Overhearing

Contrary to the evidence of it's near constant uptime, Futaba didn't usually pay much attention to the LeBlanc feed. Mostly it would just fade into the background, white noise as she sifted through data, or relaxed with a new video game. As much as she loved him, there was only so much one could focus on Sojiro complaining about whatever was on TV with the same five customers.

She always paid a bit more attention when Joker was working in the café though. Sure, he was quiet, but it was somehow comforting to know that it was her boyfriend making the sounds of coffee and curry instead of Sojiro. She couldn't really explain it, but she was pretty much blindsided by every facet of this whole "being in love" thing, so that was just par for the course. It made her happy, and it had done so even before the new year, so she wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

It was always a struggle when one of his other friends was there too. Maybe it was a bit hypocritical coming from the person who wiretapped LeBlanc in the first place, but she didn't enjoy the feeling of listening in to intense, private conversations of people she interacted with on a regular basis. Just felt gross.

But then again, those kinds of conversations were the most interesting thing happening in LeBlanc by a long shot. And what was the point of wiretapping a place if you turned off the feed whenever people were talking? So, when Sumire came over to talk with Joker about her gymnastics routine or something, Futaba kept the audio playing. Besides, she had to learn more about Yoshizawa at some point if they were going to be working together to get through that Palace, right?

Things got a little heavy as Sumire talked about her sister, and how she was striving for their shared dream, and Futaba let the game she was playing idle a bit as she reflected with sympathy. They had all agreed that running away from reality wasn't the right choice, but that didn't make the sucky parts of reality any less sucky.

Then, any sympathy Futaba felt for her fellow Phantom Thief went right out the window in short order.

"Now that I'm committed to, you know, not running away from my feelings… I, um… T-There's something I need to tell you senpai!"

"What's with this change in atmosphere…?" mumbled Futaba, practically feeling the somber mood disappear in an instant as Sumire started fumbling over her words.

"Go ahead." Joker's voice was that same gentle, supporting tone he used a lot with her, when her anxiety flared up on the dates where they went places with big crowds. Not pushing Futaba to do anything she didn't want, but somehow making her want to do things she normally wouldn't think herself capable of.

"O-oh! I'm sorry! I'm getting to it! I realized it was less a matter of showing off, and more wanting someone to watch me…" Sumire continued, sounding way too embarrassed for what she was saying. She was a gymnast who regularly competed. Those events had huge crowds of people watching.

"That is, I wanted someone special to watch me. Someone I'd want to have eyes only for me…" Futaba fully paused her game, and diverted all her increasingly frantic attention to the audio feed.

"I don't like where this is headed…" Futaba said aloud to herself, trying desperately to defuse the growing dread in the pit of her stomach with a little lightheartedness.

"I'm in lo… l-l-lo… I'm in… lo…" If Sumire had been stumbling over her words before, she had not fallen completely on her face, a circumstance Futaba was infinitely grateful for.

"Don't you say it…" Futaba growled out a warning, even though Sumire couldn't hear her. Maybe she'd pick up on the bad vibes radiating off of Sojiro's house a block away and keep her mouth shut.

"What?" Joker asked, sounding equal parts embarrassed and curious.

"Don't encourage her!"

"I- I'm in love with you!" Sumire said, finally composing herself long enough to get the words out.

Futaba's eyes narrowed. "You should choose your words carefully…" The warning this time was directed at her boyfriend.

XXX

"…Thank you so much, Senpai. I'm glad you could be honest with me. And I'm still happy I told you how I felt."

Whatever Sumire or Joker were going to say was cut off by the door to LeBlanc being thrown open. They both turned to see Futaba, still in loungewear with socks and shoes hastily thrown on.

"Futaba-senpai! What are you doing here?"

"Don't you 'senpai' me! You've got a lot of nerve." Futaba's angry response sent the café into an awkward silence as she hurried past the two of them in order to loop around the counter before stopping next to Joker. "C-confessing your feelings where I could hear you!"

Sumire looked down in confusion. "You could hear us? I didn't think we were being that loud…"

"Ah, she has the café bugged to make sure Sojiro doesn't slack off too much." Joker explained, before turning to his girlfriend.

"Oh." Sumire said simply, looking around LeBlanc with concern.

"You'll never find 'em. I hid them so well Shido's goons tossed the whole place and didn't even find one." said Futaba with pride. "B-but that's not the issue here! The issue here is you confessing to this guy!"

Sumire's head tilted to the side in confusion. "Why is that an issue?"

"Jeez, maybe we did too good a job of keeping it secret." Futaba mumbled under her breath. "C'mere."

Joker didn't resist too much when his girlfriend screwed her eyes shut and pulled him down towards her by the collar of his shirt. In fact, most of the logistics of the kiss were up to him, since Futaba was busy closing her eyes and turning bright red.

It was still very enjoyable.

"Oh! You two are dating? I had no idea." Sumire exclaimed. "I would like to say I wouldn't have confessed to him if I had known, but that was more about being honest with myself… I definitely wouldn't have had any thoughts about the confession leading anywhere if I knew he were taken."

"I… I suppose this is partly on us for keeping things secret." admitted Futaba, "We just didn't want to mess with the group's dynamic at first, and then it just kinda became second nature. I mean, can you imagine how Ryuji would react?"

"For real?!" exclaimed Joker, in a passable imitation of their friend, getting a respectable giggle out of his audience.

"Your secret is safe with me, senpai!" said Sumire.

"That's a relief, I suppose." said Futaba with a sigh of relief, before turning to Joker. "Hey, so, uh… I kinda ran over here as quickly as I could, so uh… I didn't hear your response… Nothing happened, right?"

"Of course not." Joker assured her with a pat on the head. "I'm already in a relationship with another girl."

"Yep, I've been explicitly friendzoned!" said Sumire cheerfully. "I'm still glad I did it though. Even if Senpai doesn't feel the same way, I've been honest with myself, and can use these feelings to drive me forward. And now that I know, I'm not sure how I'd feel about Senpai if he were the type of man to cheat on his girlfriend."

"No need to worry about that. I've already shot down every other woman I know." said Joker.

"Wait, this kinda thing's happened before?!" exclaimed Futaba. "And every woman?! So like… Ann?"

"Not a confession like this, but the mood was right." Joker shrugged.

"And you turned her down?! Do you have eyes?!" said a flabbergasted Futaba.

"Only for you." said Joker as he hugged his girlfriend close.

"That's not fair. Only you could make a cheesy line like that charming…" grumbled Futaba, sinking deeper into the hug.

"I, uh… I'm just going to uh… leave you two alone then!" exclaimed a flustered Sumire, making for the door as her face turned as red as her hair. "I have practice soon anyways, and I don't want to miss the train! Yes, that's it!"

"Well, I suppose I did come over here to chase her out, so… mission accomplished?"

XXX

AN: Based on my recent playthrough of Royal. Exceptionally ballsy move by Sumire to confess her feelings while the dude's girlfriend is listening.