A/N: Completely canon. No joke. TOTALLY CANON. Not really.
The prompt was gender bending, which was . . . weird, to say the least. For those of you who don't know what gender bending is (I really hope you do), it's when you switch the genders of two characters for no reason at all other than moderate amusement. So I did that with these two, for the prompt. I hope you like it? I know I had fun writing it. Part of me wanted to use Hamuko as the "gender bent" Makoto, but to me they're two different characters with really different personalities. So yeah, enjoy.
Makoto found herself walking around Paulownia Mall with her earphones in, passing by the arcade near the front as she listened to some happy music on loop to get herself in the mood for her date. Despite the environment, and her growing excitement, she was still relatively composed with herself. This was her first date with Labrys, after all, so she needed to be herself even if it wasn't appealing. She'd never been the type to get too stressed over anything, anyways.
Except the end of the world. That was kind of stressful, but no big deal.
She flipped through her phone one more time, looking for the location once again to make sure she was on her way to the right place. In front of the . . . Police Station? A bit of a strange location, but she shrugged it off, finding herself in front of it in no time. Police station. . . Kinda' weird place, huh? It was a place that both of them knew, so that might have been the reason. Still, she tucked her phone back into her pocket, scanning the horizon for the boy she was looking for.
He wasn't there yet. Makoto let out a sigh of slight sadness. She hadn't expected Labrys to be particularly punctual, but she herself had gotten their ten minutes early just to make sure she would be there if he arrived early. She took glance after glance at the surroundings, surveying the area for her date. Usually the guy is early, huh? She didn't mind, though. It was Labrys, after all. She had no reason to complain. She had asked in the first place, anyways.
"Hey, Makoto-chan!" said the familiar accented voice as he ran towards her. He was expertly disguising his parts in some winter wear, despite the relatively high temperatures. He stuck out with a sore thumb, but Makoto still smiled as he made his way over. "Really sorry I'm late," he said, faking some light panting motions.
"No problem." She pulled her phone out, looking at the time. "You're actually three minutes early."
"Whenever you get here is what's 'on time'." He let out a sigh, taking her hand in his as his cheeks flushed a little redder. Damn, how does she keep her composure like this?
Despite Labrys's relative nervousness, Makoto casually brushed her long blue hair over her shoulder and sighed, smiling warmly. She looked perfectly calm, even a little relaxed. Despite their gender roles, Makoto really was the more composed figure in the relationship. "So what do you want to do?" she asked, snapping Labrys out of her fantasy.
"Uh, I dunno'." He let out an awkward laugh to distract himself from the subject as they started walking. "I guess you can pick."
Makoto laughed, deciding to poke some teases at her boyfriend. "I thought the guy was supposed to do all the planning?"
"C'mon, you know I'm not the best at that kinda' stuff. . . You're so good at it anyways, so why don't you do it?"
She smiled slyly, prodding a finger at Labrys's nose. "Alright. My apartment?"
Labrys cleared her throat awkwardly, not sure how to respond to the situation. "Isn't that a bit far for a first date?. . ."
"'You're so good at it anyways, so why don't you do it?'" said Makoto, mimicking Labrys's voice.
"Fine, fine," he said, letting out a sigh as he was clearly defeated by this girl. "Your apartment it is."
"Great." Makoto leaned over and kissed Labrys's cheek, causing red to flush to Labrys's face. "I'll lead the way."
"Don't you always?" asked Labrys, now deciding it was her time to poke fun. "Even if I wanted to, I probably couldn't plan anything. You'd stop me before I could."
". . . Probably," she said, dead-serious.
". . . Oh. W-Well then."
"Just kidding." Labrys frowned as Makoto smiled, having gotten the better of him before the duo both broke out laughing. "Let's get to my apartment, shall we?"
"Let's."
Labrys furiously mashed the buttons on his controller as Makoto beat him for the 20th time that night. She took another nibble out of the toast in front of her, taking her jacket off as she prepared for the next round. "C'mon, cut me some slack, okay? I've been practicing really hard lately." Labrys picked a different character and sighed, admiring his girlfriend's talent for the game.
"Which is why I can't hold back," she said, putting her food down as she made the stage selection. "No one got better by being let up on."
"Well, I wouldn't say that," he said, talking to her despite currently playing. Maybe I can throw her off her game! Of course, he didn't care too much about beating her, but managing to impress her on their first date would pay off in the long run. So even doing just a little better would probably help. "After all, how can you get better if you're fighting something you can't beat?"
"Just get up until you manage to beat it again."
She said this with a definite tone. As if the words were the most important thing in the world. As if the whole phrase was all she cared about, a life moral she lived by. Her facial expression darkened slightly as some uncomfortable memories came back, an even more uncomfortable silence filling the air. The only sound either could hear was the mashing of buttons emanating from Labrys's controller, neither feeling the need to break the silence. Or more, having the ability to break the silence, in Labrys's case. She's been through a lot herself, huh?
The round ended as Labrys looked over towards Makoto, who seemed . . . shaken? No, sad. Sad was the word he'd use for it. She looked sad. Labrys pressed the pause button on the controller and put his hand on her shoulder, gaining her attention. "You okay?"
"Yeah. Just some . . . not so fond memories." She cleared her throat, trying to dispel the sad expression she was currently wearing with a half-assed smile.
"You sure? You look pretty torn up about it. . ." He brushed a strand of hair out of her face, tilting his head inquisitively. "You wanna' talk about it?"
". . . Not really," said Makoto as she glanced away, a blush rising to her cheeks.
He grabbed her chin, shifting her face back towards him with her hand, cupping her chin gently. "You sure?"
"Y-Yeah." Makoto was growing flustered, the red in her cheeks getting stronger and stronger as Labrys's face approached hers.
"Well, I'm here for you. I love you more than anything." His face was only inches from hers. "No matter what. . ." Slowly, getting closer and closer, -
Makoto brutally ripped the paper in half. Just one tear wasn't enough, though. No one could ever find this intact. He ripped it yet again, shredding it into little pieces without mercy. The glint in his eyes as he went about destroying the story in front of him was very similar to the one he wore in combat.
"Hey, what the hell!?" shouted Junpei, grabbing the remains of his works. "What was that for!?"
Makoto remained silent, pulling his phone out of his pocket to casually check his e-mail, as if nothing had even happened. His cheeks were a lighter shade of pink than usual. It wasn't too oblivious, but anyone who knew him knew that Makoto blushing was a big deal.
"C'mon, Makoto! I put a lotta' time into that! I even hand wrote it and everything!"
Silence.
Labrys held her cheeks in her hands, the bright red overtaking them immediately. I knew this was a bad idea. . .
Labrys and Makoto had told everyone that they were together. While Junpei and Yukari had questioned it, most of the team was accepting of their relationship. So everything was dandy and they could be together and do things with their friends, right? Totally.
Except, now they had to deal with Junpei writing fictions about them for his "creative writing class". Currently he was using them as inspiration for a novel about a couple, which Makoto clearly didn't approve of. And so, Junpei had gotten him to proof read the novel to make sure there was nothing particularly embarrassing about it. If he didn't like it, Junpei would change it.
Well, he didn't like it, evidently.
After Junpei left, Labrys took a seat next to Makoto, who was still nonchalantly checking his e-mail to disguise his embarrassment. She prodded his slightly-reddened cheek with her finger, a sly grin spreading across her face. "Hey, Makoto, everythin' alright?"
"Yeah."
"You sure? You look pretty torn up about it!" She interrupted herself with a giggle, before continuing. "You wanna' talk about it?"
Even Makoto couldn't avoid laughing, despite his desires otherwise. He almost dropped his phone as Labrys joined in, barely managing to struggle through her laughter to continue. "C-Cause. . . I'm here for y- snrk!" She just couldn't keep it up. Their laughs cried out through the empty office, echoing and reverberating around the halls. If anyone else was there, they'd look ridiculous. But neither of them really cared. Slowly and surely, their laughs died out, as Labrys rested her head on Makoto's shoulder. "I love you more than anything."
"So do I," said Makoto, looking at his reflection in his phone. "I look amazing today."
Labrys elbowed him in the gut, to which he let out a winded laugh. "It was just a joke!" he exclaimed, their laughter returning.
"I know! But now you've gotta' make it up to me." She leaned towards him, intent on getting what she wanted.
Their lips met in a moment of pure joy, savoring the moment before separating after several seconds of satisfaction.
"Y'know, Makoto, you'd probably look pretty cute as a girl. Makoto-chan!" She poked his nose, pulling his hair up to make it look as if he had tiny twin tails.
"Yeah, too far."
"Right."
Silence.
Then laughter.
A/N: A fanfiction within a fanfiction? We're going too deep! Aaahhhhh!
Audience: "You suck."
Thanks for reading, as usual! This one was . . . strange, to say the least. I hope you liked it, though! The next prompt is in a "different" clothing style. I honestly have . . . ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA what to do for that. About to start an intense brainstorming session for tomorrow. Anyone have any ideas? (wink wink)
But yeah, review if you want to make me feel good about myself. Favorite if it's your favorite! Follow if you're a hunter and this story is your prey, so you lie in wait, ready to pounce.
Or if you just wanna' read more.