MinatoxYuko.
persona 3.
apply standard p3 disclaimer here.
There were always those first times for every couple. experimental coupling, minato x yuko
a/n:
I know. They're not a popular pairing...Or let's put it this way. I don't think anybody ships them in the fandom. But, I couldn't pass off this idea when I played the game and thought how cute they could actually be together. Personally, I thought there was no other female characters who could fit a character like our favorite Main. Don't get me wrong, I'm not convincing you to support my thinking, or to bash some minatox(insertsomefemalecharacterhere) pairings fans, but I thought, hey – since they look cute together, they MIGHT work out, you know? So I thought, why not?
Thus this fic was born, and is pure experimental in nature. I hope to see some works involving Yuko (she's one of my favorite social links, really) come out soon. She lacks fandom support here.
--
The first time he realized she loved him, was after the track nationals when he had completed his long-distance run, and had nearly fainted at the end of the track. Kazushi had to call an ambulance, and he had to be stretchered back to the stands.
All he remembered, cloaked in perspiration, decked in simple track singlet and shorts with his shoes nearly dropping off his ankles, shoelaces messily untied, was the look she gave him as she held both of his hands and told him he was going to be okay. He remembered those eyes – grayish-blue, so much like hers, and the tears that hung at the corner of them. They glistened, but did not fall out.
He reassured her he was going to be okay. It was only dehydration, pure exaustion. After all, nobody could run a marathon and feel perfectly fine after that.
She promised to stay by his side all the way to the hospital, and she did. In the ambulance, across traffic lights, in half-slumber, he watched her through slightly closed eyes and knew the way she looked at him then was an unmistakable emotion.
She loved him.
And the intensity of it stunned him.
--
The first time he realized he loved her, was after the second track nationals when she had completed her run, did badly, and went hiding in the locker room. He had made a dash there, disregarding it was out of bounds to males, found her cradling in her own arms in a corner, crying into her knees, and had stood dumbfounded three steps behind.
Akihiko never taught him how to handle crying, heartbroken women.
So he let his heart took over, went up to her, reached out with arms around her, and brought her close to him.
He let her cry on his shoulder, and all he was aware of was how close they were, how he could feel her heart beating against him, her tears warm and hot against his clothes, and the whispers naturally lifting from his lips telling her "It's all going to be okay..."
It had been an hour before she had fallen asleep in his arms, and all he remembered looking down at her slumbering form, tracing his fingers across her grayish hair and tucking it gently behind her ears-- was the amount of love and tenderness he did so with these gestures.
And it scared him to hell when he learnt he wanted to kill anybody who came close to hurting her ever since.
--
The first time he realized some girls in school were making fun of her, she hadn't told him directly. He had to find out from Kazushi, who warned him of the girl he liked (Kazushi was observant enough to see who was getting attached with whom on the track team, as Captain) was getting mildly bullied by his fangirls apparently jealous of their intimate relationship.
He wouldn't put placing skeletons in her locker, stealing her homework (she ended up running ten rounds around school and going for two weeks' worth of detention), splashing paint all over her table in the classroom mild.
When the news hit him, he had dashed to the entrance of Gekkoukan High where she always waited for him before they walked home together (they were kind of dating unofficially now...He hadn't had the guts to tell her how he felt yet.), looked her carefully in the eyes with his fingers placed under her elbows, tilted her chin so that she couldn't look elsewhere, and told her she was an idiot for not informing him of the reason behind those soulful, sad eyes these days.
"You're stupid, you know that?"
And it confused him how his heart nearly stayed constricted in his throat when he held her closer to him like she was a doll about to break anytime.
And how guilt plagued him when he realized he hadn't protected her from these scars. He swore that would all change the next day...and the day after, and after, and after.
He would be her knight in shining armor, even though she reassured him he already was.
--
The first time she finally confessed he liked him, had been a terrible time for both of them.
He was apparently not prepared to take the news, and looked as shocked as she was that she had managed to blurt it out.
She had mistaken his reaction resembling that to a performing guppy with his mouth open and close pondering what to say, as rejection, that so tremendously frightened and ashamed, she had dropped her head, pivoted on her heels, and ran off, mumbling "sorry" with that look in his eyes he had never forgotten the first time he laid on the stretcher with her holding his hands.
Tears glistening, failing to drop.
And it broke his heart when he realized he didn't have the courage for the next few days to go up to her to tell her he felt the same way, too.
They spent the week in awkward silence, turning away from each other each time they passed the other in school.
-
The first time he finally worked up his guts (ironic – someone who could kill Shadows in Tartarus faster than one could blink at night and box Junpei in the ears and still get away with it, failing to express his emotions towards a girl?) to confess to her he, too, loved her...That, he recalled vividly Kazushi going up to him one fine day before track practice, looking him sternly, before throwing a fist into his nose.
He learnt never to offend the girl you loved who had an overprotective big brother figure on the track team.
"Hurt her again, and you can break a leg before you can even run, Arisato."
And he rubbed his nose, feeling surprisingly little anger from Kazushi's assault, but more so that twinging, confusing pain that was stirring up in his heart hearing from Kazushi he had made her cry for three days.
And he had run up to her right after track practice where her swollen eyes were still puffy from all that crying, her hair dishevelled from that hot day after training – and all he remembered was how beautiful that gray track jacket always accentuated her equally mesmerizing grayish eyes –
"I love you."
And he held her like there was no tomorrow.
He didn't even care the whole track team was there applauding their embrace.
Didn't even care if he was going to break a hundred hearts of girls in school when they learnt of the news the next day.
"Yeah...okay, I love you, too." 25m away from the track run finishing line, they stood in a tight embrace. She reached up to grasp his shirt, and snuggled closer into his arms. His hands came all the way around her small waist, and pulled her so close, he thought they were going to meld as one.
It was beginning to drizzle, and the applause didn't fade.
And he wanted nothing less. Nothing felt so natural like this.
--
The first time she kissed him on the cheek, he had nearly, so nearly died.
It was by now, a routine of theirs to sit at the sidelines of the track field, to watch the sunset, wait out until the school emptied of its population, together side by side, until the first stars begin to peek out, and then they would go home, hand in hand. So far, their relationship hadn't progressed much. Nothing much changed. Perhaps both were simply afraid of taking the first step, of destroying something that had been established for so long. Their dates consisted simply of walking home together, eating takoyakis at the mall, hanging out after training at carnivals and fairs, and one special Sunday walking in the park. Simple, and suitting of them.
They wanted nothing more.
Until now, when she was getting so quiet, he was finding it strange.
Worried, he turned to her. Asked her if she was okay.
She smiled a little. He thought the world was going to glow. She had this ability to set his heart afire like no one else.
She thanked him for caring, said it was simply bad cramps she was having (he took her hands in his, and told her it was okay if they walked home now if she wasn't feeling well. Scolded her softly for even attempting a few runs just now with the team, and didn't tell them why it was that her stamina seemed worse off today. Inwardly blamed himself for failing to see she was ill.), and curled his fingers around hers.
All he remembered was the crazy pounding of his heart, the uncharacteristic color to his cheek, as he suddenly felt afraid, small, and timid.
He looked away, sideways, shy.
Just in time for her to leant in, and kissed him on the cheek.
The first star shone.
And he wanted to change nothing.
--
The first time they held hands officially, was the sixty fourth time they had walked home since they had first known each other.
She was dancing slightly in her steps, ahead of him. It was a happy day for her – she had passed her Math test (her worse subject) with flying colors. She told him she wanted to reward herself with some ice cream, and he was only happy to comply. Three steps behind her, he was contented to looking at her, knowing he wanted to memorize her curves, her smiles, her laughter snatching from her lips to the wind, the way the skirt outlined her slim waist, the manner some strands of gray hair always escaped her hairclip to billow around her back –
This time, it was the intensity his heart loved her, that scared him.
He stopped in his tracks, eyes glazed watching her.
The symptoms were unfamiliar. His legs wobbled, his mind felt cloudy, he saw stars, and her, and his knees threatened to give way. His heart raced so fast, and his blood coursed through his veins – hot, warm, strong , and his body tensed.
She spun around, her innocent eyes melting him on the spot.
"What's wrong?"
He shook his head, caught up with her.
He listened to her tell him about her tales in school. He pretended to scoff at Kazushi's jokes she told him. He shrugged off her silly puns and pretended they didn't affect him. But that curling of his lips was unmistakable, and the way his heart nearly turned over when her shoulder accidentally brushed his –
Her fingers touched his, for the second time.
She was laughing about how she had nearly forgotten to take their attendance at track practice yesterday.
Their shoulders brushed.
He wanted to fan himself. It felt so, damn, hot.
He had this hunch he looked extremely red at the moment.
Ice cream would be good.
He looked away. She couldn't stop talking.
Their fingers touched.
And he sighed.
Surrendering—to her charms, her smiles, their touches,
He reached out, and took her hand in his.
She completed the evening, when she didn't pull away, and laced her fingers around his.
It was perfect.
--
The first time they kissed, had been under the stars.
They were out on the track watching the sunset longer than usual, because she told him she was awfully tired, more exceptionally than usual today, and he let her be. He knew somehow inwardly that it was because she didn't want to go home – her parents was fighting, and he could tell every bit of it was hurting her.
It was raining abit, and she had an umbrella, so he offered to hold it above their heads. It was kind of sweet, he thought, and so uncharacteristically romantic of him, to be that kind of sap holding an arm around his girlfriend's waist, having her huddling so close to him, he was scared he would forget to breathe. (She had this ability to impose that constriction on him, and he only allowed her as that someone in his life to do so.)
They watched the sky, and he imprinted in his mind the fashion she would point out every cloud, tell him what it would look like.
A lion. He would make a face, tell her she had a bizzare imagination. A hamburger. He would sigh, and curse his luck for having such a weird girlfriend. (He wouldn't ask for anything else, nothing more.) A History textbook. His eyes would widen, and he would wonder where in the world she had this idea.
She would laugh, smile, and he knew he would lived up to two hundred, and still remember her this way. She looked her best with that glow radiating from her eyes. Like it was meant to be there, forever.
Sometimes, she would lean in, touch him on the jaw, make him flush ten shades deeper and look away.
His stomach felt knotted when her fingers closed around his.
Clouds hazed his brains when her hair tickled his nose.
She smelt like strawberry.
He would look down unbelievably at their hands – hers atop his, placed so affectionately, it made his heart flip, and contemplated his luck in being where he was today.
Their eyes met.
(He forgot to breathe.)
She still looked the same. Those eyes the same the first time he realized she loved him. Tenderness, affection, love.
They hadn't told each other they loved the other since that time.
It was as if everything was spoken from their eyes, their gestures, their expressions – the way he would hold her like she meant the world and more to him, the way she would kiss him on the cheek like he was all that matter.
There was no need for me.
Time froze.
His heart stopped, and his mind ceased working.
So close.
Her hair tickled him, again.
She touched her forehead to his.
His hands instinctively encircled her waist, feeling her shiver – from the cold or his touch, it didn't matter.
She fitted in his arms like she belonged there.
The last thing he saw before he closed her eyes to kiss her, was that smile on her face, before she, too, leant in, to meet his lips.
The drizzle stopped. And he let the umbrella dropped. It laid on the ground, unforgotten.
The moment was perfect.
And he felt like the luckiest man in the world –
No, he already was.
Owari