Take your time or I'll take your Heart

Chapter 10

She stood right underneath the very tree I said goodbye to her. I slowed down my breathing a bit before I walked towards her. It's been a while since the last time I had seen her. When I walked up behind her, she turned around and looked right into my eyes.

I turned around and looked into his eyes. He smiled at me. He looked like he was about to say something, but he didn't for a few minutes.

"It's been a while," he said.

"You promised you'd be back after your mission," I said.

"Obviously that didn't go as planned," he said as he scratched the back of his neck.

"I'm just glad you made it back in one piece."

"Same here."

"I guess you stopped by the group?"

"I did. We're not really disbanding the Phantom Thieves, but we're not going to continue what we were doing."

"That sounds like a good idea."

"Did you have anything to do with releasing me?"

"I may have had some part," I said.

"You know you didn't have to do that."

"I just didn't want to wait two years. I don't think I would have lasted that long," I said underneath my breath.

"I know the two years would have been hard on you. It would have been hard on everyone."

"So what are you going to do now?"

"Well, Sakura caught word of what happened. He's kicking me out."

"Do you need a place to stay?"

"After what happened, my parents don't really want to see me. I might crash with Ryuji, although he lives alone."

"You can always stay with me. What would you do about school?"

"They expelled me. I don't think I am going to any other schools after they hear about this. It will also be hard for me to find a job."

"I'll help you land back on your feet."

He smiled, "Thanks, Y/N."

"I'd have to ask my parents first."

"Why don't we head over there now?"

We walked back towards my house. I wanted to tell him, but I wanted to wait for the right moment. This wasn't going to be the right time. I walked inside and found my mother and father sitting at the kitchen table.

"Hey, mom. Dad, can I ask you something?"

"What is it honey?" my mother asked.

I looked behind me and Ren walked into view. He waved to them.

"Hi, Mr. and Mrs. L/N," he said.

"Ren," my mother said.

"I thought you were in prison," my father said.

"Well, a group of my friends back at Shujin helped me out," he said. "I got expelled from Shujin and Sakura is kicking me out. I've got no place to go. My parents don't really want to see me either."

"Can he stay here with us, mom?"

She sighed, "I have a bit of a problem with it. Can we think about it? Do you know when Sakura is kicking you out?"

"He had my stuff transferred back to my parent's house after he heard about this."

"Oh. Looks like we don't have much time to discuss it. I don't see what the problem is. Just don't do anything stupid."

"I won't, ma'am."

"I'm going to go help him get his things," I said and walked out of the house with him. We walked over to his parents and saw the box was on the porch. He grabbed the key from his pocket and unlocked the door. I followed him to his room and helped him gather a few things. I was looking around the room and I saw an old photo of us. It was the photo when we went to the dance. There was also a note beside it with my name on it. I know I shouldn't be doing this, but I grabbed it and quickly put it in my pocket.

"I think that's everything," he said.

"Alright."

"I want to say goodbye to my friends."

"We can head over there."

We headed over to the train station and got on the train. When we arrived, the entire Phantom Thieves were there.

"Hey guys, I'm heading back with Y/N. I hope you don't mind."

"Just take care. Make sure to visit," Ryuji said.

"Of course."

"What about me? You were the only person I lived with!" Morgana said.

"We can take you back too, Morgana," he said as he picked up the cat.

"I'll see you guys," he said and hugged each one of them.

"We made this for you," Ryuji said as he handed Ren a card. It looked like mine, but instead of saying 'Take Your Time' it said, 'Joker' on it.

"Thanks, guys."

"We'll miss you, Joker," they all said as we got onto the train with Morgana.

We walked out of the train station, grabbed Ren's belongings, and headed back towards my house. I helped him get everything settled in in our guest room, which was across from my room.

"I'll let you get settled in," I said after I helped for a little bit. I walked over to my room and closed the door. I took out the piece of paper that was on his dresser. I opened it up and saw it was a note. I looked at the date. It was the day after the dance.

"Y/N,

I don't know how to express this, but I think I like you. I know I'm not one great with spoken words so I decided to use this as a way. I don't know when I am going to give this to you, but I decided that after high school, if I still felt this way about you, I'd give it to you. I don't know how you would handle this, but I hope you understand my feelings. You don't have do reciprocate my feelings just to make me happy. If you genuinely have feelings for me, that's ok.

~Ren"

He's harbored his feelings for more than three years. Meanwhile, I've harbored mine for a year. I folded the note back up and grabbed a piece of paper. I wrote a response to his note and folded it up and put his name on it. I walked over to his room. He was currently in the bathroom taking a shower. I put the notes on his dresser and walked back into my room.