Katsu: Well, Persona 3 has officially killed my love for Naruto. I figure this is something that needs out, so welcome to 'Small Snippets', of all this is Shinjiro and Akihiko, because I'm stupid that way...
Sin: Depressing shit, yay!
Katsu: Rated T, because love can be taken so many different ways.
All Snippets are done in their own time frame, and some are AU
This contains ShinjiroxAkihiko and many other smaller couples, the whole thing revolves around Shinjiro and Akihiko, but there will be ones soully on our favorite swearing-cooker!
Persona 3 is too uber to be mine, but if it was then you'd all know
Snippet 1: Shared Affection.
XxX
Fuuka had once described love as being selfless and selfish at the same time.
At first he didn't know what she had meant by that, or even where the conversation of love had come from. What he did know was those words stayed with him and seemed to haunt him for a long while afterwards. He vividly remembered the look on her face, the soft smile as she gently set a piece of the pasta cooker on the rack to dry, and the way her eyes looked so glassy, like she was remembering something so endearing to her that he almost felt like he was intruding.
It wasn't until a few days after, when he discovered that she loved him too.
Tartarus had been hell that night, it seemed like there was no end to the onslaught of Shadows. When they had arrived back at the entrance battered and bruised Akihiko noticed that Fuuka's eyes immediately trained on the guy next to him. He almost wanted to tell her Shinjiro was -although very tired- fine, but stopped short of his next step, frozen to the spot. He had a quick mental recap- all the trips to the shadow nest and he had only noticed NOW that she looked at him that way. And why did it seem like second nature to assure her that way? Mitsuru bumped into him and sent him into Shinjiro's shoulder, the boxer looked up quickly to catch her expression and managed to see a glimpse of concern and then what he could only later describe as jealousy and envy.
He could only say this later because he saw himself in the reflection of the glass door as he watched him reach over Fuuka to turn off the oven, then speak to her in a low voice- probably instructions as to how to stir the sauce- then chuckle.
It is not like loving the same person is uncommon in the world, it just sent his head for a loop. He had never known she saw Shinjiro that way. Many parts of him screamed and gnawed at his brain, demanding questions that he didn't have the answer for, nor did he ever find the right opportunity to ask. One day he came close to asking her what she loved about him so much, but he then stopped because Mitsuru came into the room and decided that moment to engage the soft spoken girl in a conversation about god knows what.
He then figured that he didn't have the right to intrude on her memories of him, they were hers and hers alone to keep and remember. It made him feel strange, to know that someone else felt the same way that he did. It was someone else in the world who shared the same quiet pain that he hid, watching him slowly die and not being able to do a damn thing to change his mind. And still, to feel the agony of defeat when they found him covered in blood, and knowing that nothing they could so would stop the flow, or stop the stab of regret. Although there were many times he wanted to talk to her about it, the conversation just never started itself, and when he did attempt he hastily changed it down an ambiguous road.
She would give him a smile of understanding, she knew what he wanted to ask but she never tried to continue the topic. She'd look hopeful for a moment, then after she realized he wouldn't ask she just went on pretending like neither of them knew how the other felt. Sometimes it worked, other times it didn't.
Like the time he found her crying in Shinjiro's room.
She gasped when she saw him standing at the door, and she rushed to get up and leave. She began sputtering out excuses and bits of emotion that he was sure she had wanted to share with him for some time.
"-I'm so sorry, I know I shouldn't..."
She tried again.
"He was so much closer to you... I just-"
This time a sob interupted her sentence.
"Please don't be mad... I didn't know what to do so I came... here to his..."
He couldn't be angry with her, they both knew this was no longer his room, and yet they both still kept coming back here. Both at different times, just to catch the last inch of his scent on the pillow or touch the personal items with fond memories that they both must have shared with him. It was at this moment that Akihiko knew where that look had come from that day when they were drying dishes and talking about love like they were speaking of two different people. The pasta cooker, of course, now he felt bad for touching it.
It was too bad, he thought, he would have been cheering for her. After all, she was a girl.
It wasn't normal- that they weren't fighting over who knew him more or who cared about him the most. They were both too wrapped up in hiding their guilt from each other, surely they were both thinking the same thing.
'If I could have stopped him, then he would still be alive, and they wouldn't be crying...'
Akihiko didn't remember when he had started to cry. But he didn't move to hide it, and he didn't move to console her either. He just looked over and saw the old wrist watch on the desk and let the new wave of tears come crashing down on him.
Somehow they both ended up sitting on the bed, neither able to hold themselves in a standing position, and she tried very hard to stay awake and not fall asleep on his arm. But there they were in the morning, asleep on his bed with red puffy eyes and killer headaches when they finally did awaken. It was probably a cause for alarm, Fuuka never went missing, and now that Shinjiro was gone Akihiko never had an excuse to go out during the night. However; the voice Mitsuru had was lost when she walked by that room, with the door ajar and all the lights on. She could only watch as the two slept peacefully, under a blanket Akihiko must have thrown over them before he drifted off as well.
She closed the door and called off the little alarm, and even though Yukari said Fuuka wasn't in her room Mitsuru insisted she was. And even though Junpei said he went IN Akihiko's room to look for him, she shook her head and told him to leave it alone.
They spent a lot of time together after that, both seeking solitude in the single fact that they shared a common love. Junpei once teased Fuuka about it, and Akihiko had to give it to her- she could hide herself well.
The first time they did talk about it was after the one year anniversary.
"I wonder if it's true."
"Hmn?"
"If time heals all sorrows... I don't think it can..."
"Me neither, I think it's just the will of the person to move on."
"Do you think you will, Akihiko-senpai?"
"...I could as you the same thing."
XxX
End of Snippet.
