[open] And in the end I'd do it all again

[skullandcrassbones]

Alright, Alright, this was fine. This was cool. Just vibing in the velvet room. It wasn't like it was his first time or anything. Still felt strange being here though. The doors were a new addition. Not to mention the bulletin board. Which he had yet to make sense of the most he got was multiple Akechis and code names. That was... okay. He was getting good enough at handling very-much-not-dead Akechi back home. They weren't best friends by any means but he would like to think they were on the way to actually pretty solid friends. Most of that was because he convinced Ren to stay.

So, what he had pieced together was: This was a relatively safe place, there's multiple Akechis, and there's doors. What was he supposed to do with this information. He hadn't really explored anything without someone else there, and no it's not because he was afraid, like the cat would like to tease.

1) He was staying in the room gathering the willpower required to explore the outside. But for now he was trying to put together the bulletin board. Sure was a lot of words. Ren could be called Akira, okay, he's got that down. Akechis and Ren/Akiras were together a lot. With how much Ren fawned over him, it wasn't shocking. It was at this point he realized he should probably take notes. He pulled out his phone, surprised to find it kinda worked. "Alright!"

Now back to finding out what was going on. He was scanning it over trying to piece things together. He had expected red strings, but blue worked fine too. He was reading and taking notes fine up until a particular one. "For real?!" He shouted, the first real thing he said in a long minute. "Siblings?"

2)With the courage gathered he stepped into the fifth door, glad to see a version on Toyko he recognised. He traveled around, starting to notice the almost scripted way others interacted. Creepy. He decided to start with the place he knew best. Le blanc. He hoped there wasn't anything out of place, boss would kill if he knew it was. Okay maybe not.

He was just standing at the door, looking through the glass. His hand on the doorknob. He didn't think he'd run into Ren, or an Akira. He just kinda felt weird going in there and not knowing what to expect.

Comments

[unfoggedlotus]

"It's a little weird, but I've gotten used to it. It's mostly me and Akechi, a few babies, a couple Harus, a couple Anns, some Futabas, saw Akechi's mom..." A moment as Ren processes oh. Not my Ryuji. before he's back to rights. "Yep! We're dating. He isn't, uh..." Ren gestures behind his back while he's warming up the pot. "TV Detective. Evil? Weird? In my universe. He got adopted and is a pretty chill guy. Helped me out a lot when I moved."

[ Around strangers, Ren isn't normally talkative. But this isn't really a stranger, and his Akechi is always worth taking about! ]

[skullandcrassbones]

He was happy to just listen to how Ren went. He just let him talk, he'd be here for however long Ren needed to talk, even when that stuff went over his head. "I wouldn't judge you if he was, You still ended up with him where I'm from. I have yet to win him over still. He's not exactly with the group yet, there's some hostile still."

[unfoggedlotus]

"...Huh." Ren lets out a little snort, the sound of rice cooking in the pot. "It's still kinda hard to think of Goro like that...I like mine the best."

[skullandcrassbones]

"I'm sure it better than the one who tried to kill you, then succeeded, then you had to decide whether to kill or not, then found out his dumbass was actually alive through a featherman form." He smiled like that was a completely normal sentence to say.

[unfoggedlotus]

"Featherman forum..." okay, Ren has to crack up at that one. "Oh my god. Why is that so...him." A few contemplative stirs of his pot, adding in ingredients. "That's the standard Akechi story, I think. The whole...tangle of murders and Shido and." Maruki. "Phantom Thief stuff. Almost makes me wish I experienced it, too...would make getting along with all the Akechis who aren't mine here easier, anyway."

[skullandcrassbones]

"Not necessarily. You're you, you get along with the one that really matters. They can join the club or not. It's not a you choice it's them. Which means they are really missing out. You're such a cool dude." He tapped his fingers on the bar as he talked.

[unfoggedlotus]

Huh. Ren turns to look back at this Ryuji with a smile. "Wise words. Thanks for the support, dude."

[skullandcrassbones]

"Of course, you are my best friend, why wouldn't I?" He smiled. He was being honest and truthful, not that he could lie for anything. It didn't matter which version of his best friends he met, he cared about them nonetheless.

[unfoggedlotus]

Ren grins. "Thanks, man." He turns around, serving him a steaming plate of fresh Leblanc curry. "On the house...not that money exists here."

[skullandcrassbones]

He smiled. He dug in, "Your cooking is so good," he spoke with his mouth still kind of full. "I'd marry you for this food alone." He hummed, still shoveling food in his mouth.

He had said the same thing to his Ren before. He got one hell of a glare from Akechi.

[unfoggedlotus]

"You're a little late to the party on that," Ren quips, flashing his ring finger. "The compliment to the chef is appreciated, though."

[skullandcrassbones]

His jaw dropped. "Holy fuck Ren!" He smiled so wide. "I'm so happy for you!" He ran around the counter to look at the ring closer.

[unfoggedlotus]

Ren...at first, something inside him flinches away at Ryuji running towards him. After a moment, though, he can't help himself but grin even wider and proudly show off his fancy piece of jewelry. "It's not official yet," he says, a little breathless. "It's more like...a pre-engagement. I still need to come up with a speech and something fancy to do...but yeah. We're committed."

With the design of the ring, it's not hard to figure out who, exactly, Ren is committed to.

[skullandcrassbones]

"Dude, that's amazing." He probably shouldn't have ran at him, but he was glad to see it ended up okay. "He better treat you good." Though with what he's said before he was sure his Akechi was just fine at that. "How did it happen? Tell me everything."

[unfoggedlotus]

"It was on Christmas day, actually," Ren grins, still feeling breathless. It's real, I'm telling someone about it, oh my god it's real. "We had a Christmas Eve getaway the night before. And then the rings were the first gift he had us unwrap. And...I cried."

[skullandcrassbones]

"Oh man, that's so nice! I'm so happy for you." He looked at his bestfriend so happy, he deserved to feel like this, he deserved to be this happy and this taken care of. "He does seem one for clichés though."