Author's Note:

This one's a request from a couple of people, who wanted something smuttier. (You pervs.) It's not full because 1) I'm not sure how comfortable I am with writing super explicit sex and 2) I don't want to have to change the rating of this story for one chapter. This is also the final chapter that will cover "past events" between Minako and Akihiko.

Twenty-Five Hours
a Persona 3/Portable (© ATLUS) fanfiction

The Twenty-Fourth Hour

Opening Song: "Her Morning Elegance" - Oren Lavie

It was different than usual.

Minako had been in Akihiko's room a number of times, whether it was to watch movies, do homework, or just talk; it wasn't the forbidden threshold that everyone (ie., Junpei and Yukari) told her it was. She'd sit on his bed and he'd sit in the chair at his desk, sometimes they'd switch it up, and sometimes she'd just lay on the floor. She never felt uncomfortable or awkward, and even though he turned red every time he invited her over, Akihiko didn't either. Sometimes she'd just stop by because she didn't want to do anymore homework in her room and the lounge was too crowded. If anything, his room was a refuge.

That's what it usually was, but the day was January 30, SEES was going to face its final opponent on top of the Tower of Demise with little chance of victory, and Minako had seen Death with her own eyes. Today, she needed more than just a refuge.

"Get some rest, Minako," Mitsuru advised as she got up from the couch. "Tomorrow is the day."

Minako smiled, and though she could feel it wavering she hoped the others didn't notice. "I know. I..." She wanted to say, I won't let you guys down, like she did whenever they embarked on their missions against the Shadows. But then Ryoji's face — sad, broken, pleading — popped into her head, and she realized that this was different. No matter what they said ("It'll be like usual," "Let's do this like we always do," "No problem"), Nyx was different.

"Minako?" came Junpei's voice, concerned. He always could read through her facade.

Still she laughed, wiping away any trace of the worry or hesitance that had gripped her just seconds ago. She was the leader, and a leader couldn't crumple under the pressure — not here, not so close to the end. "Wow, I really am tired," she said, stretching out her arms and torso with exaggeration. She could see the disbelief in both Junpei and Yukari's eyes. Ken, who was way too perceptive for his age, scrutinized her with narrowed eyes. "You're right, I better hit the hay. It'd be embarrassing if I slip tomorrow, yeesh." She knocked off Junpei's cap ("Hey!"), patted Aigis on the arm, waved to Fuuka, and pulled Koromaru into a bone-crushing hug before sauntering up the stairs.

When she was alone, it hit her all at once. The weight of the world settled nicely on her shoulders, crushing her and drawing breath from her. She'd seen truth (cold, terrifying, unmerciful) in Ryoji's sorrowful eyes, when he took on the form of Death. She wasn't sure what the truth was, what it entailed for her, her friends, or the rest of the world, but it scared her. Her hands were shaking, knees buckling, heart racing. She tried to rationalize and calm herself, tried to tell herself that she had carried Death within her for years, that she had no right to be afraid — but she was. Carrying Death should have made her strong and invincible and impenetrable, but she was still human.

She couldn't be alone, but she couldn't face the others because they all knew her too well by now. She had to be strong, even if it was just a mask. They couldn't know she was afraid; what kind of leader would that make her? She'd led them thus far, and she wasn't going to let her friends down now, not when it mattered the most.

So she sought refuge.

Akihiko's door opened as soon as she knocked. He was dressed in his pajamas (sweats, red — always red — t-shirt), a damp towel hung around his neck, and his hair was still wet from a shower. "Oh, Minako," he greeted, surprised. "I was just gonna head down to join you guys."

"I just came up," she said. "I..." She wasn't tired. She didn't want to rest. She didn't want to sleep and face phantoms of boys with sad eyes and omens.

Her body language was a giveaway in itself, but there was something else Akihiko saw that threw him off. "Minako." He took hold of her shoulders gently, coerced her to look up at him rather than at the ground. "What's wrong?"

"I'm..." I'm fine was useless against Akihiko in the first place, but at this point she was too tired to even lie believably. "Aki, I'm..." Tears would be appropriate and understandable. Minako firmly believed that crying was not a sign of weakness, that it required great strength to cry in front of others, but she couldn't. She'd never been much of a crier, and when she did it was short. "Maybe I'm weak. Maybe I can't do this. Maybe I'm not strong."

He sighed, soft and loving, and pressed his lips against her forehead. They lingered. "It's okay to feel this way," he murmurs against her skin. "You don't have to be fearless all the time, Minako. You're human, just like the rest of us."

Human. It was okay to feel, because she was human. It was okay to err and to falter, because she was human. "Aki." It was okay to be selfish and think of herself, just this once, because she was human.

She pushed or he pulled, perhaps a mixture of both, into his room, onto his bed.

While her fingers urgently tugged, his carefully stroked and traced. While her hands grabbed and yanked, his held her tenderly, but with enough force to keep her down. His fingers trailed along the curve of her spine, making her cold and hot all at once, settled at the dip of her back. Her sighs melted against his groans, her pants swallowed by his eager mouth, her cries stifled by his collar bone and the apex of his neck. Wherever his mouth went, his hands followed.

He held her hips, stroked the soft skin with his thumbs, and pushed into her. She shuddered and gasped, pulled him closer with the intent to melt into him. She needed to close the distance, as much as she possibly could. His name rolled off her tongue like a melody, over and over again like he was her world.

His fingers laced through hers as the pleasure began to set in. "Minako," he breathed.

When he said her name, her chest wracked with sobs, long-suppressed tears welled up in her eyes, and her arms wrapped around his neck. Just one word from Akihiko was enough to make her feel whole. "Aki, I love you." The wave crashed over both of them when he urgently pressed his mouth against hers, hurriedly, sloppily, without much thought. They just felt, and that was enough.

They laid in silence long after, entangled in one another and in his blankets; the euphoria had yet to ebb away. Akihiko rolled over onto his side so that he was facing Minako, whose eyes were half shut yet still wide awake. His fingers trailed across her collar bone and down her arm, leaving a path of goosebumps and shivers in their wake. "Promise me," he murmured, "that we won't forget each other, after the battle is over."

She caught his gaze with wavering strength. "If we defeat Nyx..."

"When he defeat Nyx," he corrected softly, "we'll lose all our memories. But this is different, isn't it? This is... This is something that no one can take away from me." She smiled as he took ahold of her hand and held it against his skin; his heart beat rapidly despite the slow rise of his chest. "Minako, you're the only person..."

She used her free hand to push some stray silver hair away from his forehead. "I promise," she said. She wanted this — this moment, her and Akihiko, her life as it was — to last forever. She wanted to be selfish longer. She knew, however, as soon as she left this room, her refuge, that would be put to an end. Reality would make sure of it. "I don't wanna leave," she whispered, moving closer to him.

He traced circular patterns on the exposed skin of her back. "Then don't." It was that simple.

Closing Song: "Fairytale" - Alexander Rybak

It is 4:30 in the morning. I have not slept because I drank coffee at 9. I wrote this. I desperately need to sleep. Huzzah.

(P.S. I love all of you for your encouraging and wonderful reviews.)

xx, der kapitan