Sick (Ren)

The Phantom Thieves all cheered as they watched their leader overcome the stacked odds of the gauntlet that had been thrown at him. He made it look so easy too, taking down all those enemies with a single Persona. Now they had enough chips in order to cross the bridge, everything was looking up.

*cough*

Ann's ears perked up, it sounded stifled but that was definitely a cough she heard, and not those awkward silence fillers once either. But she was behind everyone, she would have seen who ever it was that had coughed, Crow, Fox, Noire, Mona, Queen, Skull, they were all in front of her yet she didn't see any of them react like they had-

*cough*

She stopped and turned, Joker had been lagging behind the group, she noticed him readjusting his left arm so his hand could slide back into his trench coat pocket. He cleared his throat.

"What's wrong, Panther?"

"Hey, were you just coughing?"

"What? No, just clearing my throat is all." He caught up to her and continued to walk past her. "Come on, we don't wanna get left behind."

"O-oh, yeah. Let's hurry." Her eyes lingered a bit longer, she felt a ting of worry as she watched the back of his frame. Did those fights take more out of him than she thought? Maybe keeping an eye on him wouldn't hurt.

Leave it to Crow to pull a backup plan from out of nowhere. Thanks to that they quickly turned the tables on Shadow Sae just as quickly as she had attempted to put a one million chip wall between them and her. Now they had a path to the treasure and all that left was the heist. As they made their way back to the entrance Panther continually kept glancing at Joker. He appeared to be breathing heavier and even with his mask and trench coat collar obscuring most of his face she did notice that he was looking paler than usual. It was all in her head, right?

Taking a few steps out of the building, Joker felt his nose twitch, he tried wrinkling the sensation away with his upper lip but no avail, the feeling kept building and building until-

*ACHOO*

It wasn't a loud sneeze so those up ahead didn't hear him but Panther, who was still lagging behind the group, had and turned her attention to their leader who was in the process of sneezing again.

"Hey, are you sure you're alright?"

"Y-yeah. I'm fa- fa- fa- *ACHOO* fine…" He sniffles, no doubt his nostrils had accumulated a buildup of mucus that would attempt to leak out. His voice even began to sound more naezuley, yet Joker proceeded to continue like all was fine.

Maybe she was just overthinking this, people sneeze from time to time, and they cough too, and anyone would look tired out if they had to traverse a building after having fought. Yet none of this dispelled her concern, if anything it amplified it. But that begged the question, could people get sick in the Metaverse? It was definitely something she wondered ever since Morgana told them how a high pollen count would affect shadows, and they were in the middle of flu season too. Maybe he was sick beforehand and their Phantom Thief work was just exasperating it? She would definitely have to ask Morgana to keep an eye on him.

The next day at school Ren hadn't shown up for class, maybe he was just running late she thought, class wouldn't start for a few minutes after all.

"PSST!" Wait, what was that? "Lady Ann…" She slowly leaned back to look into her desk without being obvious, and there he was, a blue eyed, black and white cat in her desk. She pushed her chair slightly inward and leaned forward onto the desk.

"How'd you even get in there? Wait, nevermind that. So, how is he?" She whispered.

"This is one of the only times I wish you were wrong, Lady Ann, but you were right." She sucked her teeth. Her hunch was right, Ren is out sick. "He pretty much passed out when we got back to Leblanc last night. Then this morning he was looking like a mess. Sojiro nearly fought him just to get him back to bed. 'Halloween was last month so how about you put that sheet back on your bed before thinking about going to school.'. It would have been more funny if he wasn't so accurate with how Ren was looking."

Ann let out a resigning sigh, no use in berating a man when the damage is already done. Ever since Akechi's ultimatum he's been working himself nonstop to do, essentially, everything possible. If it wasn't for Morgana always telling him to sleep he'd probably skip that too, but given his current state she guessed he was either sleeping later or waking much earlier.

"So is Sojiro or Futaba taking care of him?"

He shook his head. "Sojiro has to take care of the shop and he also doesn't want Futaba getting sick." As if on cue, Ann's phone vibrated, opening up the group chat she saw that Futaba left a message.

'Ren's sick in bed T_T'

'Sojiro won't let me take care of him, can one of you?' This was followed by a puppy dog eyes emoji and two fingers pointing into each other.

Ann wasted zero time, 'I'll be there right after school' as she put her phone down she saw that Morgana had been impressed with the speed she had responded with. "I noticed he was a little off last night while we were in the palace. I'd feel a little guilty knowing that he was already sick and decided not to do anything." That was the excuse she was going with, not that her boyfriend was sick and she wanted to help nurse him back to health. Of course if that was the case it would be her little secret.

The bell rang through Leblanc as the door suddenly swung open. Sojiro wasn't at all surprised at this, it was after school, Ren hadn't gone to school, and his friend group was always on the up and up with anything that involved any of them. In fact he found it rather amusing seeing Ann nearly bust open the door, one arm leaning on the door frame and the other holding the door knob, her eyes wide open as she let out exasperated pants, trying to catch her breath. The customers would surely turn their attention to this sudden entrance, if there were customers that is.

"Welcome." He watched Morgana leap out of her bag and into the shop. "So that's where you've been all day, went to get some help I see."

"W-w-whe-where's-" Just trying to catch her breath was inhibiting Ann from even getting out what she wanted to say. Thankfully for her, Sojiro knew exactly why she was here. He chuckled to himself before pointing to the staircase. "He's upstairs. I also bought some stuff to make soup, it'll be ready in a bit."

"Thanks." A few more seconds of composing herself and she was able to get herself off the door and enter the establishment. Morgana led the way up to Ren's room, she cautiously entered, seeing him warped in his bed sheets, facial mask dawned, his eyes were closed. She placed her bag onto the couch and walked up to his bedside and knelt beside him. His face was pale and it sounded like he was breathing through his mouth, he also had trace bits of sweat going down his forehead. She gently placed the back of her hand on his forehead and one on her own, he felt warmer than he should but he wasn't as hot as she thought he would be. His eyes opened slightly as he looked up at the hand on him and traced it back, slightly turning his head to see Ann, he smiled, but you couldn't tell.

He let out a weak, elongated, 'hey', she smiled at him. "Did I wake you up?" He grunts, she assumes that meant no but she probably did, it seemed like he was attempting to sit up but Morgana jumped onto the sheets, apparently the added weight was enough to keep him down.

"Hey now, you shouldn't be getting up yet." He tried to protest, calling out Morgana's name. "You don't even have enough strength to get me off you." He groaned, leaning his neck to look at the cat on him but ultimately resigned himself to being pinned down by his own cat.

"How did you even get like this?"

He responded with an 'I…uh…' before Morgana cut him off.

"He pretty much worked himself up like this. Between school and Phantom work, and us trying to figure out how to deal with Akechi, he hasn't been resting enough and flu season is in full swing so now he's like this."

"Has he taken any medicine?"

"Takemi was here earlier…" He weakly let out. Morgana and Ann looked at him with raised brows. "Our medicine dealer…" The collective 'oh' of realization made Ren roll his eyes as he chuckled a little. "She came by a little after you left, Morgana. She said I've overworked myself and I might be coming down with something. She said she'd bring back something for me to take later but that I should rest most importantly." Morgana nodded his head and Ann stood up.

"Let me get you something to eat then. Make sure he doesn't go anywhere, Morgana."

"Can do, Lady Ann."

She could see Ren wiggle a little under the sheets, she couldn't help but giggle as she made her way downstairs. With her reaching the bottom step she saw that Sojiro wasn't at the counter, as she walked forward she could see Sojiro at the stove.

"Perfect timing, soup's ready." With a bowl in one hand and a ladle in the other he filled up the bowl with the hot broth and held it out to Ann. "Here, I think he'd like it if you feed him." She blushed and muttered some words as she reached out for the bowl, holding it in both hands. "I'll leave him in your care. I'm gonna head out for a bit, but I'll be back to close up. If anyone comes looking for me just tell them to come back tomorrow." She nodded, making her way towards the stairs. She nearly tripped when she heard Sojiro say, "Make sure to give him plenty of TLC!".

Reentering Ren's room she pulled up the chair at this work bench next to his bedside. "Time to eat, Ren." He mumbled something incoherent, attempting to sit up but Ann stopped him. "You don't have to get up. Just pull down your mask and I'll feed you." He mumbled some more before shifting a bit under his sheets, his hand coming up to pull down his mask under his chin, revealing his rosey cheeks. Ann giggled, was he embarrassed that she was going to feed him? Maybe she could have some fun. She lifted a spoonful, gently blowing on it to cool it. "Alright, say 'ah~' Ren."

Ren didn't look too amused, his cheeks gaining more color as he stared at the spoonful. "Ann…"

She giggled. "What? I'm just feeding you." Morgana even let out a little chuckle. "Yeah, Ren. Lady Ann's just feeding you. You should feel so lucky." She smiled. "Yeah. Now open wide, here comes the plane." Moving the spoonful of soup, she made airplane sounds while also trying to suppress her laughter, Ren still looked at her, unamused. "Ok, ok I'm sorry." She said giggling. "For real this time." She brought the spoon to his mouth, no games this time, and he ate. The two continued like this in relaxing silence for some time until a knock at the door broke it. Ann excused herself, heading downstairs she opened the door, being greeted by a woman with short dark blue hair and wearing a lab coat. She looked familiar.

"Hey, is Sojiro here? I've got a delivery for him."

"Oh, no, sorry. He stepped out for the day."

She eyed Ann for a second, giving her a good look over, she smiled. "So I'm guessing that means he left you in charge of Amamiya then. Would that make you his girlfriend then?" She blushed, stammering some words while playing with her hair. Tae laughed a little. "Don't be so embarrassed, here." She handed her a brown paper bag. "Here's some medicine, once he takes it it'll make him sleepy so make sure he eats something beforehand. I'll leave that to you, nurse."

"N-Nurse?!"

"Well yeah, you are looking after him and I can't think of anyone better suited for the position. You could restrain him in ways that would get my medical license revoked." Ann blushed, an exasperated 'huh?' left her lips, leaving Tae chuckling. "I'm kidding, but be sure you give him the medicine and he should be good in the morning. I'll leave it to you then." She started to walk away before stopping and. looking back, over her shoulder. "Oh, if you ever need any contraceptives my shop's right down the alley." Ann was left red faced as she watched the doctor walk away, why were the adults out to tease her today? Closing the door, she looked inside the bag seeing its contents consisted of a lone, unmarked vial. She took the bottle from the bag, it couldn't have been no more than the medicines they had when exploring the Metaverse. Reentering the room, she discarded the bag, seeing Morgana curled up on top of Ren as he looked at her.

"Who was it?"

"Your personal doctor. She was that really cool punk rock lady we met when we went to the shrine, right?" Ren nodded. "She still looks super cool, and she brought some medicine for you." She held the vial by the top, lightly swaying as the liquid inside swished around. "I can feed it to you if you'd like." He nodded, he wasn't about to embarrass himself again with trying to get Morgana off him. She knelt down beside him, uncapping the vial. "It's gonna make you sleepy but she said you should feel better in the morning." She held the bottle to his lips, parting them, the yellow liquid poured into him. His eyes shot open immediately, the overwhelming taste of bitter and sour nearly caused him to spit up the contents at once at it not been for Ann being right there. His lips pursed around the top, now gripping the vial, as his tongue blocked the opening to stop the serum from entering his body.

Ann was taken aback by surprise, the bewildering look on Ren's face and how he was holding the rest of the medicine back with just his mouth, she could but laugh in amusement.

"Don't you want to take your medicine, Ren?" He vigorously shook his head. "But it'll make you feel better." Once again he shook his head. Ann thought for a moment, she could just get on top of him and force him to take the medicine but that would wake Morgana. It would leave them in a questionable position that might leave the cat in hysterics. Perhaps words would be better.

"Well~, if you take your medicine now then tomorrow…" She leaned in close, whispering into his ear. "I'll let you taste something sweet." Ren stared at her, wide eyed, the red oh his cheeks deepening and Ann's slowly began to match his own, unable to make eye contact with him. He broke his gaze, focusing on nothing in particular, more than likely debating with himself before closing his eyes, moving his tongue, and chugging the remainder of the medicine. Finishing it, he spat out the vial towards the wall, spitting out in disgust, Ann couldn't help but giggle. "See, it wasn't so bad."

"That tasted awful." He spat some more, trying to get the taste off his tongue. Ann giggled, it was fun seeing Ren so animated. Finishing getting the taste out of his mouth he let out a yawn, feeling his eyes getting heavy. "Hey, um…" He tried making eye contact with her but found himself being a little timid. "What um… what did you mean by 'something sweet' earlier?"

Ann twirled one of the ends of her twintail, her eyes looking up towards the ceiling. "Oh, um, you know, like that time… during lunch…" Both made eye contact, Ann looked at him with a small smile while Ren looked at her in wonderment, mouth open slightly. She stuck her tongue out a little and winked, he was turning a shade darker. He yawned again, his eyes struggling to stay open. "Looks like that medicine is really fast acting. Guess I'll be going then."

Ren protested, or attempted to as he let out a drowsy, elongated, 'no' as he slowly shook his head. Ann giggled. "Let me know how you feel in the morning, ok?" She took a quick glance at Morgana, she leaned down, kissing Ren on his forehead. "Goodnight." His eyes fluttered shut, a smile gracing his lips as he mumbled out a 'goodnight' and a very quiet 'love you…' As sleep drunk he currently was, his words set her heart a flutter, she knew he meant them. Taking another glance at Morgana, she kissed Ren on the lips and whispered, "Love you too." before taking her leave. Gently closing the door, she began walking down the alley. Looking up at the sky, noticing the once blue was turning shades of orange and red, she smiled and wondered what dessert she should get for them tomorrow.