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live every day with a smile

Summary:

On the last weekend before his leaving, Souji hosts a sleepover.

Notes:

Written for Battleship 2025, board 2. Editing still in progress!

Tag claims:

Claiming for: Bears, Best Friends, Bittersweet, Body of Water, Epiphany, Falling in Love, Feelings Realization, First Kiss, Flirting, Found Family, Getting Together, Good Night's Sleep, Huddling for Warmth, In Denial, Insecurities, Late Night Conversations, Laughter, Lazy Mornings, Love Confessions, Male-Female Friendship, Manicures & Pedicures, Mischief, Mood Swings, Morning Kisses, Nose Kisses, Oblivious Character, Pets, Phone Calls, Picking a Fight, Play Fighting, Post-Canon, Promises, Queer Repression, Rain, Regret, Sewing, Sexuality Realization, Sharing Clothes, Sharing Food/Drinks, Sleepovers, Spin The Bottle, Grape, Lemon, Pear!

Work Text:

“Seriously? Your uncle is letting you do that? ...no, yeah – of course I’m coming, dumbass! Like I’d miss my best friend’s last big hangout in Inaba for the world! And don’t worry about drinks; I’ll grab some from Junes before I head out!”

“Oh, shoot – that sounds awesome!” (Muffled and faintly: “Souji’s planning a sleepover this weekend before he leaves!”) “...Yeah, Yukiko’s in, too. This’ll be so cool! ...hmm. Do you think I could risk bringing a few DVDs along? I don’t know what you were planning, but - ...okay, will do!”

“A sleepover?! Shit. Uhh, Sempai… obviously I’d love to send you off and all, but… is that gonna be okay? Like, not just with your uncle, but… ...okay. Uh, thanks. That’s – actually appreciated. Just, y’know. Didn’t want to make anyone uncomfortable, so – no, no. All good.” (More muffled noises.) “...so. Um. Naoto-kun’s… also here. And, uh. He’s – he’s coming, too. Hah.”

“A sleepover with Sempai?! ...wait, everyone else is coming, too, aren’t they…? Hehe, don’t worry, don’t worry – I’m just teasing! Not that I’d mind if it was just us…~! But ooh, this is gonna be so much fun! You can count on Risette to make sure this party is nice and lively!”

“Sensei wants me to come to his sleepover…? Teddy can hardly bear the excitement…!”

[End Call]

*

“All right, everybody!” Yosuke kicks the door open, grinning madly. He ignores Chie’s squawk of disturbance as she barely skitters out of its path. “I now pronounce this party officially started.”

Yukiko’s eyes are wide. “What are those?”

“Just a li’l something or other I picked up from Junes before I got over here!”

Nanako’s eyes are even wider. “Junes…? Aww, you should’ve let me come, too…”

Yosuke laughs. “Sorry, Nanako-chan!” he ruffles her hair, accidentally dislodging her little pigtails a bit; Rise immediately shifts over to tighten them back up again. “But souvenirs have gotta be the next best thing, right?”

The plastic bag is set on the table. As host, Souji takes it on himself to open it up and peer inside.

“So these are the drinks,” he remarks mildly. They come in three different colours: lemon, pear, and grape.

Chie scrunches up her face. “What even are these flavours, though? Isn’t pear just like an inferior apple?”

Teddie gasps. “Did you bring any blue-bearry?”

“What’s there is what I’ve got,” Yosuke snaps. “Look – stock might’ve been running a little lower than I thought it was I made that promise… but, whatever.”

“Wait.” Kanji stares, and the big-eyed look looks considerably different on him than it does on Yukiko or Nanako. “Sempai, these aren’t… alcoholic, are they…?!”

The room falls silent. Naoto speaks first. “I would have no choice but to confiscate them if they were,” he says bluntly.

Rise frowns, crawling over. “I’m pretty sure I recognise these. They’re definitely just fruit juice.”

All eyes turn to Yosuke who eventually shrugs. “...okay, yeah,” he admits. “But! ...look, you can’t blame me for thinking it’d be kinda fun if I made you all think you were getting drunk anyway, right?”

“Like the placenta effect?!” Chie says. (Naoto, with a look of great pain, mutters “Placebo effect…”) “Geez – that’s kinda skeezy.”

“How on earth did you get that?!” (Throughout the argument, Yukiko takes one of the purple-colored bottles and, with Souji’s help, opens it and begins to drink.) “What’s ‘skeezy’ about wanting to let everyone let loose on our Leader’s last weekend here?”

“I’unno. You sorta made it sound like you were trying to get everyone plastered so you could take advantage, or whatever.”

“I did not.” Yosuke shouts, eyes wild. “Partner! You’re backing me up here, right?! There’s no way I said anything like that!”

Souji considers the conversation seriously…

“I wouldn’t mind if that’s what you were doing,” he finally says.

Nobody except Rise and Teddy are amused.

“...Sempai,” Kanji mutters quietly, “you kinda worry us all when you say shit like that…”

Nanako is frowning. “What are you guys talking about? Is this beer…?”

The girl is quickly reassured and drinks are passed all around.

*

The party, overall, goes swimmingly.

Aside from Yosuke’s drinks, Souji also prepared some food for everyone to snack on, as well as some more basic party favour such as chips and candy. (Yukiko also brought food, which continues to sit untouched among the others.) Rise insists on picking the music, which happens to include quite a lot of her own discography, to the surprise (and disagreement) of nobody. Once that’s been
set up, she also insists on teaching Nanako how to paint her nails, with Teddy soon joining in on the fun as well. Meanwhile, Chie is fast-forwarding something on her DVD that she wants to show Yosuke, while Kanji and Yukiko discuss a bundle of material sitting in the former’s lap.

“Wait, you brought sewing here tonight? For a party?” Yosuke asks incredulously.

Kanji flushes. “Look, I just – feel better when I’ve got somethin’ to do with my hands, all right?!”

“And the stitching right here…!” Yukiko breathes, awe-struck. “It’s simply gorgeous!”

After Nanako’s done laughing at some terribly pun Teddy made, Nakoto nods towards the group. “I’ve never been to a party before,” he admits somewhat shyly, “but I’m glad I came to this one, Sempai.”

Souji smiles.

*

It isn’t too long afterwards that Dojima comes up the stairs to take Nanako down for bed.

At Teddy’s urging, she puts on some pretty powerful puppy-dog eyes. “But it’s Souji’s last weekend!”

“Yeah, and that means you’ve still got two whole days to say goodbye.” Despite his stern tone, there’s a half-second where it almost seems like he might cave. “C’mon – by the looks of this place, you’ve already…” He trails off. “Is that nail polish?”

“That’s right!” Rise chirps, currently layering black onto the nails of a very intensely-focused Kanji. “Isn’t it so cute?”

Nanako holds up her hands excitedly to show her dad and he huffs.

“If you want some, too, you could always join us!” Rise suggests, and Nanako’s mouth immediately opens to agree.

“Dad-”

“I think I’m all right for now,” Dojima mutters, looking more uncertain – and eager to leave – by the moment. “Ah, it goes without saying, but…”

He casts his view over the teenagers, from Yukiko peering curiously at Souji’s bookshelf to Chie half-tackling Yosuke against the TV console and almost knocking it over.

“...I’m putting a lot of faith in you guys by letting you all stay over like this,” he says finally, the awkward shift of his crossed arms making it very clear what he means by that. “So. I can’t exactly tell you this won’t happen again if anything happens, but…”

“Yeah, we get it,” Yosuke says, a little too high.

Chie gives him a disgusted look. “Skeezy,” she repeats.

Yosuke gawps. “I-I said we get it!”

Dojima rolls his eyes. “Whatever. C’mon, Nanako. You’ll see them in the morning.”

She sighs. “Good night, everyone!”

And with that, the door closes again.

*

Five minutes later, Rise grabs one of the empty juice bottles and holds it up high in the air. “All right! Who wants to play Spin the Bottle?”

Yosuke immediately splutters. “What?!”

Naoto’s eyes also narrow. “I think that’s the sort of thing Dojima had in mind when he told us to behave…”

“Nah, I’m pretty sure he was talking about more than just kissing.”

Yukiko smiles. “Like what?”

Chie’s glancing in her direction when she says, “Sure. I’m game.”

Souji nods as well, and Teddy needs no encouragement to start gathering them all into a circle.

Still, Naoto looks a little hesitant – which means that so does Kanji.

“We, ah…” He looks back and forth between Naoto and the group, scratching his cheek. “I mean, if you don’t really wanna, I guess you could always just watch…?”

Rise is not so tolerant. “Please, Naoto-kun? It won’t be the same without you!”

Naoto sighs, mouth twisted into something he would most definitely not like to consider a pout. “...fine. I suppose if I am endeavouring to participate in an ordinary teenage ‘party’, I ought to fully commit to it.”

And with that, and some manoeuvring of the table (now laden mainly with Yukiko’s ominous offering), the game begins.

“Since it was my idea, I’ll go first!” Rise announces, pigtails shaking as she tilts her head left to right.

Chie mutters, “If you get Souji first up we’ll know you rigged it.”

Rise pouts, offended, and when the bottle’s spinning slows to a halt it’s pointed squarely at Yukiko.

“Oh, shit,” Yosuke blurts out, bug-eyed. “Wait, wait – are we doing, like, uh,”

“Girl on girl?” Rise asks with a giggle.

“I mean, I definitely don’t have a problem with that part…”

Naoto raises an eyebrow. “Are there normally rules against that sort of thing?”

“I mean…” Yosuke scratches at his head, glancing in multiple directions. “It’s just – I dunno if anyone really wants to see, uh, boy on boy, or whatever.”

Kanji grunts. “You ain’t still got some kinda problem with me, do ya?”

“It’s not homophobic for a straight guy to not want to kiss another man!” Yosuke snaps.

Chie rolls her eyes. “Fine, fine. For you and you only, you don’t have to kiss any boys. Happy?”

Yosuke splutters. “That’s – I mean -” He turns to Souji, but can’t seem to articulate exactly what he wants from him.

Souji frowns thoughtfully. A few moments later, he says, “I think Yosuke should follow the rules, too.”

Yosuke slumps, though it’s hard to say if he’s upset or relieved. “...fine. If that’s your decision, then…”

“Great!” Rise leans across Chie and, quick as a flash, pecks Yukiko square on the lips. “Done!”

Yosuke’s head snaps up. “Th-that quickly?! I didn’t even get to see!”

Chie’s eyes are narrowed. “Well maybe you should’ve been paying attention instead of wallowing in your own stupidity, then.”

Yosuke sighs, muttering something under his breath, but Yukiko merely flashes him a glance of sympathy before reaching for the bottle herself.

“My turn!”

The bottle twirls and twirls and, finally, lands on Souji.

The two immediately lock eyes and – chuckle?

“Damn,” Rise murmurs, and Yosuke looks away.

Souji rises, shuffling over to kneel before Yukiko.

“Monsieur,” she says, bowing her head gracefully.

“Madame,” he returns similarly.

And with that, they share a quick, thoroughly unromantic peck.

“So far,” Kanji murmurs, “this is turning out pretty tame actually, huh?”

Rise shrugs. “We’ve only just gotten started! And besides… now it’s sempai’s turn!”

All eyes focus on their leader who, slightly bemused but unbothered by the attention, takes up the bottle himself.

Yosuke stares down at it with such intensity that it’s almost a surprise the bottle just spin itself into a hurricane and fly away.

It lands, wobbling slightly, on Kanji.

Yosuke sucks in a gasp, but nobody else seems especially shocked.

“Sempai,” Kanji says, and at least he comes the closest to Yosuke’s reaction. “Ah – if you don’t wanna-”

But Souji just shrugs, as unflappable as ever. He even graces Kanji with a reassuring smile.

“Ah… well, then. Uh.”

Teddy, for some reason, looks excited. “All right, sensei! Let’s see some tongue!”

Yosuke and Kanji both start spluttering. “Wh-what?!”

“I… think he just picked up somewhere that that’s a kissing thing,” Chie says faintly. “I don’t think he really understands. I hope.”

Still: the show must go on. Still rigid, Kanji allows it as Souji slowly presses forwards and gently touches their lips.

Yosuke looks away.

“Wow!” Rise says when it was over, clapping her hands. “That was the best one yet! As expected of Sempai!”

Yosuke sulks: “Well, yours could’ve lingered a little longer…”

“So I guess it’s my turn now, huh?”

He touches the bottle tentatively, like he’s worried he’s going to break it somehow. But then it’s spinning merrily just like the others.

This time, it stops pointing at Naoto.

His eyebrows raise. He’s been pretty quiet through this whole party, mostly observing the others with the focus and demeanour of a wildlife researching documenting the local fauna. He doesn’t seem too perturbed by this new development, either.

“So it’s me,” he says simply.

Kanji keeps opening and closing his mouth. “Um… yeah! I guess!”

Chie grins. “All right! Let’s see it!”

“Hey! How come you can cheer but I can’t…?” Teddy complains.

“I didn’t say you couldn’t! I said that asking for tongue was weird!”

“Okay,” Kanji breathes, visibly working himself up to this. In one sudden, quick moment, he lunges forward and presses a kiss to – the tip of Naoto’s nose?

“Doesn’t count,” cry Yosuke and Rise in unison.

“Wh-what…?” Kanji is bright, bright red.

“Yeah, c’mon!” Chie agrees, grinning widely. “Didn’t we discuss this earlier with Yosuke? No exceptions.”

Naoto frowns. “I wouldn’t like to force Kanji to kiss me if he’d prefer not to…”

“Trust me,” Yosuke mutters a little meanly, “That’s not the issue.”

Kanji glares at him. Yosuke ignores it.

“Well… fine!” Kanji tries to get it over with quickly, but seems to lose steam at the though of accidentally pummelling Naoto with his face. He stops inches away, eyes wide open, and then slowly slowly presses in.

“Yay!” Rise is clapping again. “Congratulations!”

When Kanji pulls back, his face is even redder.

Naoto presses a thoughtful hand to his jaw. “That was my first kiss…” he murmurs.

Kanji’s face, if possible, flushes even further. “W-wait, for real?!”

Naoto glances up. “Had you had yours before this evening, Kanji?”

“W-well… no, but…”

Yosuke huffs. “I’d be surprised if any of us had.”

Rise grins. “Does that mean that, in a way, I’m responsible for all of your first kisses…?”

“I’m okay with that,” Yosuke says immediately.

Chie rolls her eyes. “You haven’t even been picked yet. Wait your turn.”

Yukiko adds, “If you ever do get picked. It’s entirely possible for the bottle to land on some people multiple times and others not at all.”

He groans. “Whatever. Naoto-kun, it’s your turn, now.”

“Right, of course.” Naoto takes the bottle and, with a little frown of concentration, sets it spinning.

It looks like Yukiko spoke too soon (at least, as far as Yosuke is concerned) because the bottle comes to a stop right before him.

“Oh.” He looks up to Naoto; they share a mutual somewhat bemused and thoroughly neutral glance. Could’ve been better, could’ve been worse. If Naoto really cares all that much about his partner here at all.

“Sure you don’t want to bow out?” Chie cuts in. “Naoto’s a boy, remember?”

“Of course I know that,” Yosuke snaps. “You’re making him uncomfortable!”

Naoto mostly looks like he just wants to get this over with, now. It’s he who stands and walks over to Yosuke. “All right, Yosuke-sempai?”

Yosuke flushes as though remembering all of a sudden that this will, in fact, be his first kiss. “Ah – yeah! Go ahea-”

Naoto kisses him firmly, precisely, and one perfectly-timed beat later, pulls away and returns to his place.

Yosuke frowns, unable to resist the urge to poke at his lips.

“Feel any different?” Yukiko asks.

“Uhh…” Yosuke’s gaze flicks around again. “I mean… sorta?”

Chie huffs. “Hurry up! It’s your turn!”

“Right, right!”

Yosuke fumbles for the bottle, but then momentarily pauses, eyes dark and intense.

“If ya get me you won’t have to-”

“That’s not-!” Yosuke hurries to spin it, shaking his head.

Everyone’s eyes follow it as it passes Naoto, Yukiko, Chie, Rise, and Yosuke himself, before slowing…

It’s almost at Souji now, if it could just get past Teddy…

It stops.

“Oh, man!” Teddy says out loud. “I kinda wanted someone other than Yosuke.”

While everyone laughs, Yosuke flushes. “W-well – how d’you think I feel then?!”

Teddy places a hand on one cheek. “Beary excited…?”

Yosuke grumbles something like “I’ll show you-” and just smashes their lips together quickly, wiping his mouth off afterwards.

“Wow! That sucked,” Teddy says without restraint. “Yosuke took my first kiss and it was awful!”

Yukiko’s eyes widen. “I’m so sorry, Teddy!”

Sighing, Teddy continues, “could any of you lovely ladies help soothe the pain of this betrayal?”

“Absolutely not,” Chie says through gritted teeth.

Yosuke groans and pushes himself up to his feet. “Whatever. My turn’s over, so I’m heading to the bathroom.”

Rise calls after him “Teddy might get you again!” but Yosuke ignores her.

Once Yosuke comes back, however, the game seems to be pretty much over. Chie’s ranting to Yukiko about how she’s perfectly happy to not give her first kiss to any of these dumbasses (to which Yukiko seems a little strangely put-out), Teddy is trying to pestering Kanji for kissing tips, and Rise is-

“Hey, Sempai!” She holds up a little cardboard box and shakes it lightly. In her other hand rests a stick of pocky. “Wanna try another game?”

Yosuke pushes the door back open and heads downstairs again.

He doesn’t want to disturb Nanako and Dojima (the latter of whom is already snoring loudly from another room) so he wrenches open the front door and steps out. He regrets it immediately when the rain (when had that started?) drizzles down on him, but so long as he keeps under the roof overhang he’s pretty much dry, even if not especially warm.

Down on the ground, it appears that some of the stray cats Souji so loves to take care of have had the same idea as Yosuke. He bends down to try and pat one but it raises its head and hisses.

“So sue me, I guess,” he mutters, crossing his arms around himself.

After everything they’ve been through with the TV world, it’s hard not to develop certain kinds of associations with the rain.

But tonight, there’s a different memory tugging at Yosuke’s brain…

*

There, at the Samegawa Riverbank…

“There’s something I wanted to tell you…”

Back then, his thoughts had been so jumbled up… He’d known that there were things he’d wanted to say, but it was so hard to put it all into words.

“When I called you ‘Special’, I thought some more about it. I think out of everyone, I wanted to be acknowledged by you the most…”

He’d thought about it so much... More than he’d ever thought about anything to do with himself before.

“So, I want you to hit me.”

Was that the only way he could imagine it? Making contact, and sweating, and lying back against the grass side by side, relieved…?

“Sempai… I’m going to live. Without lying to myself, without deceiving myself…”

At the time, he’d really believed all that… right?

“The power to protect what’s dear to me… Heheh, just what I wanted. Let’s keep at it, so we can live every day with a smile… Leader.”

Was that moment when it had finally happened? When Yosuke’s feelings… When Yosuke… fully, entirely, completely began to…

*

The door slides open and Yosuke almost falls over in shock, earning himself a startled hiss from the cat whose tail he just just missed stepping on.

“Jeez louise! What the hell is-” he cuts himself off, remembering not to wake Nanako, and also because standing there half-in-half out of the door is Souji.

He’s wearing a sweater - grey and incredibly soft-looking - and holding a coat out for Yosuke.

“...thanks,” Yosuke mutters, taking the coat and pulling it on. Souji’s a little taller so it’s nice and big, the free-standing collar brushing against the sides of Yosuke’s cheeks.

Souji comes out fully, standing beside Yosuke. Now that the drizzle is turning into a proper rainstorm, it’s hard to resist the urge to press his shoulder up against that warm side. Yosuke does.

“...just, wanted some air,” he mutters. There’s something about Souji that just gets Yosuke talking. Even more than he already does, which as anyone will tell you is usually far too much. But with Souji, it’s different. It always is.

Souji raises an eyebrow.

“...just sucks that you’re going soon,” Yosuke continues, kicking at some random rock on the ground. “I keep thinking everything’s settled and I can see you off with pride, knowing I’ll be fine without you, but…”

Souji hums, pressing back against the wall. “...I don’t want to leave you, either,” he says.

Yosuke swallows. Leave – him, particularly?

He’s not really sure where to look or what to say. “Y-yeah… um, thanks.”

Souji keeps looking at him. Yosuke can’t meet his eyes.

There’s a nudge against his side, but it’s just Souji rummaging through his pockets. He pulls out a bottle. Lemon.

“...the strawberry flavour’s the best,” Yosuke admits. “They were already sold out, though.”

Souji nods at the bottle again, the tip pointed in Yosuke’s direction. But it’s already empty, so…

“W-wait.” Yosuke goes red. “What are you…?!”

Souji shrugs. “Those are the rules.”

“W-we’re not playing anymore, so…!” Yosuke clenches his teeth to stop his rambling. “I mean…! Do you seriously…?”

What’s he supposed to do? His heart is pounding so heavily…

Souji just looks at him, straight on. Stoic. Unflappable.

...almost.

(The hand holding the bottle shakes, just a little.)

It’s that which finally allows Yosuke to swallow his nerves. They’re meant to be equal, right? In this as much as anything?

Yosuke had thrown the first blow, so –

He kisses Souji.

It’s hard to say how long it lasts, without anyone around to jeer at them or throw Yosuke’s dumb words back in his face. He doesn’t want it to stop.

When Souji finally pulls back, Yosuke screws his face up.

“I… I like you! I…!”

He swallows again, thickly. He’s not gonna goddamn cry again. It was embarrassing enough the first time.

“I think I… maybe do like guys, actually… ugh, god – this is so-!”

Souji hugs him anyway.

“...I like you, too,” Souji whispers.

Oh. So. He does.

...maybe he does cry, a little.

Souji keeps hugging him either way.

You spend a while with Souji...

*

Eventually, the rain turns too much into a downpour for them to remain out. Souji pauses to pat a few of the cats first (this time, of course, they allow it happily), and then they shuffle back inside and hang up their coats.

Upstairs, everyone’s got their sleeping bags out on the big foam mat Dojima had prepared for the night. Chie is hugging Yukiko from behind almost possessively, while Teddy’s splayed out half on top of Rise and Kanji.

Surprisingly, only Naoto is still awake.

“Evening, Sempai,” he says politely. He’s gotten into his pajamas, sleeping bag hiked up over his chest in lieu of a binder.

“What’s kept you up?”

Naoto shrugs. “It seemed rude to fall asleep before the host.”

In silence – marred only by the rain pounding against the window and the occasional sleeping grunt – Yosuke and Souji change, too. They face away from one another, not daring to look.

There’s not much space left to bed down. Frankly, it's kind of a wonder Souji was able to fit this many teenagers into this tiny little bedroom at all.

Souji scans the surroundings, a hand to his chin, before asking softly, “Want to share the bed?”

Yosuke almost falls over where he’s pulling off his socks. “W-what?!”

He shrugs, gesturing around him, and Yosuke has to admit that the options aren’t exactly plentiful. Maybe if Teddy wasn’t taking up enough space for three people…

Naoto offers, “I could try to shift over a bit…?”

“No, no, um. It’s fine.” Yosuke ducks his head, embarrassed. “I don’t… mind.”

He’s not really sure what he and Souji are now, but…

He grabs his sleeping bag anyway, using it as a separate blanket. It’s still pretty squishy, but against Yosuke’s still rain-cold limbs, he has no reason to complain.

And also... For maybe one or two other reasons Yosuke's slowly allowing himself to consider acknowledging.

Souji smiles at him so softly Yosuke can’t quite bear it.

“I can’t believe you’re going soon…” he whispers. “You better not forget about me, okay…?”

Souji nods seriously, and then touches his lips to Yosuke’s nose.

He snorts, a little amused. “All right – guess that’s a promise. G’night, partner.”

Lately, Yosuke’s sleep has been pretty fitful. Tonight he he gets the best night’s sleep he’s had in months.

*

“Shh! Look, he’s starting to move!”

“Just a little bit closer… damn it, it’s not focusing right…!”

Yosuke is awakened by a very sudden, very close flash of light.

He goes into fight mode instantly, kicking and punching out in all directions until he falls out of bed(???) in a tangled mess of sheets and sleeping bags that temporarily blind him.

“I got it! Look, look!”

“Oh my god…!”

From somewhere above (and behind?) Yosuke hears a groan.

“What’s going on…?”

Yosuke finally pops his head out to find himself lying on the floor of Souji’s bedroom, beside the bed, below several bent-over figures.

Chie has a phone in her hand which she is excitedly showing to everyone else in the room besides he and Souji. Yukiko is giggling so hard she’s almost crying.

“Wh-what is that…?!” Yosuke grabs for the phone, actually getting a hold of it most likely purely due to surprise factor.

Contained within that little screen is… him. And Souji.

Spooning.

Souji’s head pops over the edge of the bed, looking down at him.

Trembling, Yosuke turns the photo around. Souji peers at it.

And then he looks at Chie.

“Looks good. Text it to me?”

Yosuke groans, covering his face with his hands.

(But while everyone continues to laugh about the photo and pack their sleeping bags up and chat about the night before, Souji shifts a little closer and presses a faint kiss against Yosuke’s cheek.

“Morning,” he says with a smile.

Yosuke can’t believe he waited all this time to do this.

But he’s really glad it happened now.)

*

Three Months Later

“Yeah, um… okay, I think I’m on the right street. Do you see a doughnut shop? No, wait – wrong angle. Uhhh…

“Where even are you, man? ...I really hope I got the right train. You don’t think I ended up in the wrong city somehow, did you?! What was that address again? Lemme just…

“No, yeah – yeah! This should be it. So why can’t I… damn it. Oh, wait – you mentioned a fountain or something, right? I see it! Or, I see – is that supposed to be a mermaid?

“...are you still here? You didn’t head to the doughnut shop, did you? You’re-”

“...hey, there. Partner.”

[End Call]

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