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Don't get ahead of yourself. You aspire to be a pain in the ass. You're a mother hen.

[Perhaps a bit near the knuckle considering what they've been discussing, but also not as cruel as it could be.]

Yosuke is one of your Inaba friends, as I recall? Not another of your cognitive murderers. [Just a bit too musical.]

Edited 2024-01-02 22:14 (UTC)

Yosuke is, in fact, one of the founding members of the Investigation Team, who used to be a colossal, closeted mess with very little tact.

[Heh. The cognitive murderer comment doesn't even get a twitch of irritation. Crow just takes another sip.]

He's been dating Yu for years by this point, and I suspect that if either of them knew the state of my love life, I'd never hear the end of it.

[Yeah, he's sipping his own coffee for the duration of that.]

Do you think there's something about us that selects for it? Persona-users, I mean.

[The Gay.]

Well, no one in the Investigation Team felt particularly straight... except my dad, I suppose. Then again, he's in his forties, and of a generation that was far less inclined to look inward and question their orientation.

[Plus, Dojima lost his wife. It stands to reason that he just wouldn't have much inclination to do so.]

[As ever, he double-takes slightly on "my dad". But then he nods, thinking about it.]

Isn't there a theory that everyone is at some level bisexual, and it's just life experience that guides us in one direction or the other? If that were the case, it would follow that, having faced ourselves, we're also more open to experience.

Please don't take this to mean I'm open to your experiences, by the way. [Sip.]

There are multiple schools of thought on sexuality, from it being a matter of biology versus a matter of upbringing... Then there are those who are not inclined in either direction, and they're perhaps the most invisible.

[Sex and romantic relationships are just so normalized that the absence of either is seen as less valid for one reason or another.]

And rest assured, I don't plan to give you an in-depth play by play. The dissertation I sent to the other Ren in a post-sex haze was embarrassing enough.

You know, I'm almost disappointed. I could have held your post-sex dissertation over you for the rest of our lives, as it turns out. [He is not disappointed. But he is, he can't deny, curious.]

Clearly it would be understatement to say it worked out.

You have to understand how fucking bizarre it is in hindsight.

[He punctuates his words with another sip. Almost done now.]

I went from "serpent below the belt" to... well. Let's just say Ren quite enjoys acts of intimacy with me and I've gained quite a wealth of experience in a relatively short time.

[He's doing the best impression you have ever seen of someone who truly isn't interested at all. It's unlikely that it's good enough to fool Crow.]

Wait. So your Ren had already...?

[A little gesture here and there with one conveniently-gloved finger: he'd already done it?]

We were both virgins. It's just that Ren took to it like a fish to water, and, well...

[He places his hands together, taking a deep breath.]

Our first time gave way to a second time mere moments after we had finished.

Edited 2024-01-03 01:45 (UTC)

[Wait, what? His mask of indifference flickers.]

What, were you in the Metaverse? I always found it put me to sleep.

[Which is a lot of the reason he does it. He has done it twice in a row, but not anything he'd describe as "mere moments" later. A portrait is forming in his mind, alarming and strange, of Ren Amamiya, Sex God.]

Edited 2024-01-03 01:50 (UTC)

No Metaverse required.

[He pauses.]

Let's just say that Ren found the end result of our first round quite arousing, and our hormones did the rest.

[That's the polite way of saying that he was leaking, and this was apparently a kink.]

Edited 2024-01-03 02:02 (UTC)

[Being this bright is a curse, sometimes. His mind helpfully, and at once, fills in four or five different ways that could be true, complete with imagery. One of them is even correct.

Rather than seem like he's going into a flap, he sets his cup down and drops back in his chair with a laugh. He's fine.]

Dear me, that's no good. I'll have to kill him after all.

[He's flapping.]

Your Ren may be different. And regardless, it would be a waste to kill someone who clearly has genuine feelings for you.

[Oops. He... may have neglected to mention that before now. Surprise, Magpie?

Crow's smile wavers a lil' when he realizes how casually he let that slip.]

Oh, come on.

[It's not news, though his tone might be tellingly whiny. He vividly remembers his conversations with Ren at the party; both of them. And he remembers how fucking strange future Ren had been.]

You know I'm altering his past when I return. That guy won't ever exist, and nor will anything going on in his head. [Assuming it was only in his head.]

You're assuming he doesn't already feel a spark. All I'm suggesting is that you leave yourself open to the possibility.

[Still, Crow's tone is rather relaxed, all things considered. He suspected a response like this might ensue.]

He "feels a spark" for someone he knows is meant to shoot him dead in less than three weeks?

[Ugh. It's not funny any more. And he hates anything that suggests possibilities other than death.]

Have you finished your coffee? [He'll leave his. He really wants to kill something.]

It is entirely possible for him to view you with more nuance and understanding for your circumstances than you give him credit for.

[But after Crow takes one last sip, he nudges the cup aside.]

But I digress. We were supposed to eviscerate Shadows...

You read my mind. [He's already on his feet.] I'm supposed to be elevating your mood, not bringing it down.

Shall we go?

[Nuance. Come on! You can have all the nuance in the world, you can have nuance for years, you can eat, breathe and shit nuance till you die, and it won't change the fact that some things are unforgivable. He knows nobody who heard the poison he laughs into Shido's ear, or the way he hung on the man's every word, would see him the same way again.]

One of these days I will find a way to convince you that, yes, even you are worthy of love and that restorative justice is a very valid approach.

[It's said with an oddly whimsical tone as he rises from the table and politely pushes his chair in.]

But yes, let's go. It's been a little while since I last dared to venture to Mementos.

Scared of the big bad Shadow?... Actually, that's probably wise, isn't it.

[They aren't far from Ginza Station. They can head out of the door and practically be there. Magpie glances back.]

He was wrong, you know. It's not cognitive murderers you collect. It's windmills to tilt at.

I was trying to be a responsible oniisan.

[Look at that dashing smile. He remembers that. It may be a light tease, but not a malicious one.]

And I still disagree that it's a collection. That you both share that thread of commonality is coincidental to my attachment.

[Oh, he hesitates just a bit, glancing back.]

Wait. I'm the oniisan. I'm older than you.

You are now, but you were twelve. I wanted to ensure you were given a safe, stable home, and that meant fewer Metaverse escapades.

[It's one thing to have intimate nights with his boyfriend. It's something else entirely to fight through Shadows and return in an exhausted state.

Nonetheless, despite the playfulness to his smirk, it's not a lie.]

[Suddenly, he feels lonely for his futon at the Dojima house, whether it mysteriously ended up next to Raven's for everyone to climb into or not. So, of course, he turns on his heel with a bit of a smirk of his own, sharp and supercilious.]

Well. I admit to wondering what would have happened if I'd managed to awaken over again. If I'd taken the hand of your gas station attendant, for instance. Perhaps I'd just have woken up.

It might have been fun. [And it would have lost him an opportunity never to return. But there's Ginza Station, not a hundred metres down the street.]

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nsfw text lmao

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