This is based on a cute piece of fanart I found. My first Haruji fic; I hope it goes well! (I've recently realized that I like this couple a lot and will happily ship them!) Might see a snippet of AkirAnn in here too if you squint.

Note: If I was going to place a timeframe for this it'd be, "under the assumption that Okumura's palace was completed early, but the trip to Destinyland hasn't happened yet." That should work for you.

Begin!

~Normal POV

It started out like a normal day for the Phantom Thieves. Get up, go to school, go to Mementos and beat the shit out of some shadows, all par for the course. After this particularly long Mementos run, the gang was all rather tired. They had regrouped in Shibuya afterwards.

"Man, when I get home I'm probably gonna jump right into bed without even changing my clothes," Ryuji whined, while nursing his sore shoulder.

"Same. Sorry, guys." Akira said. "I promise it won't be as long next time. There were just a lot of targets…"

"No need to apologize," Morgana assured, as he climbed back into Akira's bag, "We helped so many people today, it was worth it."

"Losing health units… must rest…" Futaba groaned.

Akira patted her head. "I think that's our cue to call it a night-"

"Excuse me…?"

Everyone snapped their attention to Haru. She smiled at her friends. "I've been meaning to give you all something. I'd better do it now before I forget again." She opened her purse and handed each of them a present: tickets to a baseball game.

"Whoa, what's the occasion?" Ryuji asked, staring at his ticket in awe.

"One of the company's executives gave me a pair originally, for me and Sugimura-san, but I asked if I could have one for each of my friends too. I… don't want to go alone with him and he's already agreed to come..."

The rest of the Phantom Thieves immediately understood. Sugimura simply could not be trusted.

"But I understand if any of you are busy that day-"

"I'll go!" Ryuji interrupted. "Anybody else?"

"Keep an eye on a bastard for my friend? Hell yeah I'm going. He won't lay a finger on you on my watch!" Ann said, reassuringly.

"I'll go too." Akira added, "We'll have to be careful about sneaking Morgana in though."

"I don't want to miss out! I've never been to a baseball game," Morgana piped up. "Is it fun?"

"Not particularly," Akira answered, "Especially if you're just watching. But if you really want to go, then we'll figure something out."

"What about the rest of you?" Haru asked.

Makoto shrugged. "I don't have plans that day so I'll go."

"Ugh, sports and crowds? My two mortal enemies…" Futaba groaned. "But I guess if it's for a friend, I can bear it."

"Hmmm, I shall have to plan accordingly to afford snacks while there, but other than that I'd be happy to come as well." Yusuke said, thoughtfully.

Haru beamed at all of them. "Thank you all so much! I promise I'll find something to pay you back with for this-"

"You don't have to pay us back for anything, Haru; you're our friend and we're happy to help whenever you need." Makoto said, reassuringly.

~...

Haru had been correct in assuming that having the rest of the Phantom Thieves with her would help her relax. Usually when she was forced to spend time with her awful "fiancé" it was like a battle of wills to not simply smack him and leave. But being surrounded by her friends seemed to convince Sugimura to keep himself in check, even if it's only for a few hours. The seating arrangements helped too.

Haru sat with Sugimura on her right, as expected he wouldn't let her sit too far away. On her left, sat Ryuji, who kept one watchful eye on Sugimura. In the two seats behind Haru and Ryuji sat Akira and Ann; Akira had his right arm around Ann's shoulders, and in his lap was his bag that had Morgana inside. Morgana chose specific intervals to peek his head out at the game. (Not to mention he wasn't terribly fond of being in the middle of Akira and Ann being so close. He hadn't quite gotten over the two being a couple yet.) Sitting down in front of Haru was Yusuke; Futaba was on his right, and Makoto was on his left.

The game itself was as uneventful as Akira had predicted, though Morgana found it interesting simply for being a new experience. Haru saw that Sugimura looked rather bored and tended to drift his gaze away for extended periods of time. She had no problems with this, it kept him from ogling her. Though she had to admit, she shared his boredom and let her mind wander as well. She had no idea how long the game had been going on before she settled her gaze on Ryuji.

If Haru Okumura was going to be honest with herself, she'd admit that she found Ryuji quite appealing. He was funny and sweet, and his loyalty to his friends was unparalleled. He didn't have Yusuke's poetic way with words, or Akira's wit and natural charisma, but he had his own charm…

It was here that she saw Ryuji get distracted by something in his line of sight, which then made him nervously turn his gaze to her. At first, Haru was unsure of why he suddenly looked so uncomfortable, but after looking around she saw the source of his discomfort.

The two of them were on the kiss-cam.

Haru's cheeks lit up like a fire. She glanced unsurely at Ryuji and noticed he was blushing a bit too. Their friends seemed to have not noticed what was going on, or if they had they were ignoring it, and on her other side Sugimura was not even looking in her direction. Haru wasn't sure but as she kept her gaze locked on Ryuji, she had this feeling that they were both thinking the idea over...

On the one hand, their friends were all here: they would never escape the teasing. On the other hand, they both secretly wanted to do it. The fact that it would piss off Sugimura was a plus too. She knew her friends wouldn't let him hurt her or Ryuji. And it seemed that Ryuji felt the same… Throwing back a shot of courage, Haru leaned over and kissed Ryuji full on the mouth.

Needless to say, it got everyone's attention.

When the two pulled away they didn't notice Sugimura's jaw had dropped and he quickly left in a huff. Makoto and Morgana were shocked but not unhappy, Futaba and Yusuke were laughing at Sugimura's tantrum, and Akira and Ann congratulated the two. All the while, Haru and Ryuji simply tried to regain their composure. Neither had planned or considered that a first kiss between them would be so public.

Sugimura never returned. After a round of teasing from the other Phantom Thieves, everyone settled back into watching the game, albeit with even less interest than before.

Ryuji took the opportunity of everyone being distracted again, and gently grabbed Haru's hand. Haru accepted the gesture silently by entwining their fingers.

It wasn't long after this incident that the two started dating officially. (After discovering that Sugimura was lying about his marriage contract with Haru.) And while their friends were very supportive of this outcome, as long as they made each other happy then who were they to argue, one thing was still certain above all else.

The Phantom Thieves would never let Ryuji and Haru forget what happened that day. And if they ever tried to lie about it in the future, there would always be six witnesses that can, and will, correct them on it.

~The End!

Hope you enjoyed it!