Chapter Text
09/29/2009 - Early Morning
An incessant beeping breaks through the pleasantly foggy darkness on the inside of Makoto's eyelids, just like it does every normal morning. Just like every normal morning, he buries his face further into the pillow and flails his arm around until he finds his phone to shut it off.
Except he doesn't.
Something is pinning his right arm to the bed, cutting off circulation, and he can't budge it. The pillow he's burrowing his face into is soft, smells faintly of vanilla and orange and rose, and tickles his nose. He's incredibly sweaty.
He finally blearily opens his eyes, and is greeted with a curtain of brown hair in front of him and a sea of pink around him. There is warm, comforting softness pressed to his front, and something is clutching his left hand tightly. He feels the steady rhythmic breathing of someone deep in slumber, and the occasional faint snuffle.
Right. He's in Yukari's room.
He's in Yukari's room.
Memories come flooding back to him. The phone strap. The frankly adorable verbal fumbling. "I don't want to say goodnight just yet." Everything after.
He smiles to himself. Nice.
He eventually does manage to flail with his left arm and silence his phone. It's 04:45. Right.
"Yukari," he whispers into the crook of her neck. "My alarm went off. I have to get back to my room so Kirijo-senpai doesn't flip shit."
"Nnmmmm'koto..." She grips his hand tight and tries to pull him flush against her back again. "D'n go yet..." Oh god, she's adorable.
"I don't want to go either. But do you want Junpei to notice I'm not there?"
Yukari jolts and twists to look at him. Blinks sleep from her eyes. "Ugh, Stupei. Prob'ly tell everyone..." She makes a face, then blushes and smiles when she realizes their foreheads are touching. Makoto can feel her breath on his lips. He leans forward and tries to memorize the soft feeling, the shuddering hitch in her breath, the faint little noise she makes when he brushes her lips with his tongue.
Yukari chases him when he pulls back, then looks immediately embarrassed. "You're not making me want you to leave any less. You're so mean, you know..." She pouts and gives him her best puppy dog eyes.
"Oh, no, don't, god. Have you been practicing with Koro-chan? That's frankly unfair." She sticks her tongue out at him. "We agreed it'd probably be best, you know that. It was your idea. Cut down on rumors, so we get each other to ourselves for a little longer, remember?" He smiles gently at her. "Also, I can't kiss you again - which I very much would like to do - if I'm dead. Which is what I will be, if Kirijo-senpai finds out that I'm here right now."
Mentions of his impending demise wake her up a bit. "You're right. Do you need help, uh... Gathering things?" She looks down and blushes again, realizing they're both very naked. Takeba Blush™ indeed.
"I think I remember where you threw most of my clothes." Makoto smirks at the flustered noise that escapes Yukari as she shoves him out of the bed. "Oof!"
They both wince and pause at the thud his ass makes as it contacts the ground. When no one comes to break into their love nest, Makoto quickly dresses and leans over the bed. He runs the backs of his fingers down Yukari's cheek, locks eyes with her, musters up all of his maxed-out charm, and says very seriously, "Last night was incredible. I'd love to do it again, and to be whatever you want me to be for however long you will have me."
Those big brown eyes sparkle up at him. He feels the Lovers arcana resonating in his chest. She surges forward and kisses him with reckless abandon, locking her arms around his neck. He nearly lets her pull him back into the bed, but finally pulls away.
She looks up at him sheepishly, still flushed and breathless. "You put the devil in me, Makoto. Look at us. We're terrible. Stereotypical lovesick teenagers!"
Tanaka's sneering face pops into his head at the mention of the Devil. "I like to think I'm more a fool than a devil. I won't dispute being in you though," he drawls blandly and leans backwards at the same time, narrowly avoiding the blow Yukari levels at him for his dirty joke.
"Careful, Yuki-kun. A pretty face is just as good a target as a bull's-eye..." She glares at him as he backs up to the door, then relents with a smile. "Go on, pretty boy. I'll see you on the train?"
"Wouldn't miss it." He smiles back. "I love you, Yukari." He opens the door and turns to walk out.
Or at least tries to.
He swears he can hear battle music coming through his headphones when his eyes meet unblinking bright blue ones, and he nearly walks straight into a wall of unforgiving metal before his reflexes kick in. He very, very quietly closes the door.
"I love you too, Makoto. What's wrong? We both agreed you had to go..."
"There's a problem." He keeps his voice very, very level. He cracks the door.
Unmoving. Unblinking. Unyielding. Battle music.
He closes the door again. Runs his hand down his face. It is too early for this.
"Makoto?" Yukari sounds increasingly concerned. She wraps the sheets around herself.
"So. As you might remember, Aigis has been watching me sleep." She grimaces at that, then nods. "Which involves going into my room every night." She nods, slower.
"I was not in my room last night."
Yukari frowns.
"Aigis is... Thorough. She'd definitely go looking for... You... Oh no." The blood drains from her face, all evidence of the Takeba Blush™ erased. "Makoto. Tell me she isn't."
"She is."
"...Shit." She'd cursed quite a few times last night, but he's still not used to hearing her do it. "Well. What do we do, Leader?" She's trying to be playful, but it's strained.
"If I ask her not to say anything, she probably won't. The issue is getting her to agree to that quietly." His mind races, grasping at straws. He clears his throat and says, solemnly, "Yukari. If I don't make it out of this alive, you can have my MP3 player and my headphones. Tell Fuuka to wipe my computer. Junpei can have it when she's done."
"What?! Makoto, no. Don't talk like that. You're not dying. I won't let you. I don't think Aigis could possibly allow herself to kill you." She looks at him with those damned puppy-dog eyes again. Is this what she does when she takes Koro-chan on walks? "I just got my hands on you. I'm not letting you go that easy."
He has to smile at that. Lovers arcana, indeed. "And I feel the same way, Yukari. But I was talking about Kirijo-senpai. The one with zero social awareness and rapiers and executions. Who could possibly be woken up by a commotion across the hall from her."
Her face also goes solemn. "I will remember you always, until my life is exhausted."
He tries to smother a laugh and only fails a little bit. Yukari lights up so brightly he's dazzled. "Oh my god! I've never heard you laugh before. Oh, you're so --" she squeals quietly -- how can someone squeal quietly? -- and buries her face in a pillow. "If anyone is in danger of dying here, it's me, from that laugh. I am never gonna stop trying to make you laugh ever, oh my god."
She composes herself. "Okay, we've stalled long enough." She crosses the room and kisses him, then gives him a gentle shove. "Go get 'em, Leader. See you on the train."
He grins, then turns.
Unlocks the door.
Blue eyes. Blonde hair. Unmoving. Unblinking. Unyielding. Battle music.
It's going down now.
"Aigis. Do not speak. I am fine. I need to move silently to my room and absolutely no one can find out that I was here. My safety will be threatened by multiple parties if it's discovered anything out of the ordinary happened." He locks eyes with her, speaking as evenly and quietly as he can. He trusts she can hear it.
"Understood. Makoto-san will be escorted to his quarters silently with no witnesses," she replies at a similar volume. Success.
She levels her fingers at Yukari. "Eliminating witness." What.
Yukari lets out a strangled noise and dives for her bow. Makoto has never moved faster in his life. He throws himself between Aigis and Yukari. "Aigis absolutely not. Yukari is exempt from this. She is allowed to know. Stand down."
"Understood." Aigis narrows her eyes, then bows. Was that reluctance? "I apologize, Yukari-san."
"We are going to talk later, Aigis," Yukari hisses. Makoto winces.
"Understood." She turns to Makoto. "Makoto-san, I believe it is time to 'blow this popsicle stand,' as they say."
Resisting the urge to make a joke about blowing popsicles, Makoto nods and walks out the door, hands shoved in his pockets. He throws a small, relaxed smile over his shoulder. Yukari, still a little shell-shocked, blows him a kiss as the door shuts.
--
Makoto makes it into his bedroom and basically has to plead with Aigis to leave him alone. Once the door clicks shut, he leans over his sink and looks into the mirror.
He notices the obvious dark circles under his eyes from lack of sleep, the general sweatiness, and the unkempt hair. But the faint remnants of a smile linger around his mouth, and low on his neck is an angry purple bruise. He tastes the faint remnants of strawberry lip gloss. He's still warm. The Lovers arcana hasn't stopped humming. In his mind's eye, he sees Yukari smiling, completely unguarded, open like sheet music for him.
Max charm rules.
He really hopes his collar covers this hickey.
--