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You remember how Ann held tightly held your arm, babbling quietly into your ear about how there was someone following her. Akira and Ryuji seemed to think that she was overreacting or imagining the whole thing, but you had experienced something similar before, so you allowed Ann to cower behind you as you acted like a human shield. You never would have imagined that the person following her was a student of the Madarame and that he was following Ann to ask her to be his model.
You were Ann’s closest friend, besides Shiho, and the two of you were practically attached at the hip. It was this close bond that led you to joining the Phantom Thieves when everything went down with Kamoshida. You had no idea what was in store for you when you awakened your persona and joined the team. You didn’t know that first day that you met Yusuke that he would become a part of the team too. You had no idea how important the handsome young artist would become to you either.
You remembered how your heart ached when infiltrating Madarame’s palace, seeing how he treated Yusuke like a slave who had to churn out art like his life depended on it. You felt deep hatred and anger towards Madarame knowing what he did to Yusuke’s mother, and it was then that you decided that you would give Yusuke the tenderness he had never known from those around him. Your heart was set on Yusuke, even if you didn’t know it yet.
You didn’t understand why your heart soared and dropped while spending time around Yusuke, so you decided to bottle up these unfamiliar emotions instead. You didn’t understand why you felt a quick pang of jealousy when Yusuke said he wanted to move into Ann’s house after he left Madarame’s shack. The rush of joy you received when Yusuke smiled at you was an alien feeling to you as well. You convinced yourself that you were simply excited to have a new friend. A friend that didn’t treat you like second place. It seemed like you were just as important to Yusuke as he was to you.
One Sunday afternoon, you and Yusuke sat across from one another at a booth in LeBlanc, sipping coffee and doing your own activities, simply enjoying one another’s company. You assumed Yusuke was sketching out ideas for new paintings while you focused on studying for your upcoming exams. You don’t know when it happened, but at some point you had dozed off, your head cradled in your arms on the tabletop. When you came back to reality, there was an unfamiliar weight on top of you. It was Yusuke’s sweater. You quickly glanced up at him and saw him looking at you fondly.
“Welcome back to the realm of the living, (Y/N). I was just about to wake you. If we don’t leave soon we’ll miss the last train.”
You chuckled at him and nodded, moving to carefully organize your notes and books and place them back in your bag. You stretched your arms, mindful not to shrug Yusuke’s sweater off your shoulders. Once you both were ready to leave, you stood and thanked Sojiro for the coffee before heading out into the night.
The two of you walked in comfortable silence to the train station. You reveled in the muffled chatter of neighbors on the street and the quiet buzz of the streetlamps. As you arrived at the station, you finally took Yusuke’s sweater off your shoulders and went to hand it back to you.
“Keep it. I insist. It looks much better on you, and its color compliments the color of your eyes.”
You felt heat blossom on your cheeks, silently thanking the universe for the cover of the evening to hide it. You nodded at him and properly slipped the sweater on, the sleeves just a bit too long on your arms. Your heart raced as you looked up at him, the smell of him permeating your senses. He nodded at you, satisfied that you put the sweater back on. You bid each other good night and went your separate ways. When you were alone, the obvious realization hit you like a ton of bricks: you were in love with Yusuke.
Nothing dramatic shifted in your relationship with Yusuke, even after that evening. You continued to mask your emotions, convincing yourself that it was better to do that than risk your friendship with him. No matter how hard you tried to fight it, your insecurities continued to creep into the front of your mind. You had convinced yourself that Yusuke could never like you, and once you came to that conclusion, a wedge had begun to drive itself between you and Yusuke.
When the whole gang was together, you couldn’t help but notice how Yusuke’s eyes always followed Ann. You couldn’t blame him in the slightest. You knew your friend was undeniably beautiful. Her blue eyes and blonde hair made her look angelic, especially in the sunlight. You didn’t let your bitterness affect your friendship with Ann, no matter how jealous you were or how much it hurt to watch the guy you were in love with fall for her. She was your best friend, and no matter how sad you were, you only wanted her to be happy. You wanted Yusuke to be happy too.
The change in your demeanor started to become obvious to everyone after infiltrating Futaba’s palace. You saw how Yusuke started at Ann during the drive through the desert. He didn’t even cast you a second glance. After beating Futaba’s distorted apparition of her mother, you saw how Yusuke caught Ann as you fell back into reality. He held her around the waist to secure her, breaking her fall with his body. You remembered how he did the same when he and Ann fell into Madarame’s palace. Your breaking heart was too much to ignore anymore. Even though you reminded yourself that all you wanted was for your friends to be happy, you couldn’t deny that it made you feel a bit like dying inside.
Futaba was the only one bold enough to say anything about it to you. After waking up from her extended slumber and winning the hacking war against Medjed, the Phantom Thieves teamed up to help get Futaba out of her shell. You came to quickly appreciate her blunt honesty, but you weren’t ready for it to be directed at you.
The day before you were all supposed to go to the beach, you came to visit Futaba and chat with her in her room. She was excited to tell you about the progress she made while working at LeBlanc for a day. As you two sat and ate your instant noodles together, Futaba was surprisingly the one to break the silence.
“So did you and Yusuke just break up? You act really weird around him.”
“No! We…were never together in the first place. Is it really obvious that I’m acting weird around him?”
“Yep.”
“Oh that’s lovely. Just kill me now.”
“You act all sad around him, like a kicked puppy.”
You slurped up some more of your instant noodles while you gathered your thoughts.
“I like him. A lot. I’m just trying to get over him because he’s so obviously in love with Ann that I don’t stand a chance. I mean every time he sees her, he’s mesmerized. I know I’m acting silly, but I don’t know how to move forward yet. I’m sorry if it makes things uncomfortable when we all hang out.”
“The truth is going to come out eventually.” Futaba said this in a mysterious tone that left no room for you to question what she meant. Desperate to change the topic, you asked her about the figurines on her shelf. She seemed more than happy to talk about that instead.
The next day, the whole team went to the beach to continue helping Futaba come out of her shell while also reveling in the final days of summer vacation. You were thankful when you were able to split off with the girls to take a ride of the banana boat. You were doing good pretending that everything was okay, but occasionally your conversation with Futaba from the night before overwhelmed your thoughts for a moment. A small break away from Yusuke would help you regain your composure.
The banana boat was an absolute blast. Being out on the water with your friends, a moment away from the sand, all the people, and Yusuke was therapeutic. You were sad when you all made it back to shore, but you were right that your time in the boat had helped you regain a bit of composure. You could make it through the rest of the beach trip.
You were overjoyed when Futaba decided that she wanted to officially join the Phantom Thieves. You had already grown quite fond of her, and you were excited to know that she would be sticking around. However, your joy was immediately sucked away when you turned around to see Ann in Yusuke’s white hoodie as the rest of the gang finished packing up their belongings. It felt like you had been shot in the heart. You didn’t realize how easy it was for someone to go from being on cloud nine to hitting rock bottom.
You turned your head back to the horizon, trying to get your breathing under control. You knew this was coming. Why were you acting so surprised? Why did it hurt so much? You crossed your arms across your body, as if your own embrace could help you keep it together. You felt so stupid as tears filled your eyes and your body trembled slightly.
You didn’t hear the gang call out for you and tell you that they were ready to go. You were so focused on trying to empty your mind as you stared out at the glimmering water. You were only pulled out from your thoughts when you felt a tentative hand on your shoulder. You whipped your head around to see Yusuke staring at you with confusion and concern on his face.
You jerked away from his touch, causing him to be even more confused.
“(Y/N), are you alright? We’re about to leave.”
You opened your mouth to speak, to tell him that you were ready and that you were sorry for holding everyone up. A choked sob came out of you instead. Your hand flew to your mouth as if you could pluck the sound out of the air and force it back down your throat.
“(Y/N)…what’s wrong?” Yusuke turned to motion to the rest of your friends that he needed a moment with you. He moved to put his hands on your shoulders, wanting to give you some sort of comfort, but instead you took another step away from him.
“I’m fine, Yusuke. I’m sorry. Let’s just go.”
“We’re friends. Please, don’t lie to me. You’re hurting, (Y/N). Did some uncouth barbarian hurt you earlier? Did someone put their hands on you? Please tell me what’s wrong,” Yusuke pleaded.
“You gave her your sweater.” The words escaped your lips before you could even think about stopping them. Your impromptu confession shocked the both of you.
“Ann? She was cold…I don’t understand why that’s upsetting. Did I do something wrong?”
“If I was even half as pretty as her would I have a chance with you? Would you like me more than her if I was able to catch your eye like she can? Would you think about kissing me if I looked like her? Just…tell me that you don’t like me. Tell me you want nothing to do with me. Finish breaking my heart so I can move on and rebuild it. I want you to be happy with Ann but it's killing me, Yusuke.” Your confession was spoken in a whisper, but to Yusuke your words were deafening.
Tears continued to stream down your face as Yusuke was stunned into silence. Somehow, his lack of reply made things worse. It made you angry.
“Just say something Yusuke! Tell me I’m right and that you could never like me like you like Ann. Tell me you hate me for ruining our friendship. Tell me you don’t want to see me ever again. Just…say something.”
“(Y/N), look at me.” Yusuke silently moved to cup your face and tilt your chin up, hoping to encourage you too look him in the eye.
“This is my fault. I should have been more clear about my feelings for you. I should have come out in the open and said it. Instead you’ve convinced yourself that I don’t love you. That’s not true, (Y/N). I am deeply, maddeningly in love with you. Venus, Aphrodite, Eve…none of them hold a candle to your beauty. You’ve captured my heart.”
Yusuke leaned in to press a soft kiss to your lips before pulling back to look at you again.
“I hope that I’ve made my feelings much clearer to you now.”
Instead of responding, you wrapped your arms around Yusuke’s neck and pulled him in for a desperate kiss. In the soft orange glow of the sunset, your emotions were finally out in the open, and you were so thankful that Yusuke felt the same way about you.
As you and Yusuke finally pulled away from each other’s embrace, you heard the sound of clearing throats. You both turned to see your friends with cheeky smiles on their faces.
“I was wondering how long you two were going to tiptoe around each other,” Makoto confessed.
“Aw man, Yusuke got a girlfriend before I did?” Ann smacked the back of Ryuji’s head for that comment.
“Joker, did you get the photo?” Ann asked.
Akira smirked at you and Yusuke and nodded, pulling out his phone to send the photo of your first kiss with Yusuke to the group chat.
“Guys, can we go? Mona and I are hungry,” Futaba whined, which caused the whole group to chuckle.
As you all finally left the beach, Yusuke intertwined his hand with yours. In that moment, you no longer wished you were Ann. You were perfectly happy being (Y/N).