Chapter Text
She was uncannily quiet. So quiet that he feared she had stopped breathing. Shinjiro blamed the sudden change of scenery. Just an hour or so ago the whole team was in Tartarus, but now they stood in a flood of unfamiliar, numb-skulled students from some school located in the middle of goddamn no where. Being told suddenly that there were shadows and labyrinths to overcome and two amnesiacs on their hands? That would make anyone go silent for a few minutes. Still, the fact that that usual constant yammer wasn't coming from her mouth worried him.
"Stuck here, huh?" She finally asked to no one in particular, crimson eyes scanning the colorful attractions. Shinji wondered why she wasn't more excited. Fun, colorful things were usually right up her ally. All the while he shrunk further into his trench coat.
"Leader," Mitsuru asked. "What do you say we do?"
Minako rubbed her cheek like she always did when faced with an issue. Shinjiro pretended like he had better things to do than hear what the game plan was and took a good look at the food stands. Junk food, sugar, more junk. There was no way anyone was going to fight shadows efficiently on such a diet. Caught up in his own brooding, he completely missed what his leader had said and only brought his attention back to her when she grabbed hold of his arm and started down the hallway.
"Wh-?! Hey! Hold on!" He protested, but she chose not to listen. He had no other choice but to practically dig his heels into the floor to stop the unstoppable force that was, Minako. "What's the big idea?"
"We should relax for a little bit and get to know the school before we get into the labyrinths." She explained, tugging on his arm. Shinjiro did not budge."Aaand..."
There was always something else.
"And?"
"I really wanted to see the festival first." She admitted to him, offering up nothing more but a sheepish smile. Shinji shook his head, turning towards her as two students pushed past them. "Our culture festival got cancelled and I wanted to go with you...so maybe..." He heaved a sigh only to hide the smile on his face and offered her his arm.
"That's enough. Let's get going before lines get long."
"Shinjiro-senpai." Minako called to him. He turned his attention from the red paint splattered on the wall to her similarly colored eyes and gave a brief hum."You got hurt pretty bad back there. Are you okay?"
He shrunk into his coat, glaring at the ground. He knew medicine was expensive here and like hell he'd want her wasting it on him when they'd barely made any progress on this floor. "I'm fine."
She shook her head, pushing a medicine into his hands. Her smile grew, as did his frown. "You don't have to act tough. I'll protect you."
His head snapped up. "Look, I ain't--" The warmth of her lips touched his cheek and all so suddenly he was at a loss for words. She had ignored what he said before he even said it.
"Don't worry." She beamed so brightly he almost had to squint. "We'll take care of each other."
He should have known what was coming when the topic of "poinking" came up in conversation. Shinjiro was too preoccupied wheezing and hacking over the ill-informed first year to properly prepare himself. When the group dispersed Minako gingerly tugged on his coat. It might have just been his imagination but in that instance her eyes seemed to have tripled in size as she stared at him with the innocence of a goddamn schoolgirl.
"What's "poinking?" I pretended to know to look cool but..." Shinjiro recoiled, tugging down his hat as if it would help hide the blush creeping up his cheeks.
"It's nothing important."
She wasn't falling for it."You almost choked over it! It's not that bad is it? Is it sexual? Like a fetish?"
He scrambled to quiet her down. Yelling things like sexual and fetish out in the open (sitting next to her upperclassmen boyfriend he might add) would only give people the wrong idea. It might have seemed too overcautious, but he had struggled through too many false assumptions about their relationship to risk another rumor. "Be quiet will you?! I told you it's nothing important so will you just--"
"Tell me or I'll ask Junpei! Or...or Teddie!" She cut in."Or both!"
Having two of the most perverted guys on the team explain to her what "poinking" was would only lead to a hell of a lot more confusion. Shinjiro heaved a sigh and leaned in, Minako followed. In a hushed tone he quickly and quietly explained.
"Y'know, Zen kind of reminds me of you."
His eyebrows drew together. "How?"
"Neither of you can remember anything to save your lives."
"I sure as hell don't remember agreeing to date a comedian."
She punched his arm and giggled.
"Rei reminds me of you a little." He chuckled.
"What?"
"Neither of you stop eating."
"Hey! Maybe I'd eat less if your food wasn't so good."
The two of them laughed.
Soon enough she found herself thinking only one thing while answering the "Destined partner" questions. 'What would Shinji choose?'.
When she slipped her hand into his it was more out of the need for warmth than the need for affection.
"Jesus." He muttered, pulling his hand away from her's and digging into the inner pockets of his coat. She merely watched as he tried to shimmy his hand down the front of his coat like an idiot.
Finally he produced a pair of leather gloves and tugged them onto her hands with a huff.
"You're going to freeze to death if you wear just a scarf outside." He warned her and although upset with her lack of proper winter attire, she could still see that imaginary worry bump of his growing just a little bit larger. Minako only smiled, wiggling her fingers in the large, spacious gloves that flopped over at the very tips of the fingers. They still felt warm from being inside of his coat and she laughed at the fact that they were only there due to her inability to remember them.
"I love you." She sang. "You keep me from dying."
Shinjiro bumped her shoulder, shaking his head. "Yeah yeah yeah."