"Weird coincidence, huh?"

"Yeah, crazy."

Ryuji and Ann walked the halls of the hotel that they and their schoolmates were staying at in Hawaii. Ryuji's roommate had brought his girlfriend over, making things extremely awkward for the blond boy, prompting him to leave and head to Ren and Mishima's room for the night. Not long after, Ann arrived with an eerily similar story - though in her case, her roommate had left for her boyfriend's room, taking their key with her.

Once this was all laid out in their friends' room, a plan was hatched.

"Prolly the same girl my roommate brought over," Ryuji noted.

"It could just be a coincidence, but you could be right," Ann admitted.

"Alright, come on."

"Come on where?"

"My room. If your roomie's there, we tell 'er to hand over the key an' you can get back in your room."

"Oh! That's smart!"

"Right? Welp, see ya in a few." With a wave, the two set off to get the key.

As expected, the inconsiderate roommates were, indeed, together in Ryuji's room. Without much resistance, Ann got the key from the other girl and the two blonds set off back to Ann's room.

Ryuji stayed while Ann used the key, just to be sure she wasn't being tricked. But, sure enough, the key worked and the satisfying click that followed the key's turning was like music to the duo's ears.

"Awright!" Ryuji cheered upon the successful mission.

"Keep your voice down!" Ann hissed, looking around to see if any of the neighbouring doors might burst open with a demand for the two to keep quiet. When no such demand came, she let out a quiet sigh of relief and opened the door to the dark, disused room.

"You good now?" Ryuji asked, looking over his friend's shoulder into the darkness.

"Yep," she nodded with a smile. "I've not been afraid of the dark since middle school."

"Okay," Ryuji replied, clapping his hands together and taking a few steps back. "Welp, I guess we'll see you in the morning, huh?"

"You heading back to Ren and Mishima's room?"

"Yeah. They got a couch I can crash on."

Ann shook her head, sending her blonde locks flying around her face. "Uh-uh. No. That's bad for your back and you'll be cold without a spare blanket."

"I could just borrow your roommate's blanket. Ain't like she's gonna need it."

"Or... you could borrow her bed instead."

"..."

"Well?"

"...I don't think I can lug that thing-"

"Ugh, no, dummy. Sleep here in her bed."

Ryuji's eyes grew as wide as saucers. "H-Here?"

"Where else? There's a spare bed right here next to mine."

"N-Next to yours!?"

"Keep it down, idiot!"

"S-Sorry... But... Is this alright? A boy an' a girl-"

"We're friends before we're a boy and a girl, Ryuji."

"Trrrue..."

"See? There's no issue. Now come inside before someone sees and gets the wrong idea."

Ryuji was quickly ushered inside and Ann closed the door after checking to make sure no one saw. Without the light coming in from the hall, the darkness was easy enough to navigate, thanks to the curtains remaining open, allowing a gorgeous moon to shine light inside.

Ann pulled out her phone, her fingers relying on muscle memory to guide them through the process of opening the camera app. Her eyes refused to budge from the sight before her. Ryuji found himself in a similar situation, but it wasn't the moon he was photographing.

Ann's head snapped in his direction at the sound of the picture being taken. Ryuji froze as her piercing blue eyes bore into his. She crossed the room with shocking swiftness and snatched the phone from his hands before he could move to stop her. Ann's eyes widened in utter shock as she looked over the picture Ryuji has just taken.

"This photo..."

"Uh, yeah, I just saw you standin' there an' I couldn't-"

"This is amazing!" Ann's face was now in his, and his cheeks were burning from the sudden proximity.

"Huh?"

"How'd you get a shot this good!? Hold on, let me send this to myself."

"Wait... you're not mad?"

"Mad?" Ann cocked an eyebrow and looked at Ryuji like he'd just asked something insane. "Why would I be mad?"

"Cuz I... y'know.. took a picture without askin'..."

"What, because of that? Ryuji, it's you. I trust you not to be weird about this stuff. Besides, I can see from this pic that it's not meant to be sexy. It's beautiful." Ann downloaded the picture onto her own phone and quickly set the newly-acquired photo as her new homescreen wallpaper. She showed it off with a proud smile and Ryuji couldn't help but grin at. "You should look into real photography. You've certainly got the eye for it."

"Naw," the boy replied, rubbing the back of his neck, embarrassed. "It ain't that special."

"I disagree. I think this is incredible. I look so pretty in this."

"Dude, you always look pretty."

"Huh? I do?"

It was now Ryuji's turn to look at his friend like she was crazy. "Uh, yeah? How can you be a model without bein' pretty?"

"That's... a good point, yeah." Ann returned the phone to Ryuji and sat at the foot of her bed, feeling oddly deflated at realising how rational his stance was. Ryuji took the opportunity to kick his shoes off and lay down on the other bed with his arms resting casually behind his head.

"I can see why girls would get jealous now."

"Huh?"

"You were just standin' in the moonlight and... I dunno, you looked like you're from some other world."

Ann grinned. "Oh, you're saying I looked like an alien?"

"Nah, more like..."

"A goddess?"

"...Maybe."

"R-Really? I... don't know what to say."

"Ya don't gotta say anythin'. It's just a fact."

"Th-Thanks..." Ann mumbled with a deep blush, feeling oddly like Ryuji had unwittingly put her on the back foot. The back foot in what contest, she had no idea. "S-So, uh, what... what kinda girls do you like?"

"Huh? That came outta nowhere. Is this cuz I said you're pretty?"

"N-No. I just..." Why was she so flustered? Her inability to explain only made her attempts at clarification sound like excuse-making. "I mean, like, that's what made me curious, b-but it's not like I was wondering if I'm your type or anything like that."

"Yeah, yeah, I getcha," he replied a little too casually for Ann's liking. "My type, huh?"

"I bet she has to have big boobs, huh?" Ann asked in a joking tone, trying to reclaim her air of confidence.

"I mean... I'm not gonna say no. That would be pretty sweet. But, honestly, I think I'm kinda over stuff like that for a relationship."

"Huh? Really?"

"Yeah. I just want a girl who accepts me for me. Someone I don't gotta pretend I'm someone I'm not with. Someone who respects me."

Ann mulled over Ryuji's words. Given their similar experiences, it was easy for her to figure out why he wanted this. Given how much of an outcast he was - probably the most outcast of the group that included a 'criminal', a 'foreigner' and a 'narc' - it only made sense that, while he still had his ideal physical features for a girl in his fantasies, what he wanted in reality was someone who didn't care what others thought of him and was willing to get to know the real Ryuji Sakamoto. A girl would would treat him well (as he deserved to be treated, Ann thought) and who wouldn't abuse him as so many people in his life up to now had.

"I respect you..." Ann mumbled before she could think about it.

"What was that?"

"N-Noth... No, it's true. I respect you, Ryuji."

"Huh?"

"D-Don't get the wrong idea, okay? I'm not saying this as a potential partner of anything. But I really do respect you. You just live the way you want to and don't give much thought to what other people think about you. Hell, that only seems to matter to you when you think it'll impact Ren or me or the others. And you're always the first to jump in to help other people out. And not just in the Metaverse. I still remember you stupidly jumping out in front of that taxi so we could go after Makoto. And how we may only have saved her because of that. I mean, it got us implicated too, but...

"A-Anyway. You're a really sweet guy, Ryuji. Tough, reliable, always trying to help other people... I mean, you went out of your way to help me get back in this room just so I wouldn't have to sleep on a couch or the floor in a room full of boys. You easily could've just waited for me to fall asleep and then try to check me out... kinda like at Yusuke's welcome party, sure, but you've matured a lot since then. That's why I trust you not to be weird about us sharing a room together. I respect the hell out of you. That's what I meant."

When Ann looked back up at Ryuji, having avoided eye contact until now to keep her stream of thought from being derailed, she could tell, even in the low light from the moon, that he was tearing up.

"H-Hey, what's wrong?"

"Wha-?" Ryuji wiped his eyes with his arm. "I-I ain't cryin'!"

Ann sighed with a warm smile. "Alright. Come here. Just this once." Her arms were spread out wide to accept him into her embrace. He shuffled off of his bed and into her waiting arms. Given the kind of culture Japan was, Ann was doubtful Ryuji received hugs often. She knew Ren was more open with that kind of thing, around Ryuji and Yusuke especially, but she felt that the boy didn't receive the affection he deserved. She ran a hand through his dyed hair and gently shushed him.

"You're really somethin'," Ryuji said as his wiped his eyes again and moved back to his own bed.

"I know. I'm pretty great, huh?"

"Not got a lotta humility, though, huh?"

"..."

"Surprised I know a fancy word like that, huh?"

"K-Kinda, yeah."

"Harsh. But yeah, I know words."

"Sorry..."

"Naw. I know I ain't that smart. But I got it where it counts, right?"

"Yeah." Ann poked Ryuji in the chest. "Exactly where it counts."

I wrote almost all of this one up months ago and stopped working on it for some reason. I found it while browsing my files and added a few more lines to the end to finish it up.