#neni does comissions

[neni-has-ascended]

Persona 4 Fanfic: “You Wouldn’t Expect” [Commissioned by spiralstorm]

Characters: Teddie, Labrys

Type: Romance

Description: Teddie takes Labrys out to the beach.

Read on Fanfic.net: HERE

Read on Ao3: HERE

Author’s Note:

A commission piece. Since I personally love this pairing to bits, I had a lot of fun writing it, though it took me a lot longer than anticipated... Mostly because I had trouble deciding what to do with the requested setting.

If you want to commission me as well for art, writing or translation, please check click here.

I also have a tip-jar.

Most people considered him an extrovert. Most people thought of him as a person who was incapable of taking anything serious, regardless of the situation. Most people had trouble imagining him with anything resembling a sense of shame. Most people would also assume that such a shameless, unserious extrovert would not experience any sort of anxiety going to a social outing they, themself, had suggested and set up in the first place.

Most people were wrong.

There Teddie stood, drenched in a mixture of sweat and some overprized body spray he’d snuck from the hygienics department (on Yosuke’s tab). His bike stood angled and leaned against the wall right next to him. Ever since the incident with the pine tree and the rubber tape he wasn’t allowed to use the rollerblades anymore, so fixing up Yosuke’s old ride was his only way to get out here on his own. Probably a good idea anyway; he was well aware of the enticing properties these fabled ‘rides’ were supposed to have on cute girls. Though, didn’t the bikes he’d seen in Yosuke’s magazines look quite a bit different from that bicycle next to him? Not to worry unnecessarily, but this distinct aura of lameness he could feel radiating off the beat-up thing now that he wasn’t on it seemed a bit… troubling.

Ah! Focus, focus! Teddie clapped his hands onto his face and took a deep breath. Now was not the time to lose his nerves! Not here, not today! No, not when this was the moment, the one, his irreplaceable and very special, very first… date.

His breath stopped even just thinking the words. M-Maybe the air was just especially thin today? Who would be surprised, geez, with how unbearably hot and humid it was, good thing he hadn’t come in his beautiful fur, all the moisture would just have ruined his shine, but now his poor head-hair had to deal with these conditions, and his skin was all wet and his foundation was dripping, and his clothes were wrinkled, and the flowers were wilting, and he couldn’t stop biting his lip-

“Hey. Sorry, did I make ya wait?”

-He snapped to attention and froze up like a popsicle in a straight jacket.

Without him realizing, he’d been approached by a slender figure dressed in a light, flowing summer dress, a pale-yellow ribbon holding her long, azure hair together in a ponytail. Fuuka had really done amazing work in restoring those cloaking features. If he hadn’t known better, Teddie would have assumed it was a regular human girl that had just greeted him so kindly. However, he was sure that the face and voice he saw and heard could only belong to one person in this big world.

“O-O-Ohhhh~~!! L-Labby-chan!!”

He could force melodic inflections into his words all he wanted; it didn’t keep him from stuttering. He found it so hard to not stumble over his words whenever Labrys was around. This, too, he wanted to blame on the infernal heat today. It dried up his tongue and made it so hard to articulate! Yes, that was what was going on here, clearly, without doubt.

“‘You okay, Ted? You lookin’ kinda frazzled.” Labrys’ head tilted slightly as she spoke. Oh no, now the hot weather had gotten her worried for him, too! Not that he minded being cared for, of course, but… No, no! Today was not a day to be anxious and worried. Not for him, and definitely not for her! With a hearty shake of his head, Teddie tried to throw off the many oppressive feelings weighing down on his poor little head and laughed.

“Oh no, mon ami, what are you talking about? I’m doing just bearfectly fine! Especially now that I am in such stunning company~!”

“…If ya say so.”

She rolled her eyes a little, giving a slight sigh. While Labrys wasn’t necessarily the best people-reader, she did consider herself fairly perceptive, and the fact that Teddie right now didn’t appear to be at the height of tranquility was obvious to everyone but himself. Then again, hyperactivity was barely out of the norm for the little guy, now, was it? Giving Teddie a gentle pat on the head, Labrys began to scan the area around them a little.

“Whoa, it sure is packed. You sure it was a good idea to come today? Maybe we shoulda rescheduled, huh…”

The doubt in Labrys’ voice was like a lightning strike to Teddie’s motors, and at once he was bouncing along eagerly in front of the young gynoid lady, shaking his head in utmost denial.

“Nonsense! Don’t you know that getting lost in the crowd is part of the charm of this kind of event? Walking down the beach together, hand in hand, in a sea of blissful couples, gazing at the night sky above, and then--!”

“I… I was kinda hoping we’d be going for a swim.”

That sentence killed the scenario in Teddie’s head quicker than Yukiko could kill a man’s self-esteem. Labrys continued talking, her hands tugged away behind her back as she considered her surroundings. When had she ever found herself stood in a large gathering like this before?

“Y’know, since that whole Beach Party thing we were talkin’ about in spring didn’t end up happening yet, ‘cause everyone got busy, when you said we were meeting at Shichiri Beach, I just kinda… assumed.”

His face went through at least 5 different emotions upon the realization that whatever miscommunication he had allowed to happen had caused Labrys to come here with wildly different expectation from him. Teddie eventually settled on a boisterous laugh that came out more awkward than intended, trying to right the wrongs of what he had suggested.

“Ah… AHAHAHA! Of course, of course!! Swimming, at the beach, what beautiful maiden wouldn’t want to swim at the beach, it’s bathing suit time after all!! Summer, sun, pin-up poses! Never you fear, I always carry an emergency bikini just for cases like this, right on my-“

“…Going swimmin’ in a crowd like this would kinda blow my cover. My cloaking device can’t project into water, y’know.”

“-Oh.”

Well, that was quite unfortunate. And though she tried to hide it, a certain sense of disappointment on Labrys’ face couldn’t be denied. Teddie, for some reason, felt put on the spot by this. Embearrassed, even. And there he’d been mapping out this whole, unforgettable evening in his head already. What a debacle.

“Em… Should we…” he didn’t mean to, but he ended up having his head sink in between his shoulders on him. “Should we go home?”

Fast, unusually quiet and short was how Teddie’s question came out sounding. Still, Labrys seemed calm.

“Nah, let’s stay. It’s sorta my own fault for not researching the event before sayin’ I’d come. ‘Sides, I’ve never been to a ‘festival’ before. Maybe it’s gonna be fun.”

Teddie’s enthusiasm was restored.

“Of COURSE it will be fun! You’ll love it! We’ll buy snackies and weird thingie-dings, and write wishes on tiny sheets of paper, and catch goldfish and watch the fireworks and the stars…”

A young, gold-blond boy was excitedly jumping around in front of his azure-haired friend, continuing his descriptions in such a manner that it was hard to believe he was ever going to stop. Labrys chuckled. As nervous as it made her to be around these many strangers, as long as she had Teddie just being Teddie, she knew all was still right in the world. She took a deep breath of salty beach air mixed with the scent of fried meat and Takoyaki and looked out to the festival site stretching out before them.

“Shichiri-Tanabata Festival, huh.” she mumbled to herself. “Let’s see…”

★

Teddie hurried to drag Labrys along to every little point of attraction that grabbed his attention, his excitement unbroken even as the hours marched along. Calling his way of selecting the booths they’d spend their time at ‘erratic’ would have been flattery. In a hurry he jetted from one site to another, from a saleswoman selling star-themed charms to an ice cream stand, to a pair of performers, to a fishing game, to a stand selling cold drinks, and so on. It definitely helped that Labrys didn’t mind his guidance, much to the contrary. She was glad to have something resembling a line to navigate along this chaotic gathering of people, whose countless voices constantly threatened to overload her sensors. Her 5th generation hardware simply wasn’t optimized for complex social situations like this one. Following Teddie’s lead and focusing on his voice helped drowning out the noise. Holding his hand to not lose track of him kept her from getting distracted. Eventually, she found herself sitting by a table put up next to a little tree with lots and lots of colorful papers hung on it, sipping from a plastic cup of iced tea (her systems could handle tasting and excreting liquids; it was only solid foods that caused problems.)

“There sure is a lot to do here,” she said with a sigh, gazing at the mass of people she’d been walking through all afternoon and wondering how she’d survived it. She turned to Teddie. “You’ve been to a festival before, haven’cha?”

“Yes, but never to this one,” Teddie admitted, still a bit flushed from the excitement of all the games they’d been playing. “The one in everyone’s town is very different from here. It’s a lot smaller and a lot less romantic. This one here makes me feel like I’m being swept off my feet!”

“Hm…” Sip, sip, sip, Labrys worked her way through her drink, considering Teddie’s statement. For someone who had never been to this festival either, he sure seemed to sure his way around. There was a lot she could learn from him, especially considering that he hadn’t been living in this world for that much longer than her. It probably paid to be as wide-eyed curious as him when it came to this sort of thing. It was then that a small stack of tourist brochures on the table next to them caught Labrys’ attention. She reached out, took one and began to read it. Of course, Teddie looked over her shoulder.

“Ohhh, English! Fancy.”

“It’s frickin’ broken as heck tho,” Labrys frowned at the grammatical mess before her eyes.

“You speak English, Labby-chan?”

“Came pre-installed with ‘nuff to read most of it. Can’t exactly speak it tho. Well, not withoutta soundin’ like an, um, y’know. Robot.”

It took Labrys some mental effort to stop her language processing programs from going bonkers trying to deal with the monstrosity presented to them. Eventually, however, she had processed the text enough to read out some of it.

“Tanabata, also known as the Star Festival, originates from the Chinese Qixi Festival. It celebrates the meeting of the stars Vega and Altair, who’re thought to be embodied by the deities Orihime, the Celestial Weaver, and Hikoboshi, the Celestial Cowherd. According to legend, the two lovers were forbidden from meeting by the Sky King, who thought their relationship prevented them from performing their duties. Only once a year, when their stars meet on the 7th day of the 7th month, the two can meet, and it is said that wishes written down and bound to bamboo or branches on this day will come true.”

“Ohhhhh, that’s so romantic!!” Teddie almost squeaked hearing the story, making wide eyes at the paper in Labrys hands. She laughed.

“Sure, you’d like that. You’re into mushy stuff like that, aren’cha?”

“Hm. It would be even better if Ori-chan and Bosshy got to meet whenever they want,” Teddie declared after taking a few seconds to process the story. “I mean, it’s so sad! I thought true love was supposed to be forebear! Not giving them a happy ending when all the other fairytales get one just screams of discrimination, if you ask me! They should complain to the management!”

Somewhere halfway through Teddie’s critique had stopped making logical sense, but Labrys didn’t mind that. She’d expected as much. In fact, she kinda found it cute. She ruffled his hair.

“It’s probably a really old story, ya know. I reckon’ by now they’ve long got it worked out,” she suggested. “Like, maybe they quit their jobs and moved in together? That’s what I think woulda made sense, at least.”

“Mhm…” Teddie replied surprisingly half-heartedly as Labrys stroked his hair. Lowering his head, he mumbled. “If it were me, I’d do everything, so-“

“Hm?” Labrys tilted her head. Teddie’s voice had been too low for her to pick up all of what he’d said. However, he wouldn’t repeat the words. Instead, he swung his legs and leapt up from the bench the two of them were sitting on.

“Aaaaaalright! Where shall we go next, milady!?”

A 180° turn to the tree next to their table gave Teddie his answer.

“Oh, I know! Let’s write some wishes!”

★

It wasn’t Teddie’s first time writing wishes on Tanzaku paper. He’d done it the year before with Yosuke’s family, though then he hadn’t known the legend. However, it was Labrys’ first time, and she was struggling a little. To her it felt awkward trying to put any wishes she might have into words, especially knowing how many people there were around that could possibly be looking over her shoulder. The fact that Teddie kept loudly vocalizing every single thing he wrote down, proudly announcing his wishes to the world (he was up to tying his 10th Tanzaku to the tree now) didn’t help. Just how was it so easy for him to come up all these things to say? Maybe she just ought to stop thinking and just write down the first thing that came to her?

Eventually Labrys found a wish and wording she was happy with and put it on the paper in neat, clean handwriting, tying a perfectly symmetrical bow as she hung it to the branch. Yeah, this was okay. It reflected her hopes for the future, and she didn’t feel weird about the fact that someone else might read it. She was satisfied.

“Oookay!!”

Hands on hips, Teddie looked over his army of 27 Tanzaku Papers merrily fluttering on the tree, Labrys’ sole wish mixed right in with them. He seemed proud of the image, miming the hand-gestures of a photographer looking for the perfect shot again and again, though never actually taking a picture of the scene. The one to really take a photo was Labrys. The way Teddie was hopping around in front of that tree was just too cute.

“Careful, ya gonna tear ‘em down with all the wind you’re makin’ wavin’ ya arms ‘round,” she laughed.

“Wind? My lady, I will have you know, this is no orbearnary wind I’m kicking up here! It’s the cosmic shock-wave that will carry our wishes to the heavens! HMMMMMMM!” And he threw his finger up in the air and struck a pose, yelling. “ORI-CHAAAN! DID YOU GET ALL OF THIS!?”

Teddie’s display of unabashed confidence drew the attention of bystanders. A pair of college age girls could be heard chatting.

“Whoa, that kid’s Japanese is pretty good… And he’s kinda cute, too, isn’t he? Hee hee.”

“Careful what you say, I think he came with his big sister. You see that foreign-looking girl next to him?”

“Whoa, she’s pretty good-looking as well, check out that figure! How come foreigners get to have all those curves, huh?”

“Calm down, you’ll bother them. Hey, let’s move on, alright?” The girl took her friend by the hand and walked away, though she could still be heard adding. “It sure is nice, seeing that some siblings don’t feel like they need to ‘grow out of’ being cute together…”

Labrys and Teddie waited until the college girls were out of earshot. Then, they turned to each other, a little stunned.

“…Big sister?” Teddie asked, tilting his head a little. “Whatever did she mean by that?”

Labrys shrugged. “I guess we looked like siblings to them?”

“Oh, sort of like how Yosuke always says that all foreigners look ‘the same’? Geez, how rude!”

He didn’t look offended at all.

“We ain’t really foreigners though,” Labrys pointed out.

“So, we look the same to them because we’re both not human? Hmm, people are weeeird sometimes.”

“Yeah, can’t argue with that…”

“I mean…” Teddie put his fingers on his chin pondering. “It’s not like we should come across like siblings! After all, you are my fair Princess! And I am your Royal Knight, Sir Teddie, coming to your aid in shining armor.”

“Well, I dunno a lotta stuff ‘bout knights. But some of them were princes, right?” Labrys said. “And a prince can be a princess’ brother, I think.”

“Wha—No, no, no! None! That’s not it at all!” Teddie stomped one of his feet in the sand a little, not hard, just enough to kick up a dramatic dust cloud. “I mean… I maaaay be quite princely in just bearly all aspects, but! That’s not the nature of our relationship at all!”

“I mean. Yeah.” Labrys didn’t know what there was to get dramatic about, but on a purely factual level, she had to agree. “I do got some siblings, but last I checked, you weren’t one.”

“Right!?” Teddie seemed vindicated by that statement. He crossed his arms. “And… And anyway! If anything, I’d definitely be the older brother!”

At that, Labrys could only snort. “Really?”

“But, of course! In fact, ever since Sensei has gone back to the big city, I’ve done my beary best to stuff that sad, bro-shaped hole in Nana-chan’s life,” he told her. It’s not like I could ‘replace’ Sensei. Not even moi could ever do that. But! I’ve been visiting her lots and lots! We’ve been going shopping and watching TV and playing in the park and making music…”

Teddie’s mood went from high-strung to almost tranquil as he talked. His face visibly relaxed.

“Actually, you know, I wanted to bring Nana-chan here too! But… She was busy with school today, so she couldn’t come.”

“Why didn’t you just call me to reschedule then?” Labrys asked curious. “I wouldn’t of minded comin’ a day later so we can bring her, y’know.”

“No, it’s okay.” Teddie shook his head. “I’ll come with her another time! Besides… I thought it might be nice to come, maybe… just with you.”

Labrys accepted that statement, though she wasn’t quite sure what he meant by it. Generally, she found him rather unreadable at the moment. His expression, the way he didn’t really look at her but more at the ground behind her, that slightly pink tinge on his cheeks… Was he okay? If he was human, she would have guessed that he was showing early signs of a fever, but…

“Hey, hey, Labby-chan, look, over there! I wanna try that!”

And thus ended a brief, quiet moment.

The ‘that’ Teddie was referring to turned out to be a large stretch on the beach without booths, where people were currently gathering to perform some sort of folk-dance. Onlookers were evidently allowed to join in. Labrys was hesitant, after all, who’d ever heard of a dancing combat device? However, it didn’t take much coaxing for Teddie to get her to join. Despite their exotic appearances the two of them didn’t stand out among the dancers nearly as much as they could have. The crowd was diverse, some people having come in Yukata, while others were in casual clothing like Labrys and Teddie. There were even a few westerners, probably tourists, mixed into the bunch. Chaotic as it was, nobody noticed how many steps the two of them missed in their attempts to follow the shrine priestess and middle-aged man leading the dance. It was all in good fun. Some parts of the dance were performed in pairs and these were the parts that made Labrys most nervous. The idea of having to synchronize with the moves of a total stranger in order to not disrupt the event sent her logic circuits into disarray. However, Teddie kept close to her and immediately paired up with her whenever he heard the musical cue to, and though Labrys knew he probably had his own reasons for doing so, she was thankful. ‘He’s always been pretty clingy around girls, huh?’ she thought to herself. ‘Well, I’m glad he’s having fun.’ It was only fairly late into the song that it occurred to Labrys how many other good-looking girls her own age actually were in the crowd of dancers. Yet, throughout the entire song, Teddie hadn’t strayed from her side even once. When she realized that fact, Labrys fell silent.

“…”

“Labby-chan, what’s wrong? The music isn’t over yet.”

“Wha—O-Oh right.”

Labrys had been so lost in her thoughts, she’d stopped dancing on the spot. Now it was just Teddie and her standing still in the mass of dancers, small wrinkles forming on his forehead as he looked at her in worry.

“Are you tired? Should we take a break?”

“…Yeah, maybe. Thanks.”

Holding her hand gently, as if taking extra care to not hurt her, he led her to the edge of the beach’s waters, a little off from all the music and commotion. It was here, where the crowd was thinner and the noise less prevalent that, for the first time, Labrys could take a moment to breathe and process the events of the day so far. Her sensors registered a high content of sodium-chloride in water vapor in the air… Sea salt. A nice scent. In the distance the sun had begun to set, dyeing the sky and ocean in a dazzling red color. Carefully, Labrys stretched out the bottom parts of her legs to let the waves splash them a little. What appeared to be her ‘feet’ wasn’t real, of course, those parts of her body were a pure projection of her cloaking device, but it still was nice to pretend.

Watching Labrys stretch her legs out to the water like that, Teddie began to pout a little. He buried his face between his legs. “I’m sorry I didn’t take you swimming. You’re probably beary disappointed still.”

Labrys laughed at that. “What’cha even talking about? Today’s been great! I’ve been havin’ a blast.”

“O-Oh!” Surprised, Teddie looked up. “I was just thinking… You’ve been looking so nervous ever since we’ve come here, so maybe you weren’t actually having any fun.”

“Mhm… I’ve never really been ‘round this many people before. So, it’s a tad strange still, ya know?” Labrys admitted. “But a gal’s gotta get out sometime, right? I’m thinkin’, I wanna make friends that ain’t Persona Users too, some time. So, I’d better get used to seein’ more people around like this... You’ve already got that part of livin’ down to a tee, don’cha?”

Labrys grinned at Teddie as she said that, which he visibly took as permission to feel pride. Wearing her statement as a badge of honor, he puffed up his chest a little.

“Weeeell, if you ever need anybody to show you how to bring ALL the hot studs in town to the yard, you can come to me! I’ll be your wise and powerful mentor in the art of socialization and bearing it all to the world!”

“I’m sure ya will,” Labrys pet his hair a bit, partly to get him to dismount that high horse of his for a while. “Look. The stars are comin’ up.”

★

As the day drew to a close, the scene was lit by lights, both around and above them, all reflecting colorfully in the ocean before them. Labrys and Teddie spent the time talking, about themselves, the time they’d known each other, their friends. There was so much to say, the minutes seemed to pass much too quickly, and by the time Labrys had googled and pointed out the locations of Vega and Altair in the sky to Teddie, the festivalgoers had gathered around where they were sitting to gaze up at the stars as well. The fireworks began.

They were were even prettier than the last time Teddie had seen them, painting the sky in all possible colors, lights raining down above them in this pleasantly warm summer night. There were so many people around them, and – Labrys recalled – there were endlessly many more watching up to this same sky right now in this world. It was a concept hard to understand for someone who’d spent so much of her existence isolated from people, so why did she feel so at peace right now?

“I woulda never expected looking at some lights in the sky could be this beautiful,” she said quietly, almost a whisper.

“…Me neither,” Teddie said in much the same tone. And, whether he realized it or not, his hand was on top of hers.

In this moment, regardless of all the people and voices all around, it almost felt as if nobody but the two of them existed in this entire world. It was just like how, during the dance, Teddie had stayed only by Labrys’ side, like she would have never expected him to. That thought on her mind, Labrys found it easy to move closer to the boy next to her, her fingers intertwining with his, before she slowly drew him into a kiss.

“Next time, I’ll take ya out swimming,” Labrys told Teddie, breaking their lip-lock to bop his nose.

Stunned as he was, even if Teddie had had something to reply, he wouldn’t have known how to say it.