus on a girl who's only alive due to his own cowardice.

He hadn't realized how much of a walking dead girl Yashiro Nene was until now. Yashiro Nene was supposed to be dead and lost to whatever reminds of the collective cognitive world of the masses.

Amane could feel himself slip out of the booth to stand, his body seemingly moving on its own. His vision tunnels as it switches from scene to scene. One frame after another. The pit of dread grows deeper and deeper in his stomachs until he has the urge to keel over and spill out bile.

"I'm done."

Silence. He feels like he has to hurl.

"I'm done, Amane-kun." Nene repeats herself again.

He can't even breathe right. His throat was collapsing in on itself. He can't-

"I've already decided what I want....but can I say the same for you?"

That one phrase was what finally got Amane to be reeled back. His hands are still shaking in his pocket, but he can now look back at Nene's red eyes which burn right back at him, searing him into place.

"I want to hear you say it out loud."

There's no running now.

"What do you intend to do?"

Amane wanted nothing more than to curl into himself right then and there. What an unbelievably unfair question to ask, yet he understands her every reason to do so. He opens and closes his mouth but only nothing comes out. He could only stutter half-hearted answers meant to deflect any blame or attacks upon his walls.

"You hesitating is already a betrayal to my wishes." Nene points out so bluntly, waving off every half-truth and lie he throws at her. "It's now or never. Answer me."

We're going back. Is what Amane would've said. He should've said. Instead, his breath hitches and he chokes out meekly.

"Yashiro-"

The hands in his pockets clenched around the fabric like a vice, nails burying into his palms when the dam walls began to crack. He bites down on his lip in a last effort to ground himself.

How unbecoming of him, he thinks when he sees droplets falling onto the tiled floor through his hazy vision. Since when did he ever break like this?

Since he last broke down when his brother couldn't hold his hand anymore.

What a pathetic sight. Truly, a coward till the end.

Amane could feel Nene's gaze softened, though her fiery conviction remained. Her footsteps are louder than any sound in his internal struggle, and the feeling of wool gloves gliding up his arms before grabbing them. Amane felt himself being pulled closer and closer to Yashiro, one hand brushing his choppy hair and the other dragging him in by the waist.

Hearing the other's heartbeat only made him whimper more.

Tears streamed down, staining Nene's scarf and Amane allowed his full weight to lean against her. Nene doesn't seem to mind the grossness of it all. His selfishness, his self-loathing, his need for control, his own faults that led them all to this point.

He truly wonders why Nene isn't disgusted. He wonders what has he done to sob into the shoulder of the making of his own injustice.

Arms wind around each other, pale hair tipped with teal tickled Amane's cheek, and it was warm. Warm and comforting. His shaky breaths stabilize to match Nene's own. Breathing in and out, the grip around him tightening. He could feel the heat of her resolve pulse through.

As they lean into each other's embrace, Amane closes his eyes.

"We're going back. We all are."

—

Yugi Amane, a selfish child under the guise of self-righteousness. You created a reality where none will suffer and have their true wishes be granted without struggle. However, we will not fall to this false happiness, and we will decide for ourselves the future we believe in and move forward from our pain. As a result, we reject your proposal of salvation. And therefore, we will steal your distorted desires and choose our own path.

From, the Phantom Thieves

—

   A band of thieves, takers of twisted desires, pillagers of virtue, kids who all felt the same when dealt with the unjust cards of fate, huddled together in an old, dusty bathroom.

Soon, there would be five of them by the end of this heist. Their final and last mission.

Nene squeezed Amane's hand tight.

"Ready for your heart to get stolen again?" There wasn't a shred of darkness in her light tone.

And Amane could only smile.

"Always."