Writing Playground

16. Day at the Underground Mall

Fandom: persona 5
Tag(s): shopping, present tense, fluff (supposed to be exploratory writing but my fingers slipped)
Ship: AkeTaka (AkechixAnn)

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"Takamaki-san, I don't understand the purpose of this."

Ann smiles brightly, letting go of his wrist. "We're hanging out! I've been wanting to expand my wardrobe anyway, so here we are!"

Akechi scratches the back of his head, chuckling awkwardly as Ann makes jazzy-hands on the underground mall. "I suppose that since my afternoon is free, might as well."

"Great. Come on!"

The two enters a small boutique, expensive clothes hanging on display.

"Ooh! I like this one!" Ann picks up a pink fuzzy cardigan, with big pockets for both hands. She then makes a humming sound, face twisted in disapproval. "It's not really my style though."

"What about this one?" Akechi asks as he shows her a yellow crop top with a green clover to its upper left.

Her nose scrunches up at the sight. "Nah."

They search through the whole boutique, picks up only a few, and end up buying fewer. With only one light pink bag they leave the boutique.

"Huh. I imagined that you would be more of a... spender?" Akechi states as he brings a hand to his chin when they walk to the next shop.

"What?" Ann shoots him a confused look. "That's the first store we was in, still got plenty to go!"

As they keep shopping, Ann starts to notice a surprising pattern.

"Hey, Akechi. Not to be rude or anything, but do you have any sense of style?"

The boy bristles at the notion, turning to her sharply and coming to a halt. "Excuse me? Are you judging my eye for style because of my lack of knowledge in women's clothing?"

"Hey, no need to get aggressive or anything! I'm just pointing it out!"

"I can be extremely fashionable when I want to!"

Ann shoots him the silent look of disappointment.

"Fine. I'll prove it to you by picking an outfit on my own," he huffs, resting a hand on his hip and raising his head as to challenge her.

"There's a men's store after Big Bang Burger," Ann sighs, seeing no way out of this ridiculous (one-sided) argument.

Akechi smiles and walks ahead of her to the store. Ann doesn't know if she can bear with the second-hand embarrassment, instead distracting herself with picking clothes for the stubborn detective when she arrives.

She shouts for him to see him almost done, and picks up a few t-shirts to salvage his mess. She then picks up a ridiculous outfit just because she can and wants to see him in it before heading to the dressing room.

"I think I've made a miscalculation..."

Ann recognizes the voice from the third stall, taking a seat right in front of it. She places her bags by her feet while letting the clothes in her arm rest neatly on her lap, making sure to create no wrinkles. "Coming out or what?"

He answers with a surprised noise, possibly slamming his hand on the thin door. "Oh! Uh, yes, of course!"

Slowly, the door glides open, revealing a flustered Akechi with...

"No."

"I'm sorry."

She shoves her handpicked clothes at him with a plain expression. "Try all of them."

He keeps his mouth shut and gently shuts the door, ears burning up in agonizing embarrassment.

Ann scrolls through social media as Akechi showcases the new clothes, with her removing one piece after another to weed out the bad choices.

"... what is this?"

"Let me see."

Ann spots the red hoodie she found along with a white cap and matching tight pants, and this was not as funny as she initially thought he looks kinda good oh god-

"Takamaki-san?"

She snaps out of her thoughts and quickly looks down, covering what best she can with one hand over boiling cheeks. "Keep it," her traitorous mouth lets out without a care about her pride and honor.

"Really? It's as attention grabbing as my Metaverse attire..." he murmurs, before flashing her a small awkward smile that's more genuine than expected. "I suppose I shouldn't question your judgement."

She should have let him walk around with that horribly matched outfit.

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My fingers slipped and this rare-pair came up.

.demondaughter21