Coffee and Cream
By Airship_Canon

Disclaimer: Dis has been claimed.

1. Frantic

Ren comforts Futaba one night.

The buzz of Ren's phone had awoken him, and Morgana. Ren was no stranger to Futaba or anyone else messaging him at odd hours, but tonight something wasn't right. The message was, as he thought, from Futaba, who had gotten a bit more accustomed to messaging him at any time after he confessed he loved her, but the message was just gibberish.

guoi8re

"Who could that be?" Morgana sleepily asked as he moved out of Ren's way as he moved to sit up, his silver eyes staring hard at the phone screen before him.

"Futaba." Ren said sleepily, as her green chat icon popped up.

Tttf$fj

Yfdtg

Rrfyinf

The first few messages he had received were odd, perhaps she had left her phone unlocked and had sent the nonsense by accident, inconvenient, but very understandable. However, then he immediately received another message.

Ren? Help me.

Futaba wanting him to talk to her at night was a common thing: her anxieties often times got the better of her, and they were, after all, dating. But something felt off as he looked at her message. He started to type a response and quickly deleted it a few times, before the worry had gotten to him in such a way that he had realized, it wasn't something he could do via text. He slid his thumb up to call her instead, only to decide otherwise, before looking over at Morgana who had let out a long yawn.

"Sorry, Morgana, but we're going out." Ren said, picking up his bag and his cat-like friend.

"At this hour? What for?" Morgana asked sleepily.

"Futaba is upset, and I don't know if she'll be able to let us in." Ren said softly as he grabbed one of the set of Lockpicks he had been working on earlier in the evening.

Futaba, I'm coming over. Please unlock the doors.

Ren sighed, slipping on his shoes and walking down the stairs into the darkened restaurant before making his way out and onto the backstreets of Yongen-Jaya.

TY.

Futaba's response was short but it was all he needed, he walked up to the darkened residence. Luckily, Ren was wrong, and Futaba had gotten to the doors, unlocking them before retreating back to her room. He quietly made his way up to her door and with a soft knock announced his presence. What he found inside was Futaba sitting on her bed tightly hugging a pillow, her face wet with tears and her expression a fearful grimace. It didn't take Ren long to realize she must have had a nightmare and anxiety attack. "Taba..." He softly said as he sat down next to her. She said nothing, and slightly shivvered before Ren wrapped his arms around her, prompting her to look back at him. "Taba, I'm here for you now."

She shook her head before hanging it low while moving to rest up against her boyfriend's chest. She only managed a "Thank you". And that was all Ren needed to hear. He gently began patting her head and her crying came to a stop, while Morgana leapt from Ren's bag and replaced the pillow that Futaba had been holding: she took to petting him. Nothing else was said until she had closed her eyes again, lightly snoring as she had fallen back asleep.

Once he started hearing her soft snores, Ren smiled and moved back away from her, letting her softly fall back onto her bed, with a content smile having replaced that awful grimace she wore when he had entered. Likewise, Ren smiled as he stood up to go home. "Goodnight, 'taba." He said before bending over and gently giving her a soft kiss on her forehead. "Let's go home, Morgana", he whispered to the cat before carefully heading back out, locking the doors behind him.

I didn't get much sleep, but helping Futaba was worth it.

Author's Note: I'm in too deep. Taba deserves all the hugs from her Key Item.