Persona 5 Oneshots

The Returns

REQUESTED BY: Anna
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"A sad fic where Akira's mother returns only to give him bad news that she's leaving again - I'll put the details in a separate message so no spoilers!"
~~

It was like any other day at Cafe LeBlanc. The Phantom Thieves sat around several booths sipping on coffee -or in the case of those who couldn't stand bitter drinks, soda - and discussing their next big target. Sojiro Sakura watched over his ward with a smile as he thought about how far the boy had come since first walking through the doors of the cafe, and at his adoptive daughter, who with Akira's help was starting to live a normal life once again.

The group laughed and carried on, in a mixture of serious talk and just being teenagers enjoying themselves. That's when the cafe door bell rang, and everyone's attention snapped up.

"Sorry, we're close-" Sojiro began - he would always flip the sign to "closed" when the kids had their meetings in the cafe, but he was cut off by the woman's broken voice.

"Akira..?"

The young boy's head turned to the woman, and his friend's eyes on him meant all but nothing to him as his eyes widened and his face visibly paled. He stared incredulously at the woman, leaving his friends confused.

"Dude? You-" Ryuji began, before an elbow to the ribs from Ann promptly shut him up.

"Akira, sweetie.." the woman smiled as tears sprang to her eyes, only confusing the teens further.

"M-mom..?" Akira finally mumbled, to the shock of his teammates.

"That's your mom?!" Ryuji spoke up, Ann in too much shock to bother shutting him up.

"Mom?" Futaba repeated, blinking behind her glasses.

"You? You're his mother?!" Sojiro folded his arms, and it was only then everyone noticed he'd stepped out from behind the counter, and almost protectively in front of Akira, who slowly stood.

His heart was racing, it felt as though it was going to explode, but he couldn't do anything but stare at the woman he hadn't seen in almost a year now, his own mother.

"Akira.." Makoto mumbled sympathetically; Akira didn't even seem to realize he was crying.

Warm tears ran down his face as Akira watched his mother, but all his friends' and Sojiro's eyes were on him. He opened his mouth to speak, but his voice failed him.

"What, you're not even going to say hi?" Akira's mother smiled warmly at him, tears now running down her own face.

A single moment of silence passed before Akira finally clicked. With speed only fitting for the leader of the Phantom Thieves, he ran and practically fell into the woman's arms, burying his face into her shirt as he let himself cry out loud.

"I.. missed you.."

Wrapping her arms protectively around him, the woman - who stood slightly taller than Akira himself - smiled and placed a soft kiss on the top of his head,  her own tears staining her face.

"I missed you too, sweetheart," she held him a little tighter.

The rest of the group exchanged looks, but all agreed to let Akira to have his moment, until he came back to reality and turned to face his friends. He still didn't seem to register that there were tears still falling from his eyes, but they still sparkled as excitement took him over. But the group behind him had already registered the sad smile on his mother's face as her son turned to show off his new friends to her.

"Mom, these are my friends! I.." he took in their expressions, and his own went from excited to confused, and he turned back to see his mother's sympathetic smile. "Mom..?"