I'm alive...kind of. Anywhoo, I got really inspired a year or so ago after seeing a lot of fics in which various Persona casts switch bodies or whatnot and thus this was born. I was looking through my stuff earlier and found it again, roughly half written, and since I was trying to force myself to write today I figured why not have fun with it in the process and try to finish this. Well I don't know how, but I managed it. I also decided to mess with universes and both the protagonists exist in this. It's silly and it's stupid and it's fairly unoriginal, but it's something. Enjoy?
Disclaimer: I do not in any way own the Persona franchise or ATLUS or really even twenty bucks
Wear It Well
He doesn't know what exactly happens in the three minutes he took his eyes off of them to fend off a Shadow that had taken a rather weird interest in his pants, but when Junpei looks back he gets an eyeful of something he's not quite ready to believe. At first he thinks that their dynamic duo team leaders have been exchanged for some weird knock-offs. On further investigation, he comes to the conclusion that their heads seem to have been cut-and-pasted onto different bodies. Riichi is about a foot and a half taller with a build that could rival Akihiko's. She looks rather out of place with the skirt swishing against her upper thighs, which are far thicker than they had been mere minutes ago. It's hard to judge it correctly next to Riichi's newfound height, but Minato seems to have shrunk. The boy barely comes up to his sister's chest now. Although he was already pretty small for a guy, the bluenette has also seemed to have lost quite a bit of weight in his change if the way his clothes are loosely hanging off of him is any indication. There is a very noticeable bulge under his shirt and Junpei is loathe to think what that means.
The twins are too busy checking each other out to notice that the rest of them have stopped to stare.
"Mina-nii," Riichi giggles, and it's awkward and all sorts of wrong in her new, much lower voice. "Your pants are falling down." The girl—boy, should he refer to her that way now?—reaches down and tugs Minato's pants back up to his—her, this was getting far too confusing—waist and attempts to tighten his belt.
Minato barely seems to recognize that his sister—or would that be brother—is fiddling with his clothing. He instead preoccupies himself with attempting to flip her skirt. Riichi doesn't seem to mind this as much as Junpei believes she should. "It's tight," he comments in that soft, monotone voice he has, a voice that sounds far sweeter then Junpei thinks he can handle. "Switch?" That one word is enough to make the rest of them finally react.
"Don't you dare start stripping here!" Yukari squeals in equal disgust and disbelief. Junpei's unsure who she's more scandalized by, the boy turned girl or the girl turned boy.
Akihiko doesn't seem to know how to respond to this; actually he doesn't seem to even know where to look. It's more shock than embarrassment, probably out of an uncertainty over how to treat the two now then discomfort over the prospect of them removing their clothes. Had this been months earlier, Junpei would have been under the impression that his lack of fluster was on account of having seen the naked bodies of most of their female schoolmates already. As he'd had plenty of time to get to know the boxer though, he was pretty sure Akihiko probably didn't even have a good concept of what was now hidden under Minato's shirt. (Riichi barely counted in that regard as well because the senior definitely knew what was under her skirt at the moment and she basically counted as a guy in normal situations anyway.)
Junpei chooses to make what greatly resembles a sob and he has to try painfully hard to not break out in tears right there. There is something so totally wrong about their current situation that he thinks if anything else weird (well, weirder than usual) happens he might just have to sit down and allow himself a good long manly cry, shadows be damned.
It's Fuuka who finally brings back some semblance of normalcy. "Um, it seems like it's going to take a while for your um, status effects to uh, fade," she sounded far more unsure of herself than usual. Junpei didn't know how Juno worked, but he figured that even if Fuuka's Persona didn't give visual confirmation it still didn't give her correct readings for the twins. She was probably just as confused as the rest of them. "It may be best if you come back to the main floor. For safety's sake."
They seemed to be in general agreement about it, though Junpei seriously suspects that the twins merely consented in order to show off their new bodies to the rest of the team. They must have gotten the reaction they wanted too, because as soon as they materialize back in the entrance hall and the members they had left behind let out a collective gasp Riichi starts grinning like a fool and Minato puts on that weird half-smile that he wears when he's secretly mocking people.
"R-Riichi-san, you…" Ken looks as if his world has just ended. His lip is quivering in that way that shows he's not sure whether to cry or get angry and his eyes are as wide as headlights.
If Riichi notices his blatant distress she doesn't show it. "Hey Fuuka-chan, how long do you think this'll last?" she asks. She's unbuttoning her blouse at the same time so it takes Fuuka a little longer than usual to reply.
"I'm not sure," the poor girl stammers, trying desperately not to look at either of the twins. This is made harder by the fact that Minato has moved into the middle of the room to seat himself upon the staircase like a queen—and that regal way he's carrying himself does indeed remind one of female royalty far more than the male he should probably be emulating—and Riichi, having finished removing her now too-tight blouse, is busying herself with swishing her skirt about in what Junpei believes is an attempt to discreetly flash the rest of them. He is not amused. Neither is Mitsuru if that pinched almost murderous look is anything to go by.
Aigis approaches Minato and addresses him from the bottom of the staircase. "My scans show that your entire body make-up has changed to that of a female human. Upon searching through my databases I cannot find any results documenting this phenomenon happening naturally in such a short amount of time. Perhaps we should take you and Riichi-san to be examined." She sounds sincerely worried, so much so that it's hard to tell her how ridiculous and terrible that idea really is.
"Don't we have something to fix this?" Yukari snips, apparently deciding that the best way to handle the situation is to get mad at everyone else. Junpei would be more surprised had he not been on the receiving end of that anger almost daily.
Akihiko looked slightly put off. "We already tried Amrita. You really think any items are going to have an effect?" While he probably could have said it better, the senior had a point.
"We can't just leave them like this!" Ken's looking more distressed by the minute. Junpei feels for the boy, truly he does. But the ten year old is about as useful as Aigis at the moment and he wishes the boy would go sit in a corner and shut his mouth.
In fact, Junpei thinks he's going to take his own advice.
Mitsuru clears her throat and then retains a stony silence until the lot of them have piped down and given her their full attention. "We'll see if we can wait this out. If it hasn't fixed itself by the end of the Dark Hour then you two will be walking back to the dorm like this." He would have thought that out of all of them Mitsuru would have a sensible idea on what to do. After looking closer he comes to the conclusion that she's too fed up with the entire thing already to care. By that scary glint she's got she probably thinks the twins deserve it.
Neither of the offenders seem particularly put off by this declaration. Minato has taken to examining his nails and Riichi's ceased swishing her skirt in favor of running around comparing her newfound height to the others.
The girl's—boy's , she's a freaking boy right now—face lights up as soon as she stands next to Akihiko. "Hot damn!" she whoops! "Look how tall I am!" She's a tad shy of the boxer's height but she doesn't seem to mind.
Akihiko doesn't know how to react to this. "Congrats," he finally manages out. It almost sounds more like a question than anything else.
Riichi ignores his lack of enthusiasm to wheel on Junpei. "I bet I'm taller than you now!" she exclaims.
Having been attempting to make himself unnoticeable, it takes Junpei a moment to realize she's addressing him. "Fat chance," he snaps back against his better judgment. He realizes his mistake too late, and by then her smug grin makes him unable to ignore the insult. "Get your ass over here if you dare and I'll show you who's taller!"
Riichi wastes no time in bounding over.
In the meantime Koromaru has decided to seat himself at the base of Minato's feet. The boy blatantly ignores the chaos his sister is havocking and instead busies himself with scratching the dog behind the ears.
Fuuka takes this chance to approach him. "Are you sure you're not hurt anywhere?" she inquires, looking like she wouldn't know what to do if he was.
"I'm fine," he responds, moving to scratch the dog under the chin. "It's kind of fun, actually."
The poor girl obviously has no idea how to react to that. Especially when Minato goes ahead and pulls Koromaru between his new pair of tits. Koro, for his part, appears slightly annoyed at the halted petting, but doesn't give any other reaction.
Obviously fed up, Yukari joins the shouting match between Riichi and Junpei. "Can you two be any stupider!?" she screams. "Who even cares? And would you put your shirt back on! That's disgusting!"
Riichi looks unperturbed by the name calling and instead slyly quips, "I'm pretty hot, aren't I? You don't have to be so shy Yukari."
The girl in pink lunges and Riichi beats a hasty retreat. Junpei manages to end up forgotten and slinks back to try and become unnoticed again. Perhaps unwisely, he chooses to hide next to Akihiko.
"Koro's uncomfortable," the boxer calls to their newly acquired princess. Minato releases the dog as requested but looks mighty unhappy about it. Koromaru moves to seat himself next to Fuuka, probably in the vain hope that the uncertain girl will give him better attention.
Having lost his plaything Minato stands up and moves over to the silver-haired senior. It's obvious by the shuffling that Akihiko is uncomfortable. Junpei thanks the gods that the boxer has become the new target. Between the senior and Yukari's continued screaming neither of the twins is open to coming back and harassing him. Now if the two of them could change back already he'd truly be set.
The bluenette doesn't speak a word, instead he continues to stand uncomfortably close to the senior. He keeps inching closer if the way Akihiko keeps stiffening up is any indication. Slowly Minato picks at the front of his shirt. "It's tight," he comments, so low that only those near him can hear. "Senpai, can I have your jacket? It might be looser than mine."
Akihiko makes some sort of weird noise in the back of his throat and Junpei honestly thinks he might be trying to hide a nosebleed. For that tiny tug of a grin on his lips, Minato greatly appreciates this reaction.
The boy's (girl's) brief victory is lost when Riichi crashes into them, followed by Yukari, and they're knocked far enough to bowl into Junpei. The five of them form a writhing, kicking pile of tangled limbs and curses. From somewhere Aigis' concerned voice rings out, "Minato-san, Riichi-san, I shall proceed to untie you immediately." Part of him thinks he'd rather her get him out of this mess, the other part wishes the good intentioned android would just stay the hell out of this lest she makes it worse. And she does just that, because as soon Aigis gets close enough she takes a kick to the waist (and that was a rather loud yelp in response, he imagines someone is walking home with help that night) and becomes unbalanced enough in her surprise that she falls into the pile as well.
"Riichi-san!" Ken shouts, all worries and frayed nerves. He seems smart enough to keep his distance because no more bodies join the fray. That's short lived though, as Koromaru takes the pile of them as a game and gives a happy bark before leaping. Ken gets hit from behind and the boy gives a valiant attempt at standing his ground before succumbing to the dog's tackle and falling forward.
They're such a mangled pile of bodies that he can't even tell whose limbs are whose. He gets kneed in the face once, twice, a third time before Junpei throws a knee himself. There was a snarl in complaint but there were so many yelps and shouts that he couldn't figure out who he'd hit. His hand brushes skin and abs and he's horrified to know that he just managed to accidentally grope Riichi. The feeling of disgust is furthered when he realizes that the girl-boy's new body is far more toned than his.
In the background he hears Fuuka's frantic exclaimations. Please don't come close, Junpei prays, as someone successfully gets a finger jammed up his nose.
"Enough!" Mitsuru screams, and the whole lot of them freeze immediately. "I will have no more of this foolishness!"
Successfully cowed, the group somehow manages to silently untangle themselves from each other. Under the red haired woman's unflinching gaze they each move to sit cross-legged in a row in front of the stairs. They were to sit there quietly until the twins' ailments wore off or the Dark Hour ended, in which they would all march single-file back home. They were being treated like children, Junpei thinks but he isn't suicidal enough to say that to Mitsuru.
With them all lined up like this it was a lot easier to see the damage done. Koromaru and Aigis were the only ones who seemed to get away unscathed. Next to the dog Ken was sporting a bruised cheek, Yuka-tan's hair stuck up in all directions and her signature choker was missing, Riichi's whole chest was red and scratched (serves her right for taking her shirt off), Akihiko had a black eye and from the way he was rubbing his ankle had been the unlucky one to knock Aigis over, and Minato was bleeding lightly from a scratch across his temple while his wrist had turned the color of Mitsuru's hair. Junpei himself had taken one too many knees to the mouth and he resorts to spitting blood every few minutes. Something that Yukari is deeply disturbed by if her continued dirty looks and kicks to his thigh were any indication. On the other side of him, Riichi sniffs and scratches disappointedly at her bare chest.
Fuuka, the only one spared the school kid treatment, nervously holds up the girl's forgotten shirt. "Riichi-chan," she stammers, and it makes Junpei snort silently in laughter to see she still can't look at their classmate's body. "I brought your shirt for you."
Riichi really didn't look like she wanted it back but she takes the cloth all the same. She looks even worse when she pulls the thing on and the fabric brushes against her raw chest.
"I'll help you walk back," Minato eventually whispers to Akihiko.
The boxer shrugs. "No need," he sniffs lightly. He glances sideways at the boy-girl and immediately Akihiko's hand is over his nose again. "Um, it's probably a bad idea anyway."
Junpei thinks he's going to hurl.
As it turns out the sex change wears off minutes before the end of the Dark Hour. Junpei takes a slap to the face (courtesy of Yukari) for accidentally catching a glimpse of Riichi's regained chest. Ken, on the other hand, lights up like Christmas has come. He looks about ready to cry in relief, and Riichi finally notices the poor kid's distress and hugs him. Akihiko still appears like he's about ready to pass out from embarrassment, and he and Fuuka now share the continued inability to look at the twins.
Koromaru couldn't have cared less. The dog smiles at them like he's just had a long day of playing at the park. Junpei would give his baseball cards to be that dog.
The twins themselves look rather bored by the whole thing now. A lovely thought that continues halfway back to the dorm until Riichi leans her head on her brother's shoulder and comments, "Let's go back to that floor tomorrow."
"Of course," Minato replies and the chill that Mitsuru immediately gives off could rival a freezer.
They aren't allowed back in Tartarus until a week later, and by then their leaders are so scared of a certain woman that when Junpei makes a crack about the incident they descend upon him like a hawk.