A/N: Yaaay, updates! I've had a lot of stuff in the works over the past couple days (including this, don't worry), but I also got my hands on a little thingy I'm sure a lot of you on the Persona portal picked up too, Persona Q! Might I just say that it's amazing and I'm really enjoying it so far. I'm pretty good at it, too, if I do say so myself!

Audience: "You probably suck."

Anyways, the game has really inspired me with a lot of moments between all the characters. And the setting is amazing so I went, "hey, why not write about these?" So I'm going to! Expect that in the future.

But for now, OTP things! Read at your own leisure. I hope you enjoy, as usual!

Buzzzzzzz.

The sound was frustrating. The most frustrating thing he'd heard all morning. It roused him from his restless sleep, coaxing him back into the land of the employed.

Buzzzz. . .

I can ignore it, though. This is what I've trained for. . . He put his expert training to work and shut his eyelids even tighter, shutting out the sound entirely.

Buzz. . .

It has been thoroughly shut out of my mind. I don't care about it.

Suddenly, the sound of kazoos rang through the room. A chorus of the most annoying instrument Makoto could think of.

Dammit.

Makoto rolled out of bed, furiously punching his alarm clock to silence it as he threw the covers off of his body. He had set the kazoos on purpose, to wake him up. The simple sounds of an alarm clock were too weak to break through his self-proclaimed "intense concentration."

While in reality, he was just lazy and kazoos really annoyed him, so he set it as a safety net of sorts.

Sitting there in his pajamas, hair ruffled by his sleeping body, he stared at his toes, trying to muster the resolve to actually stand up and go about getting ready. He didn't really want to go back to sleep, he just wanted to . . . sit there. And stare. For several more minutes. Thoughts raced through his brain about one or the other - sleep or work, but at the moment, all he could do was sit there and stare at his toes in contemplation. His thoughts drifted to all the different parts of his day and his priorities as to whether or not they were important enough to get out of bed for. Most of them were.

As it generally did, work and social life won out over sleep. After all, Makoto had faced Mitsuru and her executions before. And if he was late to work, he would definitely be receiving one of the fatal executions.

They weren't fun, to say the least.

He was also looking forward to seeing Labrys. Due to some paperwork and personal obligations, he hadn't been able to see her for the past couple of days, so maybe today would be different. After all, their relationship was important to him, and he didn't want her feeling neglected. So naturally, he had to get out of bed. For her sake.

He swung his legs over the side of the bed as he scratched his head, preparing for the remainder of his morning ritual frustrating as it were. He approached the bathroom.

He began the intense practice of brushing his teeth, staring into his own eyes in the mirror. As he generally did, he questioned his physical appearance and whether or not it made him look cold. He was a quiet person, as his appearance had always suggested, but he always kind of disliked his eyes. His eyes, gray and dull, made him look unwelcoming, whereas another color, a warmer one, would make him look kind and welcoming. As usual, however, this was just food for thought. He dismissed it as soon as he rinsed his mouth and set about brushing his hair down into a more orderly coiffure. He'd started caring a lot more about his appearance as soon as he'd gotten a girlfriend. Despite Labrys's insistence otherwise, Makoto knew that girls really did care about how you looked.

Speaking of Labrys, he pondered what she was up to that morning.

"Alright, Labrys-san, you're good to go!" said Fuuka as Labrys's sleep-like trance was dismissed at the push of a button. Her eyes fluttered open as her systems began functioning normally yet again, booting up systematically, her senses returning one by one as smells in the room intensified and her vision started working again. As usual, the process was over in a flash, but it still felt like it took forever. Labrys couldn't deny that she was a robot, as much as she wanted to, and these weekly sessions just felt like her constant reminder.

She was in for her weekly maintenance. It wasn't too strange of an occurrence at this point, but the thought of Fuuka prodding around her to make sure she wasn't having any problems was a little . . . odd. Especially considering that, if she wanted to, Fuuka could reach through all of Labrys's memory banks and re-watch and re-live all of her special memories. Even the ones with Makoto in them. And maybe, if she really wanted to, delete them.

Let's hope that never happens.

"Everything checks out just fine. Nothing strange going on, even in your black box."

"That's good," said Labrys, sitting up from the ASW containment chamber. All the cables came unplugged from here as she did so, allowing her to move freely yet again. "We don't want her comin' out to play again, huh?"

Shadow Labrys coming out again would be a bad thing, for sure. "Yeah, that's good." Fuuka nodded a couple times. "Got any plans for today?" she said, packing her things up to get ready for the remainder of her work.

"Nothin' special."

"Really? Makoto doesn't have plans?" asked Fuuka, raising her eyebrows mischievously.

Labrys couldn't stop the pink from rising to her cheeks as her boyfriend was mentioned. "C'mon, you're actin' like the only thing I do is hang out with Makoto. . ."

"I know, I know," said Fuuka, giggling. "But still, he usually finds something to do. He's a pretty reliable guy, after all. You should ask him!"

"He's probably busy. . ." She sighed, changing into her Yasogami High uniform. "We haven't gotten to spend any time together lately."

"Well maybe if you ask him, you could!" She smiled one of the smiles only Fuuka, a master of consoling people, could provide. "I gotta' go. I'll see ya' later."

"Yeah, see ya'!" said Labrys, waving her off as she brushed some hair behind her ears. "Anyway. . ." She flipped out her phone, checking the time.

Thirty more minutes, huh?

"Crap," he said aloud, looking at the train schedule. He just missed the train he normally took in the morning. He couldn't get one for a good thirty minutes, and by then, he'd already be late to work. So it looked like he was hoofing it. Those several minutes of staring at his feet hadn't paid off.

If I run fast enough, I can clock in just in time. . . Maybe I'll get off with a light scolding,he thought, running through the streets of Tatsumi Port Island. I haven't run this much in years. . . While he did have regular training sessions, they generally only lasted long enough for him to eviscerate whatever opponent he was facing and then he could get back to his life. Endurance was hardly ever a part of it.

He slammed on his metaphorical breaks as the signal in front of him dictated that he had to stand still for the time being. He screeched to a halt as he waited for the signal to change colors so he could begin walking (or in this case, running) across the street. Every second felt like a millennium. "C'mon. . ." He waited, and waited, and waited, until finally. . .

Labrys stood by the door, waiting for one person in particular. She always stood like this, waited for him like this. It was part of her morning ritual, so to speak. He brightened up her day considerably, and she knew that she brightened up his. So why not see him that early in the morning? She didn't get tired the same way that he did, so she had always thought it was pretty considerate of her to try to brighten things up for him this early in the morning.

People walked through the door, passed by her, waving and saying hello. It didn't take long for a familiar face to pass through. "Waiting for Makoto again, are ya'?" asked Akihiko as he ran in from his morning jog. "You're always by the door before he comes in."

Labrys blushed, turning away. "Maybe."

Akihiko chuckled and slugged her shoulder. "I'm sure he appreciates it," he said, wiping the sweat from his forehead. "It's real sweet of you to wake him up every morning. After all, he really needs it. . ." The two shared a brief laugh as Akihiko continued on his way.

Labrys's blush took several more moments to die down, glancing back at the clock repeatedly. Whether she was waiting for him or not, he was late. By several minutes. . . His shift already started. Did I miss him?

Just as her doubts reached their climax, the door slammed open. She flinched a little, before blinking a few times at the sight in front of her.

Makoto stood there, in his uniform, having just slammed the door open ridiculously hard. He was panting heavily, sweat beading on his forehead, as if he had just run there. His hair was ruffled by the wind and his clothes were rather disorderly. Uhh. . .

"H-Hey," he said, clearing his throat awkwardly. His brought a hand to his mouth and coughed, letting out ragged breaths.

"Uh, h-hey," she iterated, not quite sure what to think of the situation. "You alright? Uh, did something happen?"

"N-No," he said, walking inside the Shadow Operatives entrance hall. Her strange looks weren't the only ones he was receiving, but he didn't care. He was exhausted. He rested his hands on his knees, breathing raggedly. She gave him a few minutes to catch his breath before continuing her inquiries.

"So, um, what had you in such a hurry?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. "You looked kinda' crazy there for a sec'."

"Just running late," he said, as he stood straight, stretching his arms over his head. He leaned forward to plant a kiss on her cheek. "Good morning. Thanks for waiting."

"Mornin'," she said, turning away as she blushed. She always thought it was weird, how nonchalant he was about things like that in public. "I-I was waitin' for you 'cause I had a question." She held her hands behind her back, as if it was her first time asking him out somewhere all over again. "I was wonderin' if maybe you wanted to go somewhere after work. I-I don't have any plans, and I'm kinda' bored, so. . . And we haven't really gotten to hang out together, so I wanted to do somethin'. . ."

"Sure."

Her eyes lit up radiantly as her embarrassed expression quickly grew into a smile. "Really? Th-That's awesome! Uh, why don't we walk back to your place together after work?" she asked, bouncing up and down like a little kid on Christmas morning.

"Sounds like a plan." He smiled, patting her on her head as he always did when she looked happy. It made her happy, too, so it was a win-win.

"So what do you wanna' do tonight?" Labrys asked as they walked towards Makoto's station, hands clasped together. "We could go for a movie, or dinner, or hit the arcade. . ." He smiled as she rambled on about all her date ideas, going on and on about it as if it was the most important thing going on in the world. And to her, it very well could have been. Even though I was late. . . I guess this morning wasn't so bad. He opened the door to his office, preparing for the long day ahead of him. But he had a prize waiting for him at the end.

"Yuuki, would you care to explain why you're thirty minutes late to work?" said Mitsuru.

Oh, right. Execution time. . . Well, at least the date will be fun.

Even if I am in pain.

A/N: Yaaaaay. Kind of short one today, but I couldn't really think of anything particularly special for "morning rituals" in the fluff department. I thought it worked pretty well though. Review if you thought so too, or if you have any criticism for me. Reviews make me feel warm and fluffy and I really appreciate them! It fuels my fluff. So fuel me! Favorite if it's one of your favorites, or your all time favorite! Follow if you find a treasure map that leads you on an intense hunt through the islands of the Pacific ocean on a hunt for your father's lost boat or something, I dunno'. Or if you just wanna' read more!