"T-there!" Futaba exited her closet, arms held out to the sky, eyes shut tight. What on Earth was she doing here? Right here right now? Dammit she should have just stayed inside with her computer, other people were scary, she barely knew these people! These were the Phantom Thieves! They were criminals!
"Now steal it!" She shouted, keeping her eyes shut. This was the largest number of people that had ever been in her room at one time. And they were all here to steal her heart. This was so stupid. So incredibly stupid! There was no way that these people were going to steal her heart and magically make her feel better, if anything the stress was making things worse.
She'd be better off just waiting to die.
"Uhh," She heard the responsible one say, Makoto Niijima, younger sister of the woman who was in charge of her case. Straight A student, as well as the student council president. Okay, so maybe she knew more about them than what would be considered normal. She just wanted to be thorough! "That's not-"
She heard it then. The smallest of chuckles followed by the sound of glasses snapping shut.
"Yusuke," He spoke. Ren Amamiya, the leader of the phantom thieves, that thug that moved into Shojiro's coffee shop, no that wasn't quite right, he wasn't a thug. She had watched him, he seemed… he seemed to be trying really hard to be super cool all the time but he was actually kind of a nice guy. "Hold these."
Hold what? What was going on? He was stepping towards her, she peaked one eye open over her glasses to see him looming over her like some kind of dark haired monolith. Damn he was tall. How was it fair that he was eight months older than her but had over a foot on her! His arm fell behind her waist.
Physical contact! Was this part of the heart stealing! Was he actually going rip it out of her chest or something? She thought it was just metaphorical! "W-wait! What are-"
She could do nothing but squeak as he reached down to pick her up, one arm supporting her back while his other as hooked under her knees. She knew this pose! It was the princess pose the kind that the main characters did after a stressful moment and right before they kissed!
Her eyes were glued wide. Her mind and body were frozen as she watched this dark-haired delinquent move towards her forehead. Her heartbeat went through the roof like that time she had to run outside and sign for the computer part! Only a thousand times worse. It was thumping against her chest trying to escape.
It was the smallest of touches, the lightest press on her forehead. It made her feel like she was floating. The entire world slowed, and for what felt like an eternity she could do nothing but stare at the boy. Her hand drifted towards his shirt, gripping the fabric tightly in her hand. A boy! A real life boy was kissing her. On the forehead! That meant that well that he was kissing her. But on the forehead meant so many different things! Like, like- like he more than liked liked her!
"Well, since you asked my lady," He pulled away, his eyes half closed and that cocky smirk was on his face. His charm stat was through the roof! "How could I refuse?"
Her heart skipped a beat. Critical hit! Super effective! Ambush! Sneak Attack! Natural Twenty!
404 response not found, total shutdown imminent.
XXXX
What a weird dream she had. First a bunch of strangers were in her room - ones that she let in - then one of them kissed her forehead. And the next thing she knew she was fighting a giant sphinx version of her mother within her mind while being inside of a U.F.O. There was no way any of it was real.
That was it! She was going to have a regular sleep schedule! Weird things happened when she didn't sleep for five days…. Or was it six? After all there was just no way a bunch of high schoolers could just walk into her brain punch some stuff and steal whatever was making her so depressed.
Then there was that kiss. What boy in their right mind would do that? Not only was it out of the blue, but a boy kissed her. There was no way that would happen. Absolutely no possible way, she was a shut in skinny nerd girl that would burn like a vampire if she stayed outside for more than five minutes.
Boys liked taller curvy girls like that Ann, the weird model girl that hung out with Ren. Or the mature type like Makoto. Not bookish, nerdy girls that couldn't see the side of a barn without her glasses.
Yea, it was all just some weird dream. There was no way that she was just going to magically cured of her depression. But it was weird. She didn't feel depressed. She didn't feel happy either, she mostly felt like she had slept for like a week. And that she was hungry. Oh god was she hungry. She could eat like five whole ramen cups.
"Hey!"
A voice hissed and she felt a weight shift on her bed. That wasn't Sojiro's voice. But she still knew the voice. More importantly who was on her bed? She opened up one eye and saw that it was the kitty.
"Kitty!" She smiled, reaching out to pull the animal into waiting grasp. The cat struggled for a moment as she pressed it into her chest. Did Sojiro get a cat for her? Was that how it kept getting into her room? It was such a soft cat, so it had to have a home.
"Wait! Guh," The cat mewled as she held onto it. "Futaba! Let me go we need you to deal with Medjed!"
"Talking cat?" She had watched one to many anime it seemed. Was this part of the dream to? No, dreams didn't feel like this. "How are you talking?"
"Guh," The cat struggled in her grip. "Ren do something."
Ren! Her body felt hot again. The spot on her forehead burned like a curse mark that would give her super powers when she needed them most. Which was not right now. Or ever. If anything it just burned. She shot out of bed tossing the Cat (Wait, that voice was Mona! That cat thing that used wind skills and healing arts.) Mona was Joker's cat Morgana?
Holy crap that really did happen. It wasn't a dream!
That mean Ren actually kissed her on the forehead!
"What are you doing here?" She shot up on her bed to look him in the eyes, for about one and a half seconds before she had to look somewhere else. He stood in her room hands in his pockets looking like the kind of cool kid she'd avoid at school. If she went to school that is.
It was weird. She didn't feel the same nervousness that she did when she normally met other people. She didn't want to run away and hide from him. Not that she wasn't afraid of him, it wasn't a bad fear though, more a nervous excitement that that had her cheeks warm and heart pounding against her chest.
"Glad to see you're finally awake." He took a step towards her, looming over her like a frizzy haired giant. He looked different with his glasses on - it was almost like a he had secret identity like superman - which was a good thing because she'd only seen them off when he was about to kiss her.
Morgana hopped back onto her bed, taking a moment to lick his paws. "Joker's been checking on you everyday since you collapsed."
"Why?" Was he in love with her? Oh god what if he was? She'd never had a boy in love with her before! She'd never even had a crush on a boy. Well at least none that were alive, she had her share of husbandos and waifus after all.
Ren offered her his hand. Her eyes were forced to look at the hands that had held her up a week ago. It was that or look at the same smile he had on his face when he first kissed her. What did it mean? Guh! "Well, Medjed is going to reveal our information today, so if you could have that not happen."
"Oh." She took his hand, and he guided her up off the bed like some kind of a princess. Her barefoot fell onto the layer of trash that had become her carpet. Right Medjed, she made a deal with them to steal her heart and. "Oh! Don't worry Ren! I got this! Those posers won't know what hit them!"
She launched herself to the safety of her computer. Here she was the queen of the world, and shut everything else out. Especially the giant taller, handsome, smooth talker, boy that may or may not have a crush on her.
XXXX
She was in the zone. Who needed social skills when she was - as the noobs put it - a 1337 hacker of the highest caliber. Not her that's for sure! On the internet she was an untouchable queen who ruled all.
Even these Medjed fakers wouldn't stand a chance against her. With just a few more keystrokes her Alibaba-blast would be good to go. It was a multi-tiered assault that would happen all at once. She would have her enemies surrounded before they even knew they were fighting. This was her signature move. Not that weak-sauce active hacking all the other news did. She planned ahead, building up her army and then unleashing them all at once.
And for the finishing touch, the Phantom Thieves logo. It was easy to find a jpg. of that on the internet, hell the phan-site had a whole gallery of variants. But the strongest message would be sent with the original, that hand drawn beautiful hat.
"Here," A sandwich, perfectly cut into two neat triangles (the crust was removed to) along with a side of chips was placed directly in front of her.
Futaba jumped. Sandwiches just didn't do that? And there was someone in her room? Wait that was Ren's voice! She felt his hot breath in his ear. She spun in her chair to look up at the sauve beanpole that led the Phantom Thieves. Crud! "What are you still doing here?"
"Forcing you to eat," He took a bite of a sandwich slice. It made a crunch! There was crunch bits in the sandwich? She loved crunch bits! "I got bored after I cleaned your room."
Room? Her? Clean? It was spotless. Everything was neatly organized, from her posters being properly attached, to the layer of filth that used to be on the floor (Weird she thought she had a carpet) How did he even clean her desk when she was staring at her computer. "Ah, it's so clean! Why!?"
Ren sat down on her bed - it was made to - and smiled. "Well, I wanted to make sure that you wouldn't pass out again." He pushed on his glasses a soft smirk on his face showed the slightest hint of that wild look he got as Joker. "That and I can't stand a mess."
"Oh, I see." She spun back in her chair. Her heart was pounding again. "Sandwich why?"
"I was hungry, and you hadn't eaten all day." He stood again, she felt his arm rest on her chair. She looked up to see him looming over her. "Besides, consider it a thank you for all your hard word, are you almost done?"
Captivated! He was way to high level of a challenge for her! She needed to retreat! To grind some easier mobs to talk to! Not ones that had some weird charm effect on them! She reached a finger out towards her keyboard, her eyes locked onto his. She hit the enter key.
"Done?" She giggled sinking back into her chair. She wanted to make like a hedgehog and roll out of here. But where could she go? The outside sucked! And he lived in Leblanc! What was this raid boss doing in the starter zone?
His eyes flicked to the screen. And she saw it then. That real smile of his. The one that he tried so desperately to hide. The one he had as Joker. The one he had when he kissed her. That cool, confidant smirk that had to be max level.
"You went all out." She heard his phone buzzing. "And it sounds like the others know about what you did as well."
"You. Thank." This was her first time being praised! Praised by a boy she liked? Wait where the hell did that come from! She didn't like boys! Boys were people! Therefore she didn't like them. It was simple logic! If anything this boy was the worse of the worse! He was some sick idiot that had a crush on her!
He spun her chair around. His arms and body formed the prison for which she was now restrained, there was no escape. All she could do was shrink down into a little ball and hope that he eventually realized that she really wasn't worth it. His hand moved down towards her head. "Futaba,"
She closed her eyes. This was it! It he was going to do something! What she had no idea but it was going to make her pass out again! It was like when the boss changed phase and had a really long uninterruptible cast. All she could do was prepare for it.
Activate defensive curl!
"Thank you." His hand fell onto her head and patted it. Almost like how her mother used to do it. But this was different. Very very different. Her mother's pat had been a level one skill. This was like a rank twenty! "I'll see you later okay?"
Wait that was it? That was a good thing right? Wait she had something she wanted to ask him. She was out of her chair before she opened her eyes and crashed right into his back. Either he was built like a brick house, or she had the strength of a goblin. Probably the latter.
"Are you okay?" Ren asked leaning down to grab her arm. Ahh physical contact! Super effective! Her heart went super saiyan three screaming in her heart like an angry Goku! "You really should eat, I don't want you to collapse again."
This was it. She had to ask her question. It was now or never. If she didn't she might never be able to. She needed to this, for her, for Sojiro. For her mother. "Me. Phantom. Thief?"
Ren chuckled and helped her up. "You already are one."
AN: Beta'd by xxTerror33xx. Hey look A fluffy Futaba x Ren fic! Yay! Inspired by a comic I saw on the churchoffutaba subreddit. Anyways! I hope you all enjoy!