Author's Note: Coup de foudre: a sudden unforeseen event, in particular an instance of love at first sight.
Or, in more fangirly terms, Google the French expression coup de foudre, and you'll see a picture of Ren and Ann's first meeting. Hence this little ficlet. ^_^
Disclaimer: I don't own Persona 5.
Coup de Foudre
When Ren first sees her, the first thing he notices is her leggings.
Or rather, the color of her leggings—a bright, scarlet red which quite literally stands in vivid contrast to the gray, stormy world around them. His gaze travels northward as she wipes rain off herself, and he has only a brief moment to take in the black Shujin blazer she's wearing over a white sweatshirt before she pulls her hood down.
The next thing Ren notices causes him to feel as if he's been struck by lightning.
It's not just her leggings that provide a splash of color—it's her. Her skin is as white as porcelain; her eyes are as blue as a clear summer sky; her lips are as pink as roses. And her hair—long, wavy locks of ash blonde hair pulled into pigtails on either side of her head. Beautiful, comes the thought, but it's a poor word to use for a girl who looks as stunning as she does.
Somewhere in the back of his mind, Ren is dimly aware he shouldn't be staring at her so openly, as though he's never seen a pretty girl before, but stare at her he does. Whether it's for a few seconds or the rest of eternity, he can't tear his eyes away from her as she looks out into the street. If he dies at this very moment, taking her in like a blind man seeing a sunrise for the first time, he thinks he can die happy.
He doesn't die, of course, but she does catch him staring at her, and his heart skips several beats under that azure gaze. Her lips part slightly, and for an instant, he wonders if she's about to yell at him (does what he's doing classify as sexual harassment? With the way the world's been treating him lately, it probably does). Except she doesn't yell at him, nor does she call him a creep, demand he get away from her, or even glare at him.
All she does is give him a smile. It's a slight smile, done only out of politeness, most likely, but even so, it's enough for warmth to bloom in his chest. In between his parents and former friends throwing him to the wolves, Kobayakawa and Kawakami acting like he's an inconvenience to them, and Sojiro Sakura repeatedly threatening to kick him out, it's nice to get even the smallest amount of kindness from someone.
(Much later on, he'll wonder if it was that kindness, even more than her beauty, that made him love her.)
She resumes staring into the street, and Ren follows suit, watching the rain fall without truly seeing it. Neither he nor she break the silence between them, and perhaps he should be feeling awkward, but somehow, for the first time since that bastard sued him, he feels perfectly at ease.
If she's attending Shujin Academy, too, then maybe this year won't be so terrible after all.