Persona 4: Two Summers, Two Short Fics
Jul. 1st, 2009 05:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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ikuzeaibouI've been writing some little fluffy things here and there over the past month, so I thought I'd collect them up and post them here. I'll be posting them in two entries - this is the first! Warning: self-indulgent established relationship fluff, not serious business in the least. May contain flailing, smugness, silly banter, and Yosuke turning beet-red.
Title: Samegawa Summer
Fandom: Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4
Characters: Souji/Yosuke
Summary: Summer in Inaba is too damn hot; Souji and Yosuke look for a more effective way to beat the heat.
Notes: Very vague June spoilers? Nothing otherwise, I don't think.
"Ungh. Doesn't your fan have a faster speed?" Yosuke groaned, rolling over; he was flopped over Souji's couch, and he couldn't get comfortable no matter how much he shifted about. It was just too damn hot. "'Cause it really, really isn't cutting it right now."
"That's as good as it gets. Sorry," Souji mumbled from his place on the floor.
Yosuke sighed. "Damnit, I'm sticking to your couch. This is ridiculous." Inaba got surprisingly hot in the summer, considering, and today seemed particularly foul - the air was thick with humidity, and there was absolutely no breeze to cut through the damp, sticky heat. Being inside was marginally better than being outside, but that margin was damn thin. "I think I might just die of heatstroke right here. That cool with you?"
"If you do, I'm not going to clean up your corpse afterwards."
"Oh, fine." Yosuke considered throwing the pillow at Souji, but decided against it - too much effort for too little reward. "Man, hasn't your uncle ever heard of air conditioning? I hear it's the wave of the future."
"Junes has air conditioning," Souji pointed out.
"Ungh. Yeah, and half the damn town will be there. There's a reason I begged for the day off today." Yosuke tilted his head back. "If I go in there, I'll just get roped in. Anyway, I don't want to go outside."
"Topsicles?"
"That would also mean going outside. Ugh."
"Sit here and whine at me?"
Yosuke sat up at that, and scowled at the amused expression on Souji's face. "Shut up, seriously."
"Well, if you're happy just sitting here complaining, that's fine - I just had a better idea." Souji sat up and stretched. "You coming?"
"Man, I don't want to move-"
Souji turned off the fan with a click.
"... You bastard."
"You coming?" Souji repeated, opening the door and glancing back at Yosuke with a cheerful grin.
"I hate you forever," Yosuke groaned as he peeled himself off the couch.
....
Souji's brilliant idea not only required moving, it also required going outside, much to Yosuke's disgust; Yosuke went along with it, trailing his best friend down the street and complaining as much as possible. After all, if Souji was going to make him suffer, turnabout was fair play.
Souji took all his complaints with his usual calm, which was a little frustrating, but Yosuke couldn't help but wonder where the hell Souji was leading him, especially since his best friend had picked up a bag on their way out of the house and wouldn't let Yosuke look at the contents.
His first guess was Topsicles, but Souji went right past the turn-off to the shopping district in favor of the floodplain road - and in the opposite direction of Yasogami High, following the walkway down the river in a direction Yosuke himself rarely went. He had to admit the air was a little cooler here because of the river, but not much - certainly not enough to negate walking all the way here, and-
"Here we are," Souji declared, stopping apparently at random.
Yosuke looked around and saw absolutely nothing of note - just trees, the river, and the deserted road. "... Yeah?" he said, finally, totally confused.
"It's down here. Come on," Souji said, walking over to the riverbank. "Be careful, the grass is a little slippery."
"Dude, the hell are you - hey, Souji!" Yosuke protested as his best friend started climbing down the bank; he followed hurriedly, swearing under his breath as his feet slid and skidded on the way down. "You better have a damn good reason for this-"
"I found this place when I was fishing," Souji said, calmly.
Yosuke regained his balance at the bottom of the slope. "Souji, goddamnit, if you dragged me all the way out here to go fishing..."
"No," Souji assured him, grinning. "Well, this is a good place for it, but it's also an excellent place to swim."
Yosuke blinked. "Wait, what?" Souji just gestured at the river - there was a low line of rocks jutting out into the water, curling just slightly to cup a fourth of the Samegawa's expanse within it, forming a calm, deep pocket of water. "Please tell me you didn't build that."
Souji laughed. "No, stupid - it's been there for ages. The old fisherman told me about it." Souji bent down and took off his shoes, then reached into the bag he'd hauled all the way here. "Catch."
Yosuke very nearly fell into the river in his scramble to catch what Souji tossed in his direction, then frowned deeply as he realized what it was. "Dude. You just... wait, my swimsuit? You freak."
"It's no different than what you did to the girls at the campout," Souji said with a smirk. "Besides, you left your trunks at my house the other day after we played in the sprinkler with Nanako. I was going to return it anyway."
"You're still a freak," Yosuke muttered, but he had to admit the cool, clear water looked awfully tempting, and if he had his swim trunks, well... "Fine, fine. Just... turn around, okay?"
Souji raised one eyebrow. "Oh, really?"
Yosuke scowled at him. "Just do it, damnit."
"You do realize I've seen you naked lots of times, right?"
"Dude, shut up," Yosuke hissed, instantly turning crimson as he whirled to give the pathway above them a paranoid look; fortunately, there was no one in sight. "Goddamnit, Souji - now you have to turn around. Just for that." He glared at Souji until his best friend rolled his eyes and obediently turned around; Yosuke changed at approximately light-speed, just in case.
When he turned back around, Souji had changed into his swim trunks as well, and was wading into the river; the water level rose rapidly, and a moment later Souji ducked under the water. "Mmm, that's nice. Hurry up," he added, splashing at Yosuke.
"Yeah, yeah," Yosuke muttered, giving the river a dubious look before sidling up to it. He carefully poked his toe into the water. "Oh, god, that's cold-"
"Feels good, doesn't it?" Souji splashed at him again, and Yosuke yelped.
"Damnit, stop!" Yosuke tried to kick water back at Souji, failed miserably, and settled for folding his arms and glaring.
Souji just laughed. "If you get in then getting wet won't matter," he pointed out, punctuating the sentence with another splash.
"Why the hell do I hang out with you, again?" Yosuke carefully eased into the water, wincing against the chill, occasionally directing glares in Souji's direction as his infuriating best friend boyfriend thing continued to splash. Still, as he got further out, he couldn't deny this was way better than roasting in Souji's room, and Souji looked pretty good dripping wet, and-
The brush of something against his thigh made Yosuke nearly jump out of the water. He kicked, flailed, and splashed his way wildly to the wall of rocks, dragging himself up on it with a panicked expression. "Holy. What. Souji, something - something touched my leg and I don't think it was you-"
Souji gave him a weird look. "It was probably a fish."
"There are fish in here?!"
"... It's the river. What do you think?" Souji leaned back in the water nonchalantly as Yosuke glared at him, still precariously balanced on the wall of rocks. "Did you know I once caught a fish as long as my leg in here?"
"Oh my god don't tell me that," Yosuke groaned, staring in utter paranoia at the still water around him. "I hate nature."
"Come on, Yosuke. The fish aren't going to hurt you."
"No," Yosuke said, stubbornly, then winced as one of his feet slipped and he had to flail wildly for balance. "It touched my leg, damnit."
"Yosuke, you jump into a television and fight Shadows on a regular basis. A fish shouldn't bother you."
"I don't care." Yosuke scowled and tried to sweep water in Souji's direction, nearly losing his balance again. "You are such a freakin' jerk."
"And I'm totally comfortable," Souji said calmly, tilting back into a dead man's float. "Mmm."
Yosuke glared at him a moment longer, then poked at the water with one toe. When no monstrous fish emerged to chew his leg off, he slowly eased back into the water again, twitching at every little eddy and swirl in the water. "I hate you so much," he informed Souji as he edged back into the deeper water, gritting his teeth against the soft brush of water-grass and maybe (oh god, I hope not) fish.
"There, see?" Souji said as Yosuke got closer to him. "It's not so bad. Better than sticking to the couch, right?"
"No," Yosuke muttered as Souji flipped upright again and swam over to him. "Well. Maybe."
"Maybe?" Souji asked, wrapping one arm around his waist and pressing a damp kiss to the side of his neck.
"Um." Yosuke's gaze flicked up to the riverbank and the path above; still deserted. "Well, if you put it that way..."
Souji grinned, then put both hands on Yosuke's shoulders-
-and dunked him.
"Fucking damnit, Souji-" Yosuke spluttered, flailing as his head broke the surface again.
Souji just laughed and tousled his wet hair. "Definitely better."
"Shut up."
Title: The Fine Art of Distraction
Fandom: Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4
Characters: Yosuke/Souji
Summary: Summer homework is terrible. Being forced to do it - when there are much more amusing alternatives - is even worse. Rebellion is clearly the only answer!
Notes: This will spoil you in the face for the good ending.
The second Souji stepped off the train, it felt just like old times again.
Summer vacation was everything Yosuke could have hoped for, from lunches with the whole team at their 'special headquarters' to long evenings spent with absolutely no one but Souji. Even if it was temporary, and Souji would have to go back at the end of the month, Yosuke was bound and determined to enjoy the hell out of the time they had.
They'd gone to the beach yesterday, the whole group plus Dojima-san and Nanako-chan to boot, and had smashed a watermelon, had fireworks when night fell, the whole deal. Yosuke had ended up leaning against Souji, sitting back to back as they watched Chie set up an elaborate construction of fireworks with Naoto's help.
It was a perfect moment - Souji right there, their friends there too, everyone happy and laughing...
And then Yosuke had ruined it in two sentences. Two stupid, stupid goddamn sentences.
"Man, I'm really gonna be bummed out when this vacation's over. Heh, I haven't even started on my homework yet."
And that was why Yosuke was now in his room, flopped on his futon and glaring angrily at his homework - because his boyfriend was nothing if not relentlessly practical. Said boyfriend was sitting in his armchair, quietly reading a book, because of course the bastard had already finished his homework before even coming to Inaba.
Freakin' jerk.
Oh, Yosuke had protested, of course, but Souji had bested him with an ease that was almost embarrassing. "Maybe someday you'll learn the fine art of doing things in advance," he'd said, mildly.
"More like the fine art of keeping my mouth shut," Yosuke muttered, irritated, but more with himself than Souji. "Dude, I can always do this after you leave. I'll be bored then, anyway-"
And then Souji played his trump card, damn him. "Two days is not enough to do a whole summer's worth of homework... and I really want us to go to the same university, you know." He'd given Yosuke an encouraging grin and an even more encouraging kiss, but of all the things Yosuke wanted to do on the futon after kissing Souji, studying had to be at the very, very bottom of the list.
Yosuke sighed under his breath and turned the page; he'd actually read most of this chapter, but it was getting harder and harder to concentrate. The worst bit was that Souji, damn him, had a point - Yosuke really did need to do well this year to keep up, and the idea of going to the same university together, with all that implied, was most definitely an attractive one.
But right now it wasn't quite enough motivation. It worked wonders when Souji was far away, but when he was in the same room...
Yosuke glanced up at his best friend quickly; Souji was focusing his full attention on his own book. Yosuke shifted experimentally, picking up the school book and rolling over on his back, tilting his head back to check Souji's reaction.
Nothing.
Hmm. A speculative expression came over Yosuke's face, and he slowly sat up, putting the still-open book down on the futon in front of him. Talking Souji out of this wasn't going to happen; he'd already tried that and failed miserably, and straight-up refusing was only going to make them both frustrated.
But... those weren't his only options.
Yosuke had to hide his grin, but he did a fairly good job, all things considered. He started small, picking up his pencil and fiddling with it, drumming it idly against the edge of his book as if it were merely absent-minded fidgeting rather than deliberate - though the way he kept glancing up at Souji to see if it was having an effect was more than a little suspicious.
It could have easily blown his cover - but it didn't, because Souji didn't so much as glance in his direction.
Yosuke frowned. Time to change tactics, obviously. He dropped the pen and instead shifted positions again, this time drawing his knees up to his chest and resting his chin on them before pointedly focusing his gaze on Souji.
He'd done the staring thing before a couple nights ago, though at that point it had been more of a hazy, contented sort of thing, and when Souji had gently teased him about it, he'd mumbled something dumb about memorizing for when Souji was gone again. But there was none of that fondness in Yosuke's stare now. Nope, this was pure, concentrated obnoxious...
... and it wasn't working. Yosuke's eyes narrowed slightly. Had he imagined Souji's gaze flicking towards him for just an instant, the very faint upturn of his best friend's lips before his face smoothed out into utter impassiveness again? Yosuke wasn't quite sure.
Fine then.
Yosuke slid off the futon and sidled up to the armchair, moving as silently as he could, then leaned over Souji's shoulder. "Whatcha reading?"
Souji turned the page. "A book," he said, in a perfectly calm voice, as if Yosuke wasn't practically draped over his shoulders.
Yosuke blinked at that, nonplussed. This was slightly more challenging than he'd thought it would be - but this close to Souji he had more options. "I bet it's boring," he declared, leaning in close so that he was practically whispering in Souji's ear. "We should do something else."
"You have homework," Souji said, then tensed noticeably as Yosuke ran his tongue along the edge of his ear.
"Doesn't matter." Yosuke punctuated the statement with a nip, then grinned as Souji's book wobbled in his hands for a moment. "There's always gonna be homework, but you're not always here, so we might as well make the most of it..."
"Making the most of it isn't going to get you-" Souji stopped talking as Yosuke slid his arms around Souji's neck, delicately nibbling his way down Souji's earlobe.
"What was that, partner?"
Souji sighed. "You," he informed Yosuke, "are obnoxious."
"Yep," Yosuke said, cheerfully, then frowned as Souji stood up, breaking his hold. "Hey, where're you going?" He quickly vaulted over the chair, then realized Souji still had that goddamn book in his hands. "You're still-"
"I'm reading," Souji said, just before Yosuke tackled him onto the futon; he only barely managed to keep his grip on the book.
"Nope, not reading," Yosuke grinned, trying to snatch the book out of Souji's hands; Souji quickly tried to move it out of Yosuke's reach. "Aw, c'mon, partner. You can't seriously want to read that more than..."
"I was just getting to the good part," Souji protested, and Yosuke caught the flicker of amusement on his face; yep, the smug bastard was was definitely teasing him.
Well, two could play that game. Yosuke stopped trying to steal the book and instead shifted targets, sweeping his hands down Souji's sides, fingers wiggling in an attempt to tickle. The effect was instantaneous; Souji made a choked, spluttering noise and tried to squirm away. "H-hey, Yosuke - gah! - that's not fair-"
"Feel like putting the book down yet?" Yosuke punctuated that statement with a very deliberate grope, grinning at the sharply indrawn breath that got out of Souji. "Not fair is you making me do homework when you're here and we've got all this free time..."
"Stop," Souji managed, and Yosuke obliged, raising one eyebrow at his best friend. "Okay. Look. I'm putting down the book."
"Finally," Yosuke muttered, but he couldn't help but feel a little smug himself as Souji carefully put in a scrap of paper as a bookmark and put the book to one side. "And?"
"Next time, I'm going to tell you that I'm just not going to come over, period, until you're done with your next assignment," Souji sighed, then shook his head and lunged at Yosuke with surprising speed, making Yosuke yelp involuntarily as the other boy easily shoved him back onto the futon. "Just to remove temptation, you understand."
"Oh, yeah, sure," Yosuke said, then reached up and wound one hand into Souji's hair. "Now will you get down here, already?!"
Souji just laughed, then obliged.
Title: Samegawa Summer
Fandom: Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4
Characters: Souji/Yosuke
Summary: Summer in Inaba is too damn hot; Souji and Yosuke look for a more effective way to beat the heat.
Notes: Very vague June spoilers? Nothing otherwise, I don't think.
"Ungh. Doesn't your fan have a faster speed?" Yosuke groaned, rolling over; he was flopped over Souji's couch, and he couldn't get comfortable no matter how much he shifted about. It was just too damn hot. "'Cause it really, really isn't cutting it right now."
"That's as good as it gets. Sorry," Souji mumbled from his place on the floor.
Yosuke sighed. "Damnit, I'm sticking to your couch. This is ridiculous." Inaba got surprisingly hot in the summer, considering, and today seemed particularly foul - the air was thick with humidity, and there was absolutely no breeze to cut through the damp, sticky heat. Being inside was marginally better than being outside, but that margin was damn thin. "I think I might just die of heatstroke right here. That cool with you?"
"If you do, I'm not going to clean up your corpse afterwards."
"Oh, fine." Yosuke considered throwing the pillow at Souji, but decided against it - too much effort for too little reward. "Man, hasn't your uncle ever heard of air conditioning? I hear it's the wave of the future."
"Junes has air conditioning," Souji pointed out.
"Ungh. Yeah, and half the damn town will be there. There's a reason I begged for the day off today." Yosuke tilted his head back. "If I go in there, I'll just get roped in. Anyway, I don't want to go outside."
"Topsicles?"
"That would also mean going outside. Ugh."
"Sit here and whine at me?"
Yosuke sat up at that, and scowled at the amused expression on Souji's face. "Shut up, seriously."
"Well, if you're happy just sitting here complaining, that's fine - I just had a better idea." Souji sat up and stretched. "You coming?"
"Man, I don't want to move-"
Souji turned off the fan with a click.
"... You bastard."
"You coming?" Souji repeated, opening the door and glancing back at Yosuke with a cheerful grin.
"I hate you forever," Yosuke groaned as he peeled himself off the couch.
....
Souji's brilliant idea not only required moving, it also required going outside, much to Yosuke's disgust; Yosuke went along with it, trailing his best friend down the street and complaining as much as possible. After all, if Souji was going to make him suffer, turnabout was fair play.
Souji took all his complaints with his usual calm, which was a little frustrating, but Yosuke couldn't help but wonder where the hell Souji was leading him, especially since his best friend had picked up a bag on their way out of the house and wouldn't let Yosuke look at the contents.
His first guess was Topsicles, but Souji went right past the turn-off to the shopping district in favor of the floodplain road - and in the opposite direction of Yasogami High, following the walkway down the river in a direction Yosuke himself rarely went. He had to admit the air was a little cooler here because of the river, but not much - certainly not enough to negate walking all the way here, and-
"Here we are," Souji declared, stopping apparently at random.
Yosuke looked around and saw absolutely nothing of note - just trees, the river, and the deserted road. "... Yeah?" he said, finally, totally confused.
"It's down here. Come on," Souji said, walking over to the riverbank. "Be careful, the grass is a little slippery."
"Dude, the hell are you - hey, Souji!" Yosuke protested as his best friend started climbing down the bank; he followed hurriedly, swearing under his breath as his feet slid and skidded on the way down. "You better have a damn good reason for this-"
"I found this place when I was fishing," Souji said, calmly.
Yosuke regained his balance at the bottom of the slope. "Souji, goddamnit, if you dragged me all the way out here to go fishing..."
"No," Souji assured him, grinning. "Well, this is a good place for it, but it's also an excellent place to swim."
Yosuke blinked. "Wait, what?" Souji just gestured at the river - there was a low line of rocks jutting out into the water, curling just slightly to cup a fourth of the Samegawa's expanse within it, forming a calm, deep pocket of water. "Please tell me you didn't build that."
Souji laughed. "No, stupid - it's been there for ages. The old fisherman told me about it." Souji bent down and took off his shoes, then reached into the bag he'd hauled all the way here. "Catch."
Yosuke very nearly fell into the river in his scramble to catch what Souji tossed in his direction, then frowned deeply as he realized what it was. "Dude. You just... wait, my swimsuit? You freak."
"It's no different than what you did to the girls at the campout," Souji said with a smirk. "Besides, you left your trunks at my house the other day after we played in the sprinkler with Nanako. I was going to return it anyway."
"You're still a freak," Yosuke muttered, but he had to admit the cool, clear water looked awfully tempting, and if he had his swim trunks, well... "Fine, fine. Just... turn around, okay?"
Souji raised one eyebrow. "Oh, really?"
Yosuke scowled at him. "Just do it, damnit."
"You do realize I've seen you naked lots of times, right?"
"Dude, shut up," Yosuke hissed, instantly turning crimson as he whirled to give the pathway above them a paranoid look; fortunately, there was no one in sight. "Goddamnit, Souji - now you have to turn around. Just for that." He glared at Souji until his best friend rolled his eyes and obediently turned around; Yosuke changed at approximately light-speed, just in case.
When he turned back around, Souji had changed into his swim trunks as well, and was wading into the river; the water level rose rapidly, and a moment later Souji ducked under the water. "Mmm, that's nice. Hurry up," he added, splashing at Yosuke.
"Yeah, yeah," Yosuke muttered, giving the river a dubious look before sidling up to it. He carefully poked his toe into the water. "Oh, god, that's cold-"
"Feels good, doesn't it?" Souji splashed at him again, and Yosuke yelped.
"Damnit, stop!" Yosuke tried to kick water back at Souji, failed miserably, and settled for folding his arms and glaring.
Souji just laughed. "If you get in then getting wet won't matter," he pointed out, punctuating the sentence with another splash.
"Why the hell do I hang out with you, again?" Yosuke carefully eased into the water, wincing against the chill, occasionally directing glares in Souji's direction as his infuriating best friend boyfriend thing continued to splash. Still, as he got further out, he couldn't deny this was way better than roasting in Souji's room, and Souji looked pretty good dripping wet, and-
The brush of something against his thigh made Yosuke nearly jump out of the water. He kicked, flailed, and splashed his way wildly to the wall of rocks, dragging himself up on it with a panicked expression. "Holy. What. Souji, something - something touched my leg and I don't think it was you-"
Souji gave him a weird look. "It was probably a fish."
"There are fish in here?!"
"... It's the river. What do you think?" Souji leaned back in the water nonchalantly as Yosuke glared at him, still precariously balanced on the wall of rocks. "Did you know I once caught a fish as long as my leg in here?"
"Oh my god don't tell me that," Yosuke groaned, staring in utter paranoia at the still water around him. "I hate nature."
"Come on, Yosuke. The fish aren't going to hurt you."
"No," Yosuke said, stubbornly, then winced as one of his feet slipped and he had to flail wildly for balance. "It touched my leg, damnit."
"Yosuke, you jump into a television and fight Shadows on a regular basis. A fish shouldn't bother you."
"I don't care." Yosuke scowled and tried to sweep water in Souji's direction, nearly losing his balance again. "You are such a freakin' jerk."
"And I'm totally comfortable," Souji said calmly, tilting back into a dead man's float. "Mmm."
Yosuke glared at him a moment longer, then poked at the water with one toe. When no monstrous fish emerged to chew his leg off, he slowly eased back into the water again, twitching at every little eddy and swirl in the water. "I hate you so much," he informed Souji as he edged back into the deeper water, gritting his teeth against the soft brush of water-grass and maybe (oh god, I hope not) fish.
"There, see?" Souji said as Yosuke got closer to him. "It's not so bad. Better than sticking to the couch, right?"
"No," Yosuke muttered as Souji flipped upright again and swam over to him. "Well. Maybe."
"Maybe?" Souji asked, wrapping one arm around his waist and pressing a damp kiss to the side of his neck.
"Um." Yosuke's gaze flicked up to the riverbank and the path above; still deserted. "Well, if you put it that way..."
Souji grinned, then put both hands on Yosuke's shoulders-
-and dunked him.
"Fucking damnit, Souji-" Yosuke spluttered, flailing as his head broke the surface again.
Souji just laughed and tousled his wet hair. "Definitely better."
"Shut up."
Title: The Fine Art of Distraction
Fandom: Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4
Characters: Yosuke/Souji
Summary: Summer homework is terrible. Being forced to do it - when there are much more amusing alternatives - is even worse. Rebellion is clearly the only answer!
Notes: This will spoil you in the face for the good ending.
The second Souji stepped off the train, it felt just like old times again.
Summer vacation was everything Yosuke could have hoped for, from lunches with the whole team at their 'special headquarters' to long evenings spent with absolutely no one but Souji. Even if it was temporary, and Souji would have to go back at the end of the month, Yosuke was bound and determined to enjoy the hell out of the time they had.
They'd gone to the beach yesterday, the whole group plus Dojima-san and Nanako-chan to boot, and had smashed a watermelon, had fireworks when night fell, the whole deal. Yosuke had ended up leaning against Souji, sitting back to back as they watched Chie set up an elaborate construction of fireworks with Naoto's help.
It was a perfect moment - Souji right there, their friends there too, everyone happy and laughing...
And then Yosuke had ruined it in two sentences. Two stupid, stupid goddamn sentences.
"Man, I'm really gonna be bummed out when this vacation's over. Heh, I haven't even started on my homework yet."
And that was why Yosuke was now in his room, flopped on his futon and glaring angrily at his homework - because his boyfriend was nothing if not relentlessly practical. Said boyfriend was sitting in his armchair, quietly reading a book, because of course the bastard had already finished his homework before even coming to Inaba.
Freakin' jerk.
Oh, Yosuke had protested, of course, but Souji had bested him with an ease that was almost embarrassing. "Maybe someday you'll learn the fine art of doing things in advance," he'd said, mildly.
"More like the fine art of keeping my mouth shut," Yosuke muttered, irritated, but more with himself than Souji. "Dude, I can always do this after you leave. I'll be bored then, anyway-"
And then Souji played his trump card, damn him. "Two days is not enough to do a whole summer's worth of homework... and I really want us to go to the same university, you know." He'd given Yosuke an encouraging grin and an even more encouraging kiss, but of all the things Yosuke wanted to do on the futon after kissing Souji, studying had to be at the very, very bottom of the list.
Yosuke sighed under his breath and turned the page; he'd actually read most of this chapter, but it was getting harder and harder to concentrate. The worst bit was that Souji, damn him, had a point - Yosuke really did need to do well this year to keep up, and the idea of going to the same university together, with all that implied, was most definitely an attractive one.
But right now it wasn't quite enough motivation. It worked wonders when Souji was far away, but when he was in the same room...
Yosuke glanced up at his best friend quickly; Souji was focusing his full attention on his own book. Yosuke shifted experimentally, picking up the school book and rolling over on his back, tilting his head back to check Souji's reaction.
Nothing.
Hmm. A speculative expression came over Yosuke's face, and he slowly sat up, putting the still-open book down on the futon in front of him. Talking Souji out of this wasn't going to happen; he'd already tried that and failed miserably, and straight-up refusing was only going to make them both frustrated.
But... those weren't his only options.
Yosuke had to hide his grin, but he did a fairly good job, all things considered. He started small, picking up his pencil and fiddling with it, drumming it idly against the edge of his book as if it were merely absent-minded fidgeting rather than deliberate - though the way he kept glancing up at Souji to see if it was having an effect was more than a little suspicious.
It could have easily blown his cover - but it didn't, because Souji didn't so much as glance in his direction.
Yosuke frowned. Time to change tactics, obviously. He dropped the pen and instead shifted positions again, this time drawing his knees up to his chest and resting his chin on them before pointedly focusing his gaze on Souji.
He'd done the staring thing before a couple nights ago, though at that point it had been more of a hazy, contented sort of thing, and when Souji had gently teased him about it, he'd mumbled something dumb about memorizing for when Souji was gone again. But there was none of that fondness in Yosuke's stare now. Nope, this was pure, concentrated obnoxious...
... and it wasn't working. Yosuke's eyes narrowed slightly. Had he imagined Souji's gaze flicking towards him for just an instant, the very faint upturn of his best friend's lips before his face smoothed out into utter impassiveness again? Yosuke wasn't quite sure.
Fine then.
Yosuke slid off the futon and sidled up to the armchair, moving as silently as he could, then leaned over Souji's shoulder. "Whatcha reading?"
Souji turned the page. "A book," he said, in a perfectly calm voice, as if Yosuke wasn't practically draped over his shoulders.
Yosuke blinked at that, nonplussed. This was slightly more challenging than he'd thought it would be - but this close to Souji he had more options. "I bet it's boring," he declared, leaning in close so that he was practically whispering in Souji's ear. "We should do something else."
"You have homework," Souji said, then tensed noticeably as Yosuke ran his tongue along the edge of his ear.
"Doesn't matter." Yosuke punctuated the statement with a nip, then grinned as Souji's book wobbled in his hands for a moment. "There's always gonna be homework, but you're not always here, so we might as well make the most of it..."
"Making the most of it isn't going to get you-" Souji stopped talking as Yosuke slid his arms around Souji's neck, delicately nibbling his way down Souji's earlobe.
"What was that, partner?"
Souji sighed. "You," he informed Yosuke, "are obnoxious."
"Yep," Yosuke said, cheerfully, then frowned as Souji stood up, breaking his hold. "Hey, where're you going?" He quickly vaulted over the chair, then realized Souji still had that goddamn book in his hands. "You're still-"
"I'm reading," Souji said, just before Yosuke tackled him onto the futon; he only barely managed to keep his grip on the book.
"Nope, not reading," Yosuke grinned, trying to snatch the book out of Souji's hands; Souji quickly tried to move it out of Yosuke's reach. "Aw, c'mon, partner. You can't seriously want to read that more than..."
"I was just getting to the good part," Souji protested, and Yosuke caught the flicker of amusement on his face; yep, the smug bastard was was definitely teasing him.
Well, two could play that game. Yosuke stopped trying to steal the book and instead shifted targets, sweeping his hands down Souji's sides, fingers wiggling in an attempt to tickle. The effect was instantaneous; Souji made a choked, spluttering noise and tried to squirm away. "H-hey, Yosuke - gah! - that's not fair-"
"Feel like putting the book down yet?" Yosuke punctuated that statement with a very deliberate grope, grinning at the sharply indrawn breath that got out of Souji. "Not fair is you making me do homework when you're here and we've got all this free time..."
"Stop," Souji managed, and Yosuke obliged, raising one eyebrow at his best friend. "Okay. Look. I'm putting down the book."
"Finally," Yosuke muttered, but he couldn't help but feel a little smug himself as Souji carefully put in a scrap of paper as a bookmark and put the book to one side. "And?"
"Next time, I'm going to tell you that I'm just not going to come over, period, until you're done with your next assignment," Souji sighed, then shook his head and lunged at Yosuke with surprising speed, making Yosuke yelp involuntarily as the other boy easily shoved him back onto the futon. "Just to remove temptation, you understand."
"Oh, yeah, sure," Yosuke said, then reached up and wound one hand into Souji's hair. "Now will you get down here, already?!"
Souji just laughed, then obliged.
