Disclaimer: Persona 4 is my least binged Persona game out of the last three, so I apologize if it's too out of character
Rays of light streamed through the window into the eyes of the slumbering couple, both content and peaceful before the sun's alarm clock. The male of the pair's eyes twitched and slowly opened to the new day to the sleepy atmosphere the sun's gentle light, dimmed through the drawn curtains, created in their bedroom.
"No…" A small whimper in the otherwise quiet room drew his attention to the slender body bundled up in the comforter and cradled in his arms, trying to burrow herself closer to his body heat. "Go back to sleep…"
Yu chuckled, his voice hoarse and throaty from sleeping. Rise has never been a morning person even though her line of work requires her to be up early. Usually it took copious amounts of cuddling and coaxing to get her to even open her eyes. "Somebody has to cook breakfast, Rise."
She mumbled something into the cover, luckily he was pretty good at translating her sleepy murmurs. This one translated to: "I'm not hungry."
"You will be. Wouldn't it be better to eat a hot meal before you start your day." He took to combing through her tangled brown curls as he waited for her reply. Her hair is truly beautiful, but he now knew what she meant when she said it's a pain to maintain. Her hair is truly a force to be reckoned with early in the morning. He didn't want to compare it to a bird's nest. More like a hornet's nest.
He heard a very unladylike groan and felt the covers shift when she raised up to slot her head underneath his chin. Her nose pressed against the underside of his chin and her breaths came in slow puffs. It created a warm contrast against the cool draft in the room. He let her be, knowing she was absorbing as much warmth and cuddles as she could before they both had to get up. Who was he not to give her all the time she needed.
Eventually, she huffed and pulled away, unwinding her arm from around his waist and lowering her leg down from his hip and scooting away to the other end of the bed so she wouldn't be tempted to draw out anymore time.
"You want the shower first?" Yu asked.
"Nah, you can go first. I think I'll lay here for a little longer." Rise said as she cuddled up to her pillow. Yu nodded, even though he knew she couldn't see him. He stood up and entered their joint bathroom.
Before he started living with Rise, he visited her house often. During these visits he would often have to leave for school right after and she would let him use her shower to get ready. The digital thermostat in the shower had surprised him at first. Even though he's a city boy, he's never been one to spend so much money on fancy appliances. Maybe it was his time in the country. But his parents were never ones for fancy or high tech appliances either.
It took him a while but he eventually learned how to set it and each time he stood under the shower's spray with the water set at the perfect temperature was like winning the NBA finals.
The hot water streaming down from the shower head poured steam into the bathroom, fogging up the clear glass of the walk-in shower and blocking his view of the bathroom door and especially its opening. The loud hissing of the water overshadowed the sliding of the shower's door too.
Yu was washing his hair when slender arms wrapped around him, palm flat against his chest and the other languidly drawing downwards over his torso and inching dangerously close to the 'v' of his hips.
"I thought you wanted to sleep in a little longer."
"I couldn't. My favorite cuddling pillow was gone." She pressed a sweet kiss to his shoulder. "I don't know how you wake up so early every day."
"It's called a routine, Rise."
"Well, is there any room in this routine for me?" The hand on his chest and his hips disappeared as Rise's flirty profile came into view. "I wouldn't want to ruin your morning, Senpai."
"We've been quarantining together for months now, Rise. I don't think you could ruin anything at this point."
"So an hour-long shower wouldn't ruin your morning right?"
"How would a shower last an hour?"
"I think you know how, Senpai." Rise giggled, rising on her tiptoes to initiate a deep kiss as her hands went back to exploring lower and lower.
The grease sizzled as the last pieces of bacon cooked in the skillet. A tray full of waffles and scrambled eggs were on the counter, ready to be served with a bottle of syrup and two plates next to them.
After the third attempt of cleaning themselves, they both decided that it was best if they took separate showers; Yu cleaned up first then left Rise to handle her business while he cooked breakfast.
It was weird though: him cooking breakfast for someone other than himself or more directly his girlfriend. It felt so domestic.
His parents weren't around much before. While his parents were overseas on the other side of the world on business trips, he pretty much had to raise himself.
It was lonely. After he's grown old enough to not need a babysitter anymore it was pretty much just him most of the time. To feel some kind of companionship he would enroll himself into every club or participate in every event he could. He made many friends doing that and it helps for a small while. But every time he would come back home that dark cloud would settle back over his head.
It was always like that until he moved to Inaba for that one year. In one year he had met the people who became his best friends and the girl he knew he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. They made it so loneliness was near non-existent.
He was sliding the bacon onto the tray with the rest of the food when he heard the shower cut off from the bedroom. Rise came out a moment later wearing a blue sheer robe and had her hair wrapped up in a towel. She smiled looking at the food he'd prepared. "Wow, Senpai! Waffles, bacon and scrambled eggs. You really know how to spoil a girl!"
"I would've put strawberries and whipped cream on top but we were out. I'll have to make a grocery run later."
"It's still perfect," She accepted her plate as he slid across the counter and stretched across the counter to kiss him on the cheek in thanks.
"Why aren't you dressed? Don't you have that Zoom meeting with the company executives about your new album?" With the fans' amazing reaction to her comeback album 'Sapphire', the executive wanted to hurry to press for a release tour, but with the release of the virus, a lot of touring locations shut down, so a meeting to discuss what to do next was mandatory.
"They pushed it back. Inoue called saying that they were having technical difficulties back at the studio and that they were short-staffed at the moment. Five of the employees caught the virus over the weekend."
"All together?" He asked as he finished washing the skillet and began fixing their plates. What were they doing for all of them to catch it at the same time?
Seeming to read his mind, Rise answered his unspoken question. "Apparently there was a retirement party for one of the older managers last Thursday; and since many who attended the party came to work the next day they're trying to find out if any more people caught it and nip it in the bud before it spread to the whole building."
"That sucks. Looks like they're going to be busy for the rest of the week." He fitted himself beside Rise on the couch with both of their plates of food in his hand. She accepted hers with a soft 'thank you' and curled into his side, tucking her feet underneath her as she shoved a big cut of waffles into her mouth. He placed his plate -stacked with a healthy amount of waffles and eggs- on the coffee table in front of them.
"Mhm. It made me worry about how everyone else was doing."
"Yosuke is okay. He's been trying to stay safe and also keep Teddie from running off the rails. He's also started sending out meals through Junes for those who can't get out or are at a higher risk. I haven't heard from Chie."
"I talked to her yesterday. Chie's been trying to keep safe too. They've made it a new mandate that all the officers have to wear masks when out on duty. Her workload has gotten heavier though since a lot of the cops in her unit avoid their duty so they won't catch it."
"Have they moved in together yet?"
"They were going to before the pandemic started. Now Chie says she wants to wait until everything blows over or they find a cure so that she won't put Yosuke or Teddie at risk. Yosuke says it's fine but Chie won't budge so he's just leaving the decision up to her."
"Well Kanji is the same. His mother is one of the higher risk so he tries to stay at home as much as he can so he can't get her sick and so he can take care of her. Business has been slow with everyone staying home, but Naoto gave Kanji the idea of hosting online classes and opening up a Cashapp for those who want to take lessons while they're stuck at home."
"That's a great idea! It'll keep him busy too. And it's nice to know that Naoto and Kanji still keep in touch."
"I think he delivers her meals every now and then. She's been really busy with this new case they gave her. But with everything shutting down, she's been trying to catch up on older assignments and forgets to eat sometimes."
"They're such a married couple. It's a wonder they haven't gotten together yet."
"I think they have."
Rise did a double take, almost dropping her plate with how fast she sat up to look at Yu bewildered. "Seriously! When?"
"I think about a week ago," Yu said.
"And why haven't I heard about it?!"
"I don't think they really told anyone. Kanji only told me by accident. I think they wanted everyone to find out naturally."
Rise didn't say anything to that, but her eyebrow had furrowed and her mouth had twisted into a pout. She was thinking about something and since he was up close he could see the small curl of her lips and the small glint in her eye when her thoughts shifted to something more mischievous. "Rise?"
"Nothing! Nothing." Rise sat her plate next to Yu's on the coffee table as she stood up and walked back further into the apartment. "Yukiko's been getting by. The Inn has been closed down for the meanwhile but her and the employees have been trying to find ways that they could be helpful. Last I heard they were trying to make meals for everyone."
Yu felt a nasty shiver rack up his spine. "Is Yukiko in charge of the cooking?"
"One of the cooks insisted that she take on a different task. They put her in charge of making care packages I think."
Thank you employees. "Okay, but what are you doing?"
"Just looking for some old photos." Rise came out the back with her phone in hand. She was quickly tapping her screen as she reclaimed her seat beside Yu. She was taking extra care so that Yu wouldn't see what she was doing, and just from that he knew exactly what photos she was looking for.
"Only three blackmail photos."
Rise pouted. "Four."
"Two and you can watch that chick-flick you've been raving about."
"Will you make the popcorn?"
Yu nodded. "Deal."
Later that afternoon while they were watching the movie, Rise was dapping her eyes with a tissue when Yu got a text from Kanji and Naoto respectively.
"YOU TOLD RISE DIDN'T YOU?"
"What the hell!"
There was a screenshot of a collage of pictures shared with the message. He took one look at both messages and typed back this:
"It was going to be five. Should've told her."
YuRise was fun, but I definitely need to get more familiar with them. I ship all the Fools x Lovers but I feel like I sleep on these two a lot.
