There's a sense of peace here that he doesn't feel anywhere else in the city.
He wonders if what he's feeling is the experience of being loved. He knows the Phantom Thieves care for him. They've chosen him to be their leader, they've been supporting him throughout his time here in Tokyo. They've been appreciative of his aid with their crises.
It's no secret the Phantom Thieves cared about him. The friends he had made across the city, too, cared for him. Doctors, teachers, shogi players, all considered him a friend. He knew this. He'd heard their concerns, their fears back in November.
They'd all pulled together to get him set free from prison, after all. He'd gone and thanked them all individually afterwards.
But here? Here he lay, feeling peaceful, fulfilled. Content would be the word to describe it. Though he could think of many more words to describe it.
The sun peeks through the curtain next to the attic window, the rays stopping short of hitting his eyes. Yet they reach just fair enough to illuminate the crimson hair of Sumire next to him.
The bed isn't large. It's barely big enough for them all to fit but they'd managed it. Morgana is curled down beneath their legs, sleeping just close enough to them for Ren to feel the warmth coming off his furry companion. Sumire is snuggled up to his chest, arms curled almost desperately around him. She was a clinger in her sleep.
Ren didn't mind at all. The reminder of her presence next to him was comforting in the mornings.
Soon it would be time to get up. No point in him trying to get back to sleep now. Ren wanted to take the time to study Sumire's face while she slept.
The worry and concern she usually wore was gone, replaced by a blissful, dopey smile. It was rare to see Sumire so relaxed. He knew why, but it still made these precious moments where she could let her guard down all the more sweet.
Sumire is a perfectionist. It was something she'd picked up from Kasumi. She wouldn't accept anything less than her best when it came to applying herself to something. It was endearing, but also worrying at times. She knew her limits, but sometimes he needed to remind her to take a break.
Convincing her she didn't need to be a perfect girlfriend had been one of the best things he'd achieved here in Tokyo, and that included shooting a god in the face. Sure, it had been awesome at the time, but getting to see the weight lifted from her shoulders had felt so much better.
He didn't need her to be perfect, he needed her to be Sumire. To be his Sumire. He was thankful that had gotten through to her.
He can feel Morgana stirring by his feet. Soon, he'd want to go out, which meant it was time for him and Sumire to get up as well. He took one last, long look at her, cosy and comfortable as she was, before gently poking her.
"Mmph." Sumire shifts a bit before snuggling tighter against him. "Just a while longer."
Ren chuckles deep and low at that. Rather than poking her again, he starts tracing patterns on her back in a slow, comforting manner. Morgana would have them up soon enough, so who is he to deny her a few more minutes of peace?
The patterns make no sense. They never did. But Sumire also appreciated the reminder that he was there with her, so he'd just kept doing them. Never too short, but never too long either, just enough to get her to sigh and relax. Like she did just now.
Unfortunately, their time together had to be cut short. Morgana was awake now, stretching his back and legs out like the not-a-cat he was. Ren gently pokes her cheek, watching with amusement as her eyes flutter open and stare at him blearily.
"Good morning," he said, curling down to press a light kiss to the top of her head. Her flustered squeak makes him laugh and smile, a sign of his giddiness from her being here, with him.
"Morning." Her voice is muffled by his t-shirt, but he hears her even so. "I don't know why I'm like this, you do this every time…"
"Because you like it?"
"Yeah." If she turned any redder she'd be brighter than her hair. "I do."
Content with her admittance, Ren turns over and starts climbing out of the bed. Morgana had already leapt up onto the window sill, from how the curtains had a feline outline pushing them open. The sunlight from it illuminates Sumire, giving her such an angelic glow that Ren has to stop and just appreciate how beautiful it all was. How beautiful she was.
"Ren?" Sumire's look of confusion means that she's noticed he's stopped. "Did I do something wrong?"
Morgana leapt out of the window and the curtains flap shut. The sunlight was locked away again, though Sumire still looked as radiant as she did before. Ren blinks and shakes his head. "Uh, no. No, you didn't."
"Oh." Sumire bashfully looks away and wraps the cover around herself. A sign, nonverbal at that, that she needs him to leave the attic. She couldn't very well go home in her pyjamas now, could she?
Ren nods and turns away, making for the cafe stairs with a record pace. She wants privacy and he needs to start setting up the cafe for the day. He didn't mind being seen in his sleep clothes when the cafe was supposed to be shut.
The stools are flipped and come down off the counter first, one by one. He pulls out Sumire's meal prep for the day and placed it on the counter, ready and waiting for her when she comes down the stairs. He checks the cash register and double-checks to make sure the coffee beans are all still in their rightful places. Some of them cost more than he'd make in a month at Crossroads, after all.
Gentle footsteps down the old, creaking stairs told him Sumire is on her way. He set out the ingredients for the curry in the kitchen before turning to pick up her meal prep.
"Breakfast is served," he announces, holding it out to her with his best impression of his customer service persona. Sumire, for her part, takes it with a smile that made his heart skip a beat and a laugh that made his world brighter. Or was it just the sun rising?
Leaving her to get himself dressed, Ren went up the stairs to the attic. Customer service may start with a smile, but it also needed him to be dressed appropriately. After all, Sojiro would be furious if he greeted the customers in his sleep clothes.
Morgana returns just as he finishes getting dressed. At his pointed look, Ren quickly jogged down the stairs and brought up a roll of sushi for the spoiled not-a-cat. The happy grin on Morgana's face was worth the price he had to pay for it, though, so it evened out.
He returned to the kitchen one more time to double-check the ingredients. The rice would be fine in any weather short of a heatwave, but the spices were fussy. Ren makes sure to move them so that they wouldn't be caught by the morning sunlight.
Honed instincts make him turn around, giving him a hilarious yet adorable view of Sumire attempting to sneak up on him, bento in hand. "You heard me sneaking up, didn't you?"
"No," he admits. "I just felt something was behind me."
"I thought it was something like that. You turned around so quick." She holds out the bento to him. "Here, I made an extra one for you. I used the Megidolaon sauce instead of the Megido sauce. I remembered you thought it was a little bland."
The only time he'd tried one of Sumire's bentos was all the way back in June. She'd remembered from that long ago?
"Thank you, Sumi." He smiles a little at how she blushes over his nickname for her. "Are you sure?"
"I am." She holds it out a little further. After he takes it from her, she turns away shyly from him, focussing very intensely on the refrigerator door next to him. It was another sign he had picked up from her; she gets all shy when she wants to do something romantic or flirty.
Ren, of course, smiles and leans forward. Sumire takes the hint and leans forward as well, leaving a peck on his cheek that turns them both into blushing messes.
They were so awkward at this. Ren loves it all the same.
"I-I should get going. Thank you for, um, letting me stay." Sumire blushes even harder at her words, even though it had only been a sleepover.
"It's not a problem." Ren flashes her one of his easygoing smiles. It has the intended effect, as Sumire calms down before giving him one of her own dazzling smiles.
"I'll let you know when I'm home."
"Thank you. Take care on your way home."
"I will."
"Good."
"Good."
Sumire steps away awkwardly. She didn't want to leave him, but he knows she's promised her dad she'd come home straight away.
Ren still needed to open the cafe, sadly, so he watched her leave. Even long after she leaves and disappears around the corner, he still looks from the window at where she went. It would only be for a day. She'll come back to visit him tomorrow.
He just wishes tomorrow could be today, so he can hold her close once again.
Author's Note: So I felt like writing ShuSumi this go around. I'm not done writing ShuHaru, don't worry! I just felt like writing them for a change.