Archive of Our Own ^beta

Souji had thought, after months of traversing through the TV world, that he was prepared for just about anything when he led his team into Naoto’s dungeon--yet somehow, he hadn’t expected the dungeon to start shifting around them, walls shooting up and dividing their team in the chaos.

He and Yosuke did their best to try and break through the wall in front of them, their efforts doubling once Rise’s connection abruptly cut out and didn’t return, before they were forced to admit defeat and move on, hoping that they would be able to reunite with their friends if they kept going.

They stumbled upon a door along the set pathway, and--wary of what felt like an obvious trap--Souji held his sword tightly in one hand as his other hand reached for the doorknob, meeting Yosuke’s gaze and waiting until he received a nod before throwing the door open and rushing inside.

Only to find themselves in a completely empty room.

Yosuke was the first to gradually lower his guard, his arms dropping to his sides and his grip on his daggers loosening slightly, and after a moment more of glancing around warily, Souji allowed himself to relax slightly as well, sheathing his sword with a tired sigh.

“So what now, partner?” Yosuke asked, moving a hand to rub the back of his head. “Did we hit a dead end?”

“There might be a hidden door in the room.” Souji approached one of the walls and began searching, running his hand along the wall to try and find any hidden switches.

“Oh yeah, this does seem like the kind of place that would have something like that, huh.” Yosuke followed Souji’s lead and began searching another wall, his frustration quickly growing as he examined it from top to bottom with no luck. “Nothing here…. Anything on your end, partner?”

Souji sighed. “No, nothing here either.”

Yosuke turned around and made his way back towards Souji. “Maybe--”

His suggestion was quickly cut off by a startled yelp as something latched onto him from behind, his daggers falling out of his hands as his grip loosened in shock. His wrists were suddenly forcefully locked in place against his back, and before he could so much as gather his bearings and figure out what was happening, he was pulled backwards onto a chair that rose out of the ground.

“What-- what the hell is this?!” Yosuke struggled against his restraints, paling as two more metal cuffs came out of the legs of the chair and bound his ankles to the seat as well.

“Yosuke!!”

Souji moved to rush over to him, only for four metal shackles to come flying out of the wall, locking onto his wrists and ankles before he could so much as try and move out of the way, and he was forced backwards until his back hit a metal operating table that moved out of the wall, locking him in place spread-eagle.

“Shit, partner!” Yosuke struggled against his restraints with renewed vigor, his face draining of any remaining color as a familiar figure made its way into the room.

“Man, I can’t believe you guys made it this easy!” Naoto’s Shadow laughed, a sneer on his face. “I’m not foolish enough to just let you all gang up on me, you know.”

Souji narrowed his eyes, reaching inward to call upon his Persona to break him free. “Izanagi!”

There was a slight shift, as if the Persona was going to appear, before it was abruptly cut short, and both Souji and Yosuke’s eyes widened in dread as Naoto’s Shadow laughed again.

“Did you really think that would work? My, for the supposed leader of this group, you sure are an imbecile.”

“You bastard, let him go!” Yosuke exclaimed, glaring at Naoto’s Shadow and continuing to struggle to free himself.

“Don’t worry, I’ll deal with you next. But first….” A laser that appeared to be straight out of a sci-fi movie descended out of the ceiling, aimed straight at Souji, and Naoto’s Shadow took a remote out of his pocket as he approached Souji with a grin. “Now then, what sort of alteration should I perform…?”

Souji looked down at Naoto’s Shadow coldly. “I don’t care what you do to me, but if you so much as lay a finger on my friends….”

“I don’t think you’re in much of a position to be making threats,” Naoto’s Shadow replied, his expression turning annoyed as he craned his neck up to look Souji in the eye before suddenly grinning. “I think I know exactly what to do to you. I’m sure you must love being able to look down on people, don’t you?” He turned a few dials on the remote in his hand before stepping backwards and pressing a button, the laser slowly coming to life with an ominous whirring noise. “Let’s see how you like having to look up for a change!”

Souji squeezed his eyes shut as the bright light from the laser grew blinding, Yosuke’s voice shouting his name mixing with the sounds of the laser firing and Shadow Naoto’s laughter. He felt the light connect with his body, felt a painful feeling wash over him, like his body was being forcibly compressed--

And then suddenly, Souji was falling.

Before he could properly process what was going on, something wrapped around him, stopping his fall sharply enough to give him whiplash--and the situation only sunk in when he found himself staring at a giant Shadow Naoto's sneering face.

"How are you enjoying your new vantage point?" Shadow Naoto's hand tightened its grip around Souji, prompting a pained grimace. "Not so fun when you're the one having to look up at someone, is it?"

Souji ignored the Shadow's words, refusing to give in to his quickly rising panic, and instead he focused on trying to figure a way out of this situation as he struggled in the Shadow's grip.

If he could just move his arm a little higher from where it was pinned to his side, just enough for his hand to reach his sword….

Yosuke watched, his face pale, as Naoto's Shadow continued to gleefully crush his shrunken partner, his frustration and worry growing by the second. He couldn't move, his shouts and demands were falling on deaf ears, he couldn't summon his Persona--

Was he going to just have to sit here and watch Souji get killed?

Yosuke clenched his hands into fists behind his back and redoubled his efforts to free himself.

Screw that. He would sooner die trying to save Souji than just give up and let his partner down.

A sudden, pained shout broke through Yosuke's thoughts, and for a brief second he worried it had been Souji--but no, the noise came from Naoto's Shadow, who was clutching his hand in obvious pain.

Yosuke could only watch in a mixture of bewilderment and awe as Souji flipped away, his sword drawn and in hand as his voice rung out, quiet yet confident.

"Legion!"

The summoned, shrunken Persona appeared, and Souji landed on top of it before taking a battle stance.

Holy shit.

Yosuke's admiration and pride for his partner skyrocketed--even like this, even when he knew the odds were completely against him, Souji was still fighting.

How the hell was it possible for one guy to be so cool? Yosuke was positive if their situations were reversed, he'd be too busy freaking out to do anything to defend himself.

That didn't mean he was going to leave everything to his partner, though. If Souji was still fighting, then Yosuke would just have to triple his own efforts to try and help him.

As he watched Souji jumping and flipping away from Shadow Naoto's attacks, swapping through all of his Personas both to counterattack and to catch himself from falling, Yosuke turned his focus inward.

Even if he was blocked from summoning Susano-o, he could still feel his Persona's power inside of him. If he could just draw it out, even just a little….

Yosuke let the power build, his eyes narrowing as Naoto's Shadow kept getting closer and closer to hurting Souji, who was still keeping up a valiant effort despite his size and despite having to be on the defense for so long.

He just had to separate the two of them and help Souji over to him: two gales, one that would push Shadow Naoto away and one that would pull his partner closer to him. He could manage that, even with his hands (literally) tied behind his back.

"Partner!"

Souji briefly glanced over at Yosuke, and though their shared gaze barely lasted a few seconds, Yosuke's heart swelled in relief as Souji gave a small nod before quickly sheathing his sword and holding onto his Persona.

Souji really was incredible, understanding what he was going to do from just a glance. It lifted Yosuke's heart to see how much his partner trusted him, and he swore not to let him down as he felt Susano-o's power ready to break free.

Please, just get partner over to me and away from that Shadow without hurting him!

"Susano-o!"

Though Yosuke's Persona didn't appear, the shout was enough to give Shadow Naoto pause as his attention was briefly shifted away from Souji and over to him--which was just the opportunity Yosuke needed, allowing him to focus first on blasting Shadow Naoto away hard enough that his head audibly slammed on the metal operation table, before more carefully directing a gust of wind to force Souji in his direction.

He grimaced in worry as he saw Souji still struggling to hold on to his Persona even from that much, and he quickly leaned forward as far as he could once Souji was close enough, his partner taking the hint and recalling his Persona in favor of reaching out and catching hold of Yosuke's hair before collapsing on top of his head.

Yosuke was careful not to move his head too much even as he slumped back against the chair in relief.

"You okay, partner?"

"Yeah, just… give me a minute, sorry."

Yosuke could feel Souji shaking and could hear him trying to catch his breath, and his heart sunk in worry even he glared murderously at Naoto's Shadow, hating him for putting his partner through this.

Shadow Naoto groaned, weakly pushing himself away from the operation table before glaring at Yosuke with tears in his eyes.

"You're so mean!! Ruining my fun--ahh!!" He looked down at the remote that had been in his hand, finding that it was damaged from the attack. "You broke it!!"

Yosuke grimaced--though it was good that Naoto's Shadow wouldn't be able to use that laser against him too, that also meant that there wasn't any way to change Souji back to normal.

Hopefully whatever was done to him would wear off quickly on its own.

"I'm done playing with you!" Naoto's Shadow huffed, storming off towards the door. "I'm gonna go play with your friends instead!"

"Wh-- wait!!"

Before Yosuke could stop him, the Shadow ran out of the room while clutching his broken remote.

Yosuke could just barely make out the sound of his partner hissing out an uncharacteristic curse, though given the circumstances, he couldn't exactly blame him--he was just as worried about their friends, and just as frustrated that neither of them could go after the Shadow and stop him from doing anything to them.

Trying to lighten the mood, Yosuke weakly joked, "Well, this is one hell of a mess, huh partner?"

Souji let out a quiet breath before responding, a hint of a wry smile in his tone. "It is, but we can get through this. We always do."

Yosuke couldn't help but smile as well, feeling uplifted by his partner's confidence even in such a bleak situation.

"Got a plan?"

"Yeah." Souji rose to his feet. "Just try and hold still."

Yosuke tensed as he felt Souji moving. "Partner, what are you-- ow, hey, careful!"

"Sorry," Souji apologized distractedly, using Yosuke's hair to climb down to his neck, before grabbing onto the collar of his jacket for balance as he walked onto his shoulder. "My sword should be small enough to pick the lock on the cuffs. Once you can move, we can go find everyone."

"Just go slowly, I can't catch you if you lose your balance," Yosuke replied worriedly, glancing over his shoulder once he felt Souji walking down his arm.

Souji nodded, his gaze remaining straight ahead and his steps careful yet assured as he moved towards the metal cuffs.

"Dude, I have no idea how you're being so calm about this," Yosuke remarked after a bit, watching Souji as much as he could without accidentally moving his arm in the process of craning his neck around. "Seriously, does anything faze you?"

Souji smiled wryly as he briefly glanced back at Yosuke. "It's not about nothing fazing me. I just know that panicking right now isn't going to help anyone."

"Heh. Guess you're our leader for a reason, huh." Yosuke watched Souji as he turned back around and moved the rest of the way down to his bound wrists. "I'd be freaking out so bad right now if I were you--hell, I'm still kind of freaking out and I'm not even the one that got shrunk."

That pulled a soft laugh from Souji, but he remained quiet otherwise, instead focusing on pulling himself up onto the metal restraints and looking around until he spotted a small hole.

"Found it." Souji drew his sword, comparing the size to the hole and nodding. "This should work. Just give me a minute."

Souji expected a bit of resistance when he slipped his sword into the hole.

He was not, however, expecting to suddenly get electrocuted.

“Partner!!”

Yosuke’s quick reaction was the only thing that stopped Souji from falling to his death as he reflexively jerked backwards and lost his balance with a startled shout: though Yosuke couldn’t catch Souji, he at least managed to stretch his fingers out enough for Souji to grab hold of one, leaving Souji feeling infinitely grateful that he had a resistance to electricity otherwise his body might have been too numb to grab onto anything at all.

Souji felt another finger blindly brushing against his legs seconds before pressing against him, providing solid ground that Souji desperately needed as he knelt on the proffered finger and tried to catch his breath and calm his pounding heart.

“Are you okay? You’re not hurt, are you?” Yosuke fussed worriedly, hating that he couldn’t do anything for his partner--he could barely even see him at this angle, and was just grateful that he’d stretched his fingers in the right direction for Souji to grab onto.

Souji nodded, knowing that Yosuke would feel the motion with his forehead pressed against Yosuke’s finger, and took a few more seconds to compose himself before gathering his strength and pulling himself back up.

“Sorry, that just… caught me off-guard.” He continued pulling himself all the way back up onto the cuffs as he spoke. “I’m alright now, I promise.”

“Wait-- Souji, hold on, you’re not seriously going to do that again, are you?! There has to be another way!”

“I’ll be fine, I swear. Like I said, it just caught me off-guard.”

Clenching his teeth, Souji pushed his sword back into the hole, feeling more prepared this time for the electric current that rushed through the metal under his feet and through his sword into his body. He pushed through, carefully turning his sword as he tried to maneuver the mechanisms inside, and he had to force himself not to rush when he heard Yosuke’s muted hiss of pain as the electricity presumably traveled into his bound wrists.

Finally, there was a sudden click, and that was the only warning either of them received before the cuffs suddenly opened and fell away, with Souji still on top of them.

“Shit, Souji!!”

Thankfully, now that his arms were no longer bound behind him, Yosuke could move more easily in his seat--which he hastily did, turning and reaching around the chair so he could catch Souji on his palm.

“Are you okay, partner?” Yosuke carefully shifted back around in his seat, trying to be conscious of not moving too quickly and accidentally jostling Souji, and he kept his free hand hovering nearby worriedly in case Souji somehow fell.

Souji weakly lifted a shaking arm to give Yosuke a thumbs-up. “Never better,” he replied, despite realizing that he obviously looked like he’d seen better days. Definitely felt like he’d seen better days, too, for that matter.

Yosuke huffed out a breath that was almost a laugh, his head shaking slightly. “Dude, seriously, you can turn off the whole stoic leader act for five minutes, I’m not gonna judge.”

“No time for that,” Souji responded, shakily trying to push himself back up. “We have to help everyone.”

“Partner,” Yosuke began with a frown--and though he hated to take advantage of Souji’s condition, he knew that Souji wouldn’t listen to words, which left him no other choice but to very, very carefully put a finger against Souji’s shoulder and gently push him back down, much to Souji’s obvious bewilderment. “A few minutes isn’t going to make or break anything. You know those guys, I doubt anything could take them down--I’m sure they wouldn’t be happy to know that you pushed yourself too hard trying to go and find them. Just take a second to rest, and then we’ll worry about getting out of here.”

Souji was obviously hesitant, yet with Yosuke’s finger still on his shoulder holding him in place, all he could do is let out a resigned sigh and close his eyes, feeling rather than seeing Yosuke’s satisfied smile.

“Thank you,” Souji murmured after a moment, catching Yosuke off-guard.

“For what?” Yosuke asked, genuinely confused.

Souji opened his eyes to stare up at Yosuke in amusement. “In case you forgot, you did just save my life. About three times within the span of a few minutes or so, even. I think that alone is plenty reason to thank you.”

Yosuke blushed, the entire situation belatedly catching up with him--as worried as he’d been for Souji’s life and his well-being, he hadn’t thought of it as saving Souji’s life; he was just doing what he could to help his partner, that’s all. He was about to say as much when he suddenly realized that he still had his finger on Souji’s shoulder, and he just barely stopped himself from yanking his hand away, not wanting to risk moving too quickly and accidentally hurting Souji in the process.

“Shit, I’m sorry, I didn’t realize I--”

“Yosuke, it’s okay.” Fondness tinged the amusement in Souji’s gaze as he reached out, putting his hand on top of Yosuke’s finger before he could pull it back. “I needed something to ground me and force me to stay still for a bit to rest, so thank you.”

Yosuke’s blush darkened at the feeling of Souji’s hand on his finger, nerves making his stomach churn. It was suddenly sinking in that he was holding Souji, that his best friend was shrunken and vulnerable and his life was literally in Yosuke’s hands and if Yosuke wasn’t careful he could seriously hurt Souji or worse and--

“Yosuke, calm down.”

Yosuke winced as he was pulled out of his panicking thoughts by Souji’s steady voice, a self-deprecating laugh slipping out before he could stop it.

“Sorry, you should be the one freaking out here, not me. Pretty pathetic, huh. I just….” Nervously, he asked, “I wasn’t hurting you, was I?”

Souji’s expression softened in understanding. “You weren’t hurting me, I promise, and you’re not pathetic--the fact that you’re so conscious of my safety just goes to show that I have no reason to worry about you hurting me, accidentally or not.” Giving Yosuke’s finger a reassuring squeeze, he added, “You’re my partner, I trust you.”

It was incredible how just six words could make Yosuke’s heart feel light as a feather.

“Thanks, partner,” Yosuke murmured, a tentative smile tugging at the corners of his lips.

He might not have been able to do anything to prevent this from happening to Souji, but he’d be damned if he betrayed Souji’s trust and let anything happen to him while he was in such a vulnerable state.

Souji returned Yosuke’s smile with one of his own, waiting until Yosuke moved his finger before sitting up. “I’m alright now. Let me get those cuffs off of your ankles so we can get going.”

Yosuke’s smile faded slightly, reluctant to make Souji have to deal with being shocked two more times even with his resistance to electricity, but he knew that there wasn’t any other way. Knowing his luck, if he tried to pick the locks himself he’d just end up accidentally snapping Souji’s sword and screwing them both over.

“Alright, just be careful,” Yosuke replied, slowly lowering his hand down to one of the metal shackles and continuing to hover nearby as Souji stuck his sword into the hole and began carefully picking the lock.

The electricity burning his ankle was about as bearable as the burns on his wrists--which was to say, it hurt, but Yosuke couldn’t care less when he knew that Souji was soldiering through the pain while keeping a steady hand and meticulously turning his sword in the lock. As soon as there was a clear click to signal that it was unlocked, Yosuke quickly swept Souji off of the cuff before he could fall along with it, giving him a minute to catch his breath and waiting until he gave the okay before moving him over to the last cuff.

Once the last cuff was off, Yosuke rose to his feet with Souji safely on his hand, trying to be conscious of not lifting his hand too quickly. He wasted no time in casting Diarama on both himself and Souji now that he had full access to Susano-o’s power, the burns on his wrists and ankles fading away, and he couldn’t help but smile as Souji let out a relieved sigh in response to the healing magic washing over him.

“You okay?” Yosuke asked.

Souji nodded, sitting up and sheathing his sword. “I’m fine. Let’s get going.”

Yosuke nodded in return and moved to pick up his daggers off the ground where he’d dropped them with his free hand, slipping them into his jacket before walking over to the only door in the room with a determined expression, unconsciously keeping the hand holding Souji close to his body protectively as his other hand gripped the doorknob. He wasn’t entirely sure what to expect when he opened the door, but he wasn’t prepared to exit the room only to find himself in a completely different hallway than the one he and Souji had come through earlier.

“What-- how--” Yosuke groaned. “Are you kidding me? I really hope this place isn’t going to keep changing like this, or we’ll never find everyone and make it to Naoto in time.”

“Stay calm and focus,” Souji reminded him, his expression and voice both remaining composed even as he warily glanced around. Turning his gaze up to Yosuke, he added, “Lift me up and let me stand on your shoulder. You need to keep your hands free in case we run into any trouble, and I can make sure no Shadows try and ambush you.”

Yosuke hesitated for a moment before letting out a sigh, realizing that he couldn’t argue with Souji’s logic no matter how worried he was for his friend’s safety. “Fine--but sit, don’t stand. I don’t want to worry about you losing your balance and falling off.”

Souji’s expression softened slightly in amusement. “If that will put your mind at ease.”

“It will,” Yosuke huffed, a light, embarrassed blush heating up his cheeks as he carefully lifted his hand up to his shoulder. He kept his hand nearby as Souji moved, ready to catch him in case he lost his balance as he settled down, before letting his hand fall back down to his side once Souji gave him a reassuring smile.

Pulling his daggers back out of his jacket, Yosuke gripped them tightly and began to walk, keeping his gaze peeled for any Shadows. It was suddenly hitting him just how much he'd started taking Rise's navigation and Teddie's nose for granted now that neither of them were around: he felt even more tense and on-edge knowing that there wouldn’t be anyone to warn them of any Shadows in the area, though he admittedly did feel a bit better knowing that Souji was watching his back.

He knew he would have felt a bit calmer if he’d been able to put on his headphones, but he couldn’t risk not being able to hear Souji.

Yosuke let out a quiet breath, giving Souji a grin when his partner glanced over at him in silent inquiry.

He could put up with a bit of tense atmosphere and some unsettling noises, so long as it meant keeping his partner safe as they continued to traverse the dungeon’s halls.

Souji was tense as he shifted his gaze around to every last corner behind Yosuke, knowing that one ambush would be all it would take to ruin any chance of being able to rescue their friends and get out of this dungeon in one piece.

Getting himself back to normal was also a concern, though not Souji's biggest priority--after all, there was no telling what Naoto's Shadow was doing to everyone else. Being shrunken was an inconvenience, yes, but at least that and some minor exhaustion was the only thing wrong with his body.

It was definitely better than what would have happened if Yosuke hadn't been there to help him.

Shaking his head slightly, Souji forced his mind away from what-ifs and instead focused on the here and now: they were cautiously making their way through the shifting halls of Naoto's dungeon, ready for any Shadows that would try and jump out at them.

Souji saw a glint out of the corner of his eye, and a wave of dread hit him as he belatedly realized that Shadows weren't the only danger in this dungeon.

"Yosuke, get down!"

Yosuke reacted to his leader's command on instinct before his mind could think to question it, and it was that split-second reaction that prevented a laser beam from shooting straight through the back of his head.

"What… what the hell?!" Yosuke stared at the burnt spot on the ground in front of him, his face pale.

Souji was belatedly grateful for Yosuke's earlier insistence on him sitting down--the sudden, sharp drop would have definitely sent him flying otherwise. Even still, he fought through nauseated disorientation to reply, "Lasers in the ceiling. Keep moving, be careful."

Yosuke cursed under his breath as he caught sight of another light out of the corner of his eye, and he just barely managed to jump out of the way of another laser beam. "Come on, this is ridiculous! Susano-o!!"

Two sharp gales of wind later, and the lasers were completely destroyed, much to the pair's relief.

Said relief didn't last very long, however: Souji turned his attention away from the broken lasers and behind Yosuke, only to spot a Shadow slinking around the corner.

"Yosuke, we've got trouble."

Yosuke groaned as he tightened his grip on his daggers.

"Of course we do," he grumbled, turning to face the Shadow and bracing himself as it charged at him. He just barely managed to get the first hit in before jumping backwards as the Shadow changed from its amorphous form to three separate Shadows.

"Partner, I don't think I'll be able to fight with you on my shoulder like that," Yosuke murmured, not daring to move his gaze away from the Shadows.

"I'll stay out of your way," Souji replied, summoning Legion and jumping on top of the round, floating Persona. "Be careful."

Yosuke nodded, feeling both wary of leaving Souji on his own like this and relieved that he would be able to fight freely without having to worry about accidentally throwing Souji off or hurting him.

"You too, partner. Be careful."

Souji nodded in return, before directing his Persona to move away at the same time that Yosuke flipped his headphones up onto his ears and charged forward to begin the fight.

It was admittedly frustrating, having to stay off to the side and watch Yosuke take on three Shadows all on his own, yet at the same time he couldn't help but feel proud of his partner for handling himself so well even without any backup or orders.

Yosuke wasn't just his second-in-command because he was the second person to get his Persona--he had a sharp mind for tactics, and it was showing brilliantly in how he maneuvered around each Shadow, striking at all the right moments while minimizing his own damage.

Souji was so distracted by observing Yosuke's fighting that he almost missed another amorphous Shadow slowly making its way towards Yosuke from behind.

Cursing under his breath, Souji quickly considered his options. Calling out to Yosuke to warn him wouldn't do much good while Yosuke was wearing his headphones--not that Souji could fault him for that, knowing that music helped sharpen Yosuke's focus in battle--and even if Yosuke could hear him, calling out to him so suddenly might distract him and cause him to slip up and get hurt. At the same time, however, Yosuke was showing no sign of noticing the new Shadow, his focus completely on trying to manage taking down the three Shadows in front of him.

Which left only one other option.

Souji narrowed his eyes and drew his sword.

Even if he couldn't defeat the Shadow on his own like this, he could at least buy enough time for Yosuke to finish dealing with the other Shadows. That would just have to be enough.

Souji commanded his Persona forward, bracing himself as the Shadow changed form and mentally going through his catalog of strengths and weaknesses as he tried to recognize the form that the Shadow took.

He recalled a weakness to fire, and wasted no time in swapping Personas, grabbing on to his new Persona with his free hand to prevent himself from falling as he commanded it to attack.

Souji knew in order to survive, he would have to fight a bit dirty: he aimed his attacks at the Shadow's eyes and mouth, attempting to make up for a lack of strength by focusing what little power he had on hitting spots that had no defense.

He could feel his energy rapidly draining from having to rely so heavily on attacking with and swapping through his Personas, the fight dragging out as he was forced to pull back after every hit that he landed in order to avoid the Shadow's retaliation.

All it would take was one hit, and he was as good as dead.

Still, even despite knowing this, he kept pushing himself and kept firing off Agidyne after Agidyne until he was almost completely tapped out of energy--and his only solace was that the Shadow looked almost as exhausted as he felt.

He just needed to get one more solid hit in….

Souji directed his Persona forward, his knuckles turning white from his tight grip on his sword as his Persona weaved around each of the Shadow's attacks until Souji was close enough to jump off and land on the Shadow's face.

Lifting his sword, he drove the blade down straight into the Shadow's eye, holding on with the last of his strength as the Shadow howled and thrashed before finally fading away.

Souji felt himself falling, and the last thing he was aware of was the sound of his name being shouted before everything went black.

Souji groaned as he slowly returned to consciousness, feeling sore and exhausted in a way that he hadn’t felt since he first started entering the TV world months ago.

“Oh thank god, you’re awake.”

Souji instinctively looked up at the sound of his partner’s voice, momentarily caught off-guard by the sight of how much larger Yosuke was before remembering everything that happened before he passed out.

“Sorry,” Souji began, shakily pushing himself up and noting with a quick glance around him that Yosuke had probably put him in the outer chest pocket of his jacket. “I’m fine--”

“Don’t give me that shit, Souji. Do you realize how badly you scared me? I thought….” Yosuke swallowed thickly, tension clear in every taut line in his face as a mixture of grief, anger, and lingering fear clouded his expression. “God, Souji, I thought I lost you. I almost didn’t even make it in time to catch you.”

Souji dropped his gaze guiltily. “I’m sorry, Yosuke, I really am. I just… I couldn’t just stand off to the side and do nothing, and that Shadow was going to ambush you--”

“I would’ve preferred that over you nearly killing yourself trying to fight a Shadow by yourself!” Frustration began to leak into Yosuke’s tone as he added, “Don’t you trust me?”

Souji quickly looked back up at Yosuke in alarm. “What? Of course I trust you, Yosuke; why would you say that?”

“If you trust me, then please… just let me protect you, at least until you go back to normal. Can you promise at least that much?”

Souji hesitated for a moment before letting out a quiet sigh and nodding, holding Yosuke's gaze resolutely as he replied, “Alright. I promise, I won’t do anything like that again. If we run into any more Shadows, I’ll let you handle it, and if there’s any more ambushes I’ll try and get your attention instead of fighting the Shadow myself.”

Yosuke continued to look down at Souji, gauging his sincerity before finally letting out a sigh of his own. “I swear, partner… you took, like, ten years off my life--but as long as you promise not to pull anything like that again, then it’s fine.” With a guilty grimace, he added, “I mean, it was kinda my fault in the first place for not paying more attention, and I doubt I would’ve heard you with my headphones on even if you tried getting my attention, so….”

“Yosuke, you were handling yourself incredibly, fighting three Shadows all on your own--and you need your music to help you concentrate in battle; I’m not going to fault you for that.” Souji frowned. “Let’s just keep moving, and hope that we don’t run into any more trouble before we find everyone else.”

Yosuke looked as if he wanted to argue before deciding against it, instead continuing to walk as he spoke. “I haven’t really made much progress since you passed out,” he began regretfully, “but I tried looking around a bit and I found a staircase. Wasn’t sure whether I should go on or keep looking around this floor a bit more, though.”

“I’d say keep looking. We don’t know where Naoto’s Shadow took the rest of the group, and I don’t want to move on until we know for sure that no one’s on this floor.”

Yosuke nodded in understanding and changed course, heading for the last few areas of the floor that he’d yet to check while being extra careful to avoid any Shadows.

Souji felt guilty making Yosuke do all the work, but he knew that Yosuke wouldn’t let him do anything even if he had the energy to do more than weakly lift his arms. Still, he couldn’t help but feel grateful as well--he did trust that Yosuke would be able to handle himself, which made it a bit easier to not kick up a fuss and to rest like Yosuke wanted him to.

Not that he didn’t trust the rest of his teammates, of course, but Yosuke was different--he was Souji’s partner and second-in-command, and despite Yosuke’s lack of self-confidence, Souji had no doubts that he could handle himself just as well as Souji could in a leader position. If anyone could gather the rest of their group and get them all out of this mess in his stead, Souji was confident it would be his partner.

To their mutual frustration, they didn't find even the slightest sign of their friends being anywhere on this floor, which meant Yosuke had no choice but to move on to the next floor and continue his search from top to bottom.

At this point, Yosuke wasn't sure whether he wanted to just find his friends and be done with this place, or to run into Naoto's Shadow just to kick his ass for putting everyone through this unnecessary stress.

Unfortunately, at the rate they were going, they weren't going to find either. Yosuke could feel his strength waning the longer he had to run around the dungeon for, his body tense and his heart pounding each time he snuck around (and outran, whenever he was spotted by) the Shadows in the area, and that combined with the knowledge that Souji was sitting in his jacket pocket--completely defenseless after draining himself dry fighting, with Yosuke being the only thing standing between him and getting killed by anything and everything in this dungeon--was putting a lot of mental stress on top of Yosuke's physical exhaustion. 

And then, of course, Yosuke slipped up and got ambushed, because god knows his day wasn't bad enough as it was.

Yosuke cursed under his breath as he barely managed to stumble out of the way of the Shadow's attack, and he hastily reached into his pocket and grabbed Souji with a grimace and an apology, ignoring his partner's protests as he set him down off to the side near a wall before pulling out his daggers and rushing at the Shadow with the intent of trying to take it out as quickly as possible.

Souji quickly felt dread replacing the shock of a giant hand suddenly grabbing him as he looked up (and up, and up) at the fight taking place in front of him, especially as he realized just how exhausted his body was--it took much more effort than it should have to even push himself up to his feet; if the fight started getting too close to him, he wasn't even sure he'd have the energy to move out of the way.

Unfortunately, Yosuke's bad luck seemed to be rubbing off on Souji, though not in the way that he'd feared.

The Shadow that slid around the corner was already way too close for comfort even without noticing him, and from Souji's position on the floor it was huge--it felt even bigger than the Shadow he'd fought earlier, most likely because he'd encountered that one at a higher vantage point.

Swallowing thickly, Souji chanced a quick glance over at Yosuke and grimaced as he saw him still completely wrapped up in fighting the Shadows in front of him.

"Yosuke…." Souji called out nervously, wary of raising his voice too much and catching the Shadow's attention as he slowly began backing away from the amorphous figure.

Unfortunately, Yosuke didn't even look in his direction.

Even more unfortunately, the Shadow did.

"Yosuke!!"

Yosuke's head snapped up as he heard Souji's voice, his heart dropping in panic when he looked over to find Souji scrambling away from a Shadow that had snuck by without him noticing. Cursing under his breath, Yosuke shoved his daggers into his jacket and ran over to Souji as fast as his legs would carry him.

He scooped him up off the ground and kept his hands cupped around him protectively as he ran, dodging all of the Shadows as best as he could and grimacing as they managed to land a few hits on him before he could get far away enough to lose them.

As soon as he was sure that they'd stopped chasing him, Yosuke leaned against a nearby wall to catch his breath and shakily cast Diarama to heal himself. Once his injuries closed up, he carefully uncupped his hands with a worried expression that only slightly relaxed in relief upon seeing that it didn't look like he'd accidentally hurt Souji in his haste. 

"Are you alright?"

Souji leaned back against Yosuke's hand, trying to steady his breathing and calm himself enough to stop his body from shaking from a mixture of fear and adrenaline. 

"I--" He swallowed thickly and let out a long breath before speaking again in a more level tone. "I'm fine. What about you?"

Yosuke dropped his gaze guiltily. "I'm sorry. I'm supposed to be looking out for you while you're stuck like this, but I keep barely even getting to you in time to protect you."

"Yosuke, it's not your fault--"

"It is, and I know you're not going to want to hear this, but… I think we need to leave. I can't keep going like this; we're both exhausted, and forcing myself to keep going is just going to put the two of us in even more danger. We won't be able to save anyone like this."

Souji was silent for a moment before reluctantly nodding. "You're right. I'm worried about everyone else, but I don't want to put you in danger either--it's better to leave now and get some rest so we can come back tomorrow."

Yosuke was a bit surprised that Souji agreed so easily, though he supposed it made sense after what he'd been through with the past few Shadow encounters.

He nodded and carefully eased Souji into the chest pocket of his jacket before making a beeline for the stairs so they could return to the TV world entrance and go home.

Not even going home to rest could be easy, apparently.

Yosuke barely made it three steps out of the electronics section of Junes before bumping into his father, who told him in a tone that left no room for argument that they were busy and understaffed and it didn't matter if he already clocked out earlier in the day, he was here now and it would be appreciated if he put on his work smock and straightened up aisle 3 before taking care of the fruit section and reorganizing the displays, thank you.

He headed over to the employees' back room, practically radiating irritation--all he wanted was to go home, take a shower, and go to sleep for god's sake, not to deal with customers that talked shit behind his back (and sometimes to his face) on top of his exhaustion. Yosuke's expression briefly shifted to an apologetic grimace as he glanced down at Souji, who--with his usual saintly patience--gave him a reassuring, sympathetic smile in response.

Yosuke carefully took his jacket off and hung it up in the back room's closet, making sure to keep the jacket as steady as possible so as not to jostle Souji too badly, and he quietly apologized to his partner before grabbing his work smock and running out of the room, hoping that the faster he got out on the floor the faster he'd be able to leave.

Souji watched him go before ducking back down in the jacket pocket with an exhausted sigh. He felt bad for Yosuke, and honestly if he wasn't stuck like this he would have gladly volunteered to help--but the fact of the matter was that he was stuck like this, for who-knew how long, and so all he could do was sit and wait until Yosuke could escape from work.

Maybe he should try and take a nap to pass the time.

Just as he was starting to doze off, he was startled out of his half-asleep state by the sound of two girls talking as they threw the door to the back room open.

"Ugh, what is that smell?"

"It's probably Hanamura again. Does that guy ever wash his clothes? Gross."

"I bet he doesn't even shower! No wonder no one wants to be around him."

"Yeah, he stinks just about as bad as his personality does!"

Souji frowned as the girls laughed, half tempted to tell them off for insulting Yosuke regardless of knowing that he couldn't let anyone see him like this.

And then there was movement around him, and he bit his tongue to stifle a yelp as he was roughly jostled around and nearly thrown out of the jacket pocket. It was hard to think past the panic flooding through him, but he forced himself to breathe and focus, momentarily feeling relieved when the movement stopped before grimacing as the overwhelming scent of garbage hit his nose.

"There, maybe now this place'll stop smelling like a barn," one of the girls commented, her voice muffled slightly as their laughter trailed out of the room.

Those girls were going to be in for one hell of a lecture once Souji returned to his normal size, that was for sure--badmouthing Yosuke was one thing, but throwing his jacket in the garbage? They had absolutely no right to put their hands on any of his belongings, and Souji had to force himself to push his anger aside so he could focus.

After all, with Yosuke's jacket in the garbage, that meant he was trapped in the garbage too--and judging by how today had been going, Souji wouldn't be surprised if he ended up all the way at the dump if he didn't get himself out of here quickly.

It was a struggle, but Souji managed to pull himself up to the opening on the garbage can--for better or worse, it had been filled pretty much all the way to the top, so it wasn't as difficult as it could have been--and he swung himself out to stand on the small ridge around the opening.

He looked down and paled. That was… a very, very long drop, and he had no Personas to summon to catch him or slow his descent.

Yet he couldn't just stand there and hope that Yosuke would be the next person to walk through the door--he was completely out in the open, and the last thing he wanted was to have to try and explain his shrunken state to anyone who had no knowledge of the TV world.

Forcing himself to calm down and focus, Souji glanced around at his surroundings for anything he could use, and spotted a pipe against the wall that he (hopefully) would be able to make it to if he jumped. It wasn't too cold out yet, so the heat shouldn't be on, which meant that the pipe should at least be safe to touch.

Figuring that would be his best option, Souji backed up to give himself a running start before vaulting off the edge and reaching out. For one heart-stopping moment he feared that he wouldn't make it, his fingertips only just barely brushing against the pipe, but he stretched a bit further and managed to grab a hold of it with one hand, jerking his fall to a stop and nearly losing his grip with the sharp pain that shot through his arm from the strain. Forcing himself to keep his hold strong despite the pain, he carefully climbed down the pipe before collapsing and shakily catching his breath as soon as his feet touched the ground.

Souji wasn't normally one to be afraid of much, but he'd seen his life flashing before his eyes way too many times in the past few hours, and right about now he just wanted to go somewhere safe so he could pass out in peace.

Still, he knew he wasn't in the clear just yet--he'd managed to get down on the ground, but he was still out in the open, and anyone could walk through the door right now.

Like the janitor, for instance.

Souji hastily scrambled to his feet and pressed his back against the wall. The janitor was an elderly man, so there was no guarantee that his eyesight would be good enough to spot the shrunken person slowly edging his way along the wall back towards the closet, but Souji kept his steps light and careful regardless, eyeing him warily and paling slightly when he began emptying out the garbage can.

Talk about a close call.

Souji made it to the furthest edge of the wall, with the open closet door just a bit further away, and Souji checked once more to make sure that he hadn't been spotted before making a dash for the closet and squeezing himself behind Yosuke's bag, crouching down and holding his breath until he heard the janitor leave the room.

As soon as he was gone, Souji sagged in relief and tried to calm his heart rate, inwardly praying that the next person to walk through that door would be Yosuke.

This day was quickly becoming too much for even him to handle, and he just wanted to rest and breathe easy without something or someone putting him in danger.

Yosuke was beyond exhausted by the time he managed to trudge into the employees' back room, his work smock already off and ready to be tossed aside. There were a few other people in the room, so he wouldn't be able to gripe to Souji until he got home, but--

Yosuke paled as he reached the closet.

His jacket was gone.

A quick glance showed that it wasn't on the floor, nor was it anywhere outside the closet, and now Yosuke was trying very hard not to panic as he looked around frantically.

"H-hey, uh… you guys wouldn't have happened to see my jacket, would you?" Yosuke nervously asked the two employees hanging out in the room.

"Huh? Oh, I think I heard Maya mentioning something about getting rid of a jacket, not sure if she meant yours or not though," one of them replied with a shrug.

Yosuke felt sick to his stomach.

"Got rid of-- what the hell gives her the right to-- I-I had something important in there!"

The other employee laughed. "Man, that sucks. Maybe next time don't leave important shit just laying around."

It was only through a combination of sheer willpower and fear over Souji's well-being that stopped him from punching both employees out as he saw red from their nonchalant laughter. 

Nausea from both anger and panic churned his stomach as he rushed back over to the closet, very nearly missing the sound of a quiet voice repeatedly calling his name until he went to grab his bag.

"Yosuke! Yosuke!!"

Almost immediately, he was hit with a wave of relief strong enough to make him want to collapse, and he searched the closet floor more carefully before finding Souji looking up at him from behind his bag.

Apparently Souji had been just as tense and worried as Yosuke, because as soon as Yosuke's eyes came to rest on him, he visibly relaxed with a relieved sigh.

Yosuke couldn't exactly question Souji with other people in the room, so he whispered a quick "We'll talk later" and waited a moment for Souji to nod in agreement before reaching out his hand to Souji for him to climb onto. He furtively glanced over his shoulder to make sure no one was watching as he carefully eased Souji into his shirt pocket, making sure he was settled before grabbing his bag and rushing out of the room.

The walk back to Yosuke's house was filled with a tense silence, and Yosuke was infinitely grateful when he got home to find that his mom was out and his dad was still at work, leaving him alone with Souji and allowing them to speak in private.

"God, partner, I don't know what the hell happened but I'm so sorry--"

"Yosuke, calm down, it's alright. It's not your fault."

Souji rose to his feet, and Yosuke carefully helped him out of his pocket as they reached his bedroom before setting him down on the bed and sitting on the floor so they were eye to eye with one another.

"I'm pretty sure it was my fault if she threw away my jacket with you in it."

Souji frowned. "There were two girls; I didn't see what they looked like but I can at least recognize their voices. I'll have a word with them for touching your belongings without your permission after this wears off."

"Souji, you're missing the point! I don't care about the damn jacket, I care that you were in danger because of me--again!"

Souji couldn't stop himself from flinching with a pained grimace at Yosuke's volume, and Yosuke hastily slapped a hand over his mouth in response. 

"Shit, I'm sorry, I-- goddammit I keep screwing up, I'm sorry partner--"

"Yosuke."

Yosuke snapped his mouth shut and stiffened at Souji's sharp tone.

"Yosuke, nothing that's happened has been your fault." Souji softened his expression as he spoke. "You're too hard on yourself. I appreciate that you're worried about me, but I'm okay, I promise."

Yosuke shot Souji a skeptical look, and Souji winced slightly and amended his statement. "Alright, I'm tired and sore and smell like sweat and garbage, but I swear other than that I really am okay."

Yosuke sighed. "I still can't see how it's not my fault when I wasn't protecting you properly, and when they threw away my jacket with you in it because they hate me, and--" He held up his hands in a gesture of surrender when Souji shot him a look. "But fine, I get it, I'll drop it." Wryly, he added, "I think you're the only one who would argue with me over things not being my fault."

"Of course I would, you're my partner. If you're wrong, I'll tell you you're wrong; and if you're right, I'll be the first to defend you and back you up, just like you do for me."

Yosuke dropped his gaze, his face flushing even as a smile tugged at the corners of his lips.

"Thanks, partner. I mean, I never doubted that or anything, but… it means a lot."

He rose back up to his feet before Souji could reply, giving Souji a smile as he held out his hand to him.

"Anyway, I dunno about you, but I'm starving. Let's go see what we can find in the fridge; I'm nowhere near as good at cooking as you, and I'm way too tired to bother trying."

Souji forced his aching body to move just enough for him to sit down on Yosuke's hand. "Normally I would offer to at least try and walk you through making something, but honestly I'm just as tired and I really don't want to do anything but eat and sleep." With a grimace, he added, "And if by some miracle we can figure out some way for me to take a bath, that would be great too."

"Dude, after all the shit you've been through today, the least I can do is help figure something out for you." Yosuke carefully eased Souji back into his shirt pocket and walked back down to the kitchen as he spoke. "I could go for a shower myself after all that running around and fighting. Food first, though."

"Oh, Yosuke, wait!" Souji perked up in alarm as a thought suddenly occurred to him. "I need to use your phone to call Nanako, she's home alone and probably worried sick that I haven't come home yet."

"Oh crap, yeah we should let her know you're sleeping over…. Do you need to call Dojima-san too?"

"I should, yeah," Souji replied with a frown, pulling his own shrunken cell phone out--it had no connection, not that Souji had really expected it to be able to make calls like this--and opening the contacts so he could pull up his uncle's cell phone number.

Yosuke called the Dojima household first and held the phone up for Souji to speak--thankfully there was no difference in his voice despite being shrunken save for him sounding quieter, so Nanako was completely oblivious to her Big Bro's current state as he apologized to her for not calling sooner and told her that his phone had died and he was spending the night at Yosuke's for a school project. One more similar phone call to Dojima with the same excuse, and Souji was finally able to breathe a bit easy, feeling a bit guilty for lying but otherwise relieved that he'd put his family's minds at ease for the night.

Yosuke pocketed his phone after Souji thanked him ("Dude, it's fine, you know I wouldn't have wanted Nanako-chan to worry all night either.") and made his way down to the kitchen before making a beeline for the fridge, rummaging through it with one hand while his other hand absentmindedly moved to cup around the pocket holding Souji so he wouldn't accidentally fall out as Yosuke bent over.

He grabbed the first container of food he could find before straightening back up and bringing it to the microwave to warm the food up, and in a few minutes Yosuke and Souji had a meal that they practically inhaled with how hungry they both were. Getting Souji something to drink was a bit more of a challenge, but thankfully a few drops of water from the cap of Yosuke's water bottle was enough to quench his thirst while still being light enough for him to be able to lift despite the soreness in his arms.

Souji leaned back on the kitchen counter with a quiet, tired sigh, watching guiltily as Yosuke cleaned up and put everything away.

"I'm sorry I can't do anything to help. I'll make it up to you--"

Yosuke cut him off with a soft snort of laughter. "Dude, seriously? With everything you do for me, I'm the one that needs to be making it up to you." Shooting Souji a wink and a smile, he added, "Just leave everything to me for tonight, partner."

Souji only just barely managed not to blush through sheer willpower, instead giving Yosuke a small smile. "If you insist… thank you, Yosuke."

"No need to thank me, partner. After the day you've had, making tonight a bit easier on you is the least I can do."

Yosuke straightened up with a frown as he finished putting everything away.

"Anyway, what are we gonna do about a bath for you? Obviously the tub's out of the question, and the sink's probably too big too…." He frowned, rummaging through the cabinet before perking up with a smile. "Oh, what about this?"

Yosuke pulled out a small, flat sake bowl to show Souji, who eyed it for a moment before nodding in approval.

"That should work." In a slightly more worried tone, he added, "Will your parents get upset if we use it, though?"

"Eh, they haven't touched this set in years, I doubt they even remember we have it," Yosuke replied with a shrug. "It should be fine."

"Alright, if you're sure."

Normally Souji would put up more of a fight, and would be more worried about giving Yosuke more work and potentially getting him in trouble, but right now he was too tired to do anything more than pull himself up onto Yosuke's hand so he could carry him and the bowl up to the bathroom.

As Yosuke set both Souji and the bowl down on the bathroom sink counter, a thought suddenly occurred to him that should have been obvious in retrospect: in order to bathe, Souji would have to take off his clothes, but he wouldn't be able to get himself into the water on his own.

Despite his sudden burst of embarrassment, one glance at Souji showed--either from his usual calmness or just his exhaustion preventing him from giving a damn--that he was completely unfazed, and if Souji wasn't getting embarrassed, then Yosuke would have to just suck it up so he could help Souji like he promised to.

(Yosuke knew if their positions were switched, though, he would be mortified by even the thought of having to get naked in front of a guy, and a giant one at that, even if it was just his partner.)

"S-so, uh… how should we…."

Souji looked up at Yosuke and rolled his eyes in tired yet fond exasperation. "Just fill the bowl with water and soap, and hold it level with the edge of the sink so I can walk in."

"Oh!" Yosuke tried and failed to hide his relief--at least that way he could keep his eyes closed, and the soap would cover Souji while he was in the water. Of course Souji had already thought of that, no wonder he was so calm about this. "Oh, okay, yeah, I can do that."

Yosuke did as told, grabbing his soap from the shower and rinsing the bowl out before squeezing some soap in and filling it with water (just warm enough to be on the edge of hot--Souji had been shivering a bit when Yosuke had opened the refrigerator to get food for them, so he could only assume that he was more sensitive to hot and cold because he was so small, and the last thing he wanted was for Souji to get burned).

He put the lip of the bowl to the edge of the sink and held it steady, closing his eyes as Souji started to remove his clothes and trying (and failing) to repress his blush as he waited until his partner gave him the okay.

There was the sound of water being displaced along with a small weight pushing the bowl down the slightest bit, but Yosuke continued to wait and hold the bowl steady with his eyes closed until he heard a quiet, relieved sigh followed by "Okay, I'm in."

Yosuke cautiously peeked an eye open, making sure that he couldn't see any of Souji's body aside from what was above the water before relaxing and fully opening his eyes. He carefully moved the bowl with Souji in it so he could set it down on the counter, going slowly so as not to slosh the water around and jostle his partner, before finally smiling in relieved success.

"You good? Is the water alright?"

Souji nodded and sunk down in the water, his eyes closed and his expression relaxed.

"Dude, please don't fall asleep in there," Yosuke said with a nervous laugh, not even wanting to start thinking about having to help Souji out of the bath if he fell asleep.

(Of course, he would do it--he'd do anything for Souji--but that didn't mean it wouldn't be embarrassing as all hell.)

"I won't, I promise," Souji responded airily, half-heartedly lifting an arm to wave him off only to drop it with a pained groan and sink even further into the warm water. "God, I haven't been this sore since we first started fighting in the TV World."

Yosuke's brows furrowed in a mixture of concern, sympathy, and guilt. Knowing that Souji would just brush off any more attempts to apologize (even if he knew this was all his fault, and Souji deserved to at least resent him for not being able to protect him like he should have, and for putting Souji in danger more times than he should have in the span of a few hours, and--), he instead asked, "Is there anything I can do? Anything I can get you, or…?"

Souji looked up at Yosuke, his expression softening in appreciation as he gave his partner a smile. "I'll be fine, don't worry. Thank you, though."

Yosuke frowned. "Alright, if you're sure…." Feeling awkward just standing around, he searched for something he could do without having to leave Souji alone, his gaze eventually coming to land on Souji's discarded clothes. "I can at least wash your clothes for you, though. No point in taking a bath just to get back into clothes that smell like sweat and garbage."

Souji glanced up at Yosuke with the slightest hint of embarrassment. "You don't have to, I'm already troubling you enough as it is."

"Dude, I told you that I want to do what I can to make tonight easier on you; you're not 'troubling' me at all." When he saw that Souji was about to protest once more, Yosuke rolled his eyes and (very gently) tapped Souji's head with one of his knuckles. "I'm not budging, partner, so save your breath and just enjoy your bath."

Souji blushed lightly and rubbed his head, feeling flustered rather than hurt by the unexpected touch. "Sorry, I just… I'm not used to being taken care of. I'm not trying to be unappreciative, I promise."

Yosuke paused, taking in Souji's words and realizing belatedly that yeah, now that he thought about it, Souji was always the one looking out for everyone and taking care of them: cooking meals for lunch to share, spending his time listening to everyone's problems, dropping everything the moment someone needed help… Yosuke liked to think that he was there for his partner in return, but even if Souji did rely on him a bit more than anyone else (which Yosuke sincerely hoped was true and not just his own wishful thinking), there was still a huge gap between what Souji did for him and what he (or anyone) did for Souji.

Adding that in with his uncle that was never around and his parents that had just shipped him off for a year and--to Yosuke's knowledge--never even bothered to call and check on their own son….

Yosuke's expression softened. "Partner… I know you're not being unappreciative, and I get that you're not used to it, but… I want to do more for you, like you do for me, and for everyone. You're worth being taken care of."

Souji ducked his head, though Yosuke could still make out a small smile on his face as he replied, "Thank you."

Yosuke grinned, pleased from the simple fact that he'd been able to make Souji happy. "No need to thank me, partner. You just focus on relaxing tonight, and leave everything else to me." Eyeing Souji's clothes, he added, "Starting with getting your clothes clean. Will you be alright if I go take a run downstairs real quick to grab the detergent?"

"I'll be fine," Souji replied, waiting until Yosuke left before allowing a pained grimace onto his face as he stretched his sore limbs with a quiet groan, not wanting them to get too stiff in the warm water. He took some of the suds floating on the water and used them to scrub his body and his hair, and by the time Yosuke returned with the detergent, Souji felt significantly cleaner and more relaxed as he lounged back against the side of the bowl.

"Sorry I took so long, I wasn't too sure which bottle to grab so I had to read them all first," Yosuke said sheepishly, setting the detergent down on the unoccupied side of the sink counter before plugging the drain and beginning to fill the sink with water.

He wasn't exactly sure how to wash clothes by hand, but it couldn't be too hard, right? He just had to rub the detergent into the clothes and rinse them off, simple enough.

(He also had to be careful not to rub the clothes too hard and accidentally rip them. The last thing he wanted was to ruin Souji's only pair of clothing.)

Yosuke went one article of clothing at a time, pouring more focus and care into washing Souji's clothes than he even thought he was capable of--even Souji's boxers, the embarrassment of which was diminished both by how almost comically tiny they (along with the rest of Souji's clothes) were, and the fact that they had cat patterns on them.

Of course his partner would wear boxers with cat patterns. Of course he would. 

It was only after he finished washing everything that he realized a glaring flaw in his perfect plan.

"Oh crap, how am I gonna dry them? I don't think I can put them in the dryer when they're this small…."

"Does your mother have a hair dryer?" Souji asked, glancing up at Yosuke.

"Huh? I think so… oh! Duh."

Souji chuckled as Yosuke grinned sheepishly and began digging for the hair dryer before straightening back up.

"Aha, found it! Now to just--"

"Yosuke, wait!"

Yosuke immediately froze when Souji called out to him, stopping him from plugging the hair dryer in. "What? What's wrong, partner?"

"Ah, sorry, it's just… would you mind using it a bit farther away?"

It took Yosuke a second, but as soon as it clicked, he hastily pulled the plug away from the outlet. "Shit, I wasn't thinking, I'm sorry!"

The last thing Yosuke wanted was to accidentally blow Souji's eardrums out with how sensitive his hearing was to loud noises like this, and he inwardly kicked himself for not realizing it on his own before Souji had to stop him.

"It's okay Yosuke," Souji reassured him with a smile. "Do you think you can move the bowl so I can get out and dry off while you go and dry my clothes?"

"Oh, yeah, no problem!" Yosuke put down the hair dryer and grabbed a hand towel for Souji to use, setting it down on the counter before carefully picking the bowl up and moving it back over to the edge of the sink, closing his eyes so Souji would be able to pull himself out the same way he'd walked in.

He was concerned as he heard the quiet, pained grunts, but so long as Souji wasn't calling out to him for help, he assumed that Souji was fine--or at least, fine enough that he was getting out on his own without needing help--and continued to keep his eyes clothes until Souji told him it was okay.

When Yosuke opened his eyes, he was amused to see Souji wrapped up in the clearly over-sized towel with just his head visible--and Souji must have seen his amusement, because he shot Yosuke a look that only made Yosuke's amusement grow as he let out a quiet laugh.

"Alright, I'm gonna go dry your clothes. You'll be alright for a bit?"

Souji gave him a nod, and once again Yosuke left the room, the faint sound of a hair dryer meeting his ears a minute later. He dried himself and his hair off as he waited, keeping the towel wrapped around him for modesty's sake once he finished drying himself off until Yosuke reentered the room with his dried, clean clothes in hand.

Yosuke focused on putting the hair dryer away to give Souji privacy while he got dressed, before facing him sheepishly when Souji said he was done.

"Uh, will you be good to wait for a few minutes? I kinda wanted to shower before bed myself."

"That's fine. You can bring me into your room and I'll wait for you there."

Yosuke let out a relieved sigh--he felt bad leaving Souji on his own, but he would feel awkward showering knowing that Souji was sitting right outside waiting for him.

"Thanks. I won't take too long, I promise."

He held his hand out to Souji, letting him get on before leaving the bathroom and carrying him to his bedroom, where he set Souji down on his bed.

"Just make yourself comfortable, and if my parents come home you can always hide under the covers or something."

Yosuke waited a moment to make sure Souji was alright before grabbing some pajamas from his drawer and leaving the room, making sure to shut the door behind him as he went.

After quickly draining and washing out the sink, washing out the sake bowl, and putting the detergent and sake bowl back where he found them, Yosuke quickly stripped out of his clothes and tossed them along with the used hand towel into the hamper before jumping into the shower. He was too anxious about leaving Souji alone for too long to properly enjoy his shower despite the hot water doing wonders for his own sore muscles, so he hastily scrubbed his hair and body before jumping back out of the shower and grabbing a clean towel off the towel rack. Yosuke dried himself off in record time, threw his pajamas on, and exited the bathroom, grimacing as he heard his parents entering the house just downstairs.

Well, at least they were only just getting home. That meant Souji should be fine, thankfully.

Yosuke entered his bedroom and closed the door behind him before approaching his bed. "Hey, sorry to keep you waiting, I--"

He hastily clamped a hand over his mouth to quiet himself when he got a better look at Souji, who had apparently dozed off in the small amount of time between Yosuke leaving the room and now, before letting out a quiet sigh of relief when he saw that he hadn't accidentally woken Souji up.

"Guess you were really exhausted, huh… not that I blame you," Yosuke murmured, biting his lip as he tried to figure out what to do--he didn't have the heart to wake Souji when he looked like he was in such a deep sleep, but at the same time, Yosuke was feeling tired himself and he couldn't go to sleep with Souji sleeping in the middle of his bed.

He ran a hand through his hair before letting out a quiet sigh and grabbing one of his throw pillows off of his bed for Souji to sleep on and one of his softer pajama shirts out of his drawer for Souji to use as a blanket, carefully setting everything up in the corner of his bed against the wall so Souji wouldn't be in any danger even if he accidentally rolled off or fell.

Now to just get Souji onto the pillow without waking him up.

Hesitating nervously, Yosuke took a moment to steel his nerves before slowly and carefully reaching out towards Souji, going inch by agonizingly slow inch as he scooped Souji's peacefully sleeping body into his cupped hands.

He froze for a moment as Souji stirred, his eyes cracking open to blink up at him blearily--but before Yosuke could so much as stammer out an explanation, Souji closed his eyes once more and rolled over so he was curled up on Yosuke's hand as he quickly fell back to sleep with a faint smile on his face.

Yosuke could do nothing but stare, his face flooding with heat and his heart pounding in his chest.

He was once again reminded of how small Souji was like this, how vulnerable he was--and how much he trusted Yosuke, to be able to sleep so peacefully despite nearly everything posing a threat to his well-being.

It made a protective urge swell up inside him, one that he was hardly even aware of until he found himself cupping his hands around Souji more closely, his expression softening as Souji's body seemed to grow more relaxed in his sleep in response.

Yosuke couldn't even bring himself to care if it was weird at this point: he sat down on the edge of his bed, content to continue holding Souji for a while longer and watching his soft, tranquil smile and the steady rise and fall of his chest as he lay curled up on Yosuke's hand.

Never had Yosuke felt so at peace--he knew he should probably be embarrassed (he was literally holding a guy, watching him sleep, after all), but it was so rare to get an opportunity where he was the one looking after his partner instead of being looked after that he couldn't help but revel in the moment. It felt good knowing that Souji felt safe with him, and… well, if he was completely honest, seeing Souji like this was kind of… cute, in a way: with his face pressed against Yosuke's hand, his body curled up and making him look even smaller, the tiny hand loosely resting on top of his palm, all of it made Yosuke's heart swell in ways that normal friends probably shouldn't feel.

Not that that mattered, of course. After all, they weren't just normal friends--they were partners. That meant it was okay to feel things that were a bit outside the norm for guys to feel towards each other, or at least that's what Yosuke told himself.

It was only when Yosuke's head began to drop and his eyes began to cross from the strain of staying awake that he reluctantly eased Souji out of his hand and onto the throw pillow, unable to help the smile that tugged at the corners of his lips as Souji made a quiet, displeased noise in his sleep before settling down as Yosuke lightly brushed a finger over his arm in reassurance and pulled the shirt up to cover him.

"Goodnight, partner," Yosuke murmured, getting up and turning the light off before carefully climbing into bed.

He took one last look at Souji, making sure that he was still sleeping soundly before setting his head down on his own pillow and quickly falling asleep.

Souji was the first to wake the next morning, and he had a momentary flash of panic when he opened his eyes and saw that everything was huge and unrecognizable, before letting out a relieved sigh when he turned and saw Yosuke fast asleep.

Apparently whatever Naoto's Shadow had done to him wasn't something that would wear off overnight, unfortunately.

He pushed aside the blanket--or rather, upon closer inspection, the shirt--that was covering him and sat up, his face heating up as he belatedly remembered bits and pieces of the previous night. There was no guarantee that Yosuke holding him hadn't been just a dream, but at the same time he knew he hadn't fallen asleep in the spot that he woke up in, so he had to have been moved somehow….

Souji shook his head slightly and pushed both the thoughts and his embarrassment aside. There were more important things that he needed to focus on.

"Yosuke," he called out, frowning as Yosuke's eyes didn't so much as twitch before trying again more loudly. "Yosuke!"

Much to Souji's relief, this got a response from Yosuke, who groaned and cracked an eye open in bleary confusion. As soon as his gaze found Souji, however, his eyes shot open in realization, and he quickly sat up.

"Shit, sorry, I forgot to set an alarm--"

"Yosuke, it's alright, I only just woke up myself. It's better that we're rested than if we forced ourselves to wake up too early."

Yosuke let out a quiet sigh and ran his hand through his hair, though he was at least relieved that Souji wasn't angry with him for wasting time.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," he agreed. "C'mon, let's get ready and head out. My parents should be gone by now."

Souji nodded and pushed himself up to his feet so he could get onto Yosuke's hand, finding to his relief that--though he was still a bit sore--he felt much better than yesterday.

The two of them got ready and--upon Souji's insistence--had a quick breakfast before heading out to Junes with Souji safely hidden in the outer chest pocket of Yosuke's spare school uniform jacket.

It wasn't easy, but luck seemed to be on their side for once as they managed to make it all the way to the electronics section without anyone stopping Yosuke or trying to get him to clock in and work despite having the day off, and after a quick glance to make sure no one was around, Yosuke cupped his hand over his pocket to make sure Souji wouldn't fall out as he leaped into the TV.

They both put on their glasses and readied their weapons (though Souji promised he wouldn't fight, and would only use his sword to defend himself if absolutely necessary), and once they were good to go, Yosuke began making his way back to Naoto's dungeon, bracing himself for whatever craziness the dungeon had in store for them today.

Yosuke and Souji could only hope that they would have better luck this time, after the horrible luck they had yesterday.

Yosuke knew that time worked differently in the TV world, but it was always jarring to spend days going in and out trying to save people only for the people that they're saving to think that hardly a day had even passed since their kidnapping.

At the very least, though, it meant that he didn't have to worry or feel guilty about keeping everyone waiting for too long.

Especially considering the states that his teammates were stuck in thanks to Naoto's Shadow.

Apparently he hadn't pulled his "body-changing experiments" on just Souji: when Yosuke threw open the door to one of the rooms, he found Chie and Yukiko trapped back to back on two chairs, both of them turned into men and feeling both furious and uncomfortably embarrassed; next was Kanji, who had been turned into a kid that wouldn't stop crying for his mom; and finally there was Rise strapped to an operating table like Souji had been while Teddie's costume's ankles were chained to the floor and his arms were chained to the ceiling, both of their bodies turned old and wrinkly and--in Teddie's case--moldy and fungi-ridden.

Overall, it was one hell of a mess, and Yosuke was sure that he wouldn't have been able to keep his cool and continue acting as the group's stand-in leader if it wasn't for Souji's reassuring presence in his pocket, his nods and smiles of approval every time Yosuke made the right move or said something right making Yosuke's frail ego and shaky confidence swell.

Yosuke was the one that remembered Teddie's Amrita spell and suggested on a whim trying to use that to change everyone back to normal--after all, they were in the TV world, so anything strange that happened to them should technically just be a status effect that can be reversed, right?

Much to everyone's relief and gratitude, Yosuke was completely on the money with his guess, and soon Souji was back in his position of leadership as he guided the team the rest of the way through Naoto's dungeon with Rise's help, the entire group ready and willing to kick Naoto's Shadow's ass for all the unnecessary stress it caused them.

The fight went almost embarrassingly quick with how much angry energy everyone had to burn, and soon enough Naoto was accepting his (her?) Shadow, before Souji used a goho-M to bring the entire group back to the entrance as quickly as possible.

Everyone was exhausted and wanted to go home, Souji included--he hadn't seen Nanako in a whole day, after all, though there was one thing he wanted to do first.

(Well, technically there were two things he wanted to do, but he was too tired right now to find those girls that threw Yosuke's jacket out and give them a piece of his mind. He would save that for tomorrow.)

"Yosuke," Souji stopped his partner as they were about to part ways, giving him a small smile when he looked over inquisitively. "Are you busy tonight?"

"I don't think so, why?"

Souji gestured for Yosuke to follow him. "Come over for dinner." His expression softened as he added, "I told you I wanted to make last night up to you, and I meant it."

Yosuke blushed lightly. "And I told you that you didn't have to," he retorted, though he couldn't help but smile in return as he started following Souji regardless.

How could he ever say no to his partner?

(Or to the offer of his partner's delicious cooking, for that matter?)

Getting Teddie to let his parents know he was going over Souji's for dinner was difficult to do without Teddie inviting himself over for dinner as well--he knew Souji wouldn't mind cooking for Teddie too, but Yosuke kind of wanted to spend some time with Souji without Teddie around, selfish as that probably was--but he managed, allowing him to walk to the Dojima household by Souji's side without any worries.

"I know it was only a day--less, even--but… I missed having you with me like this," Yosuke admitted after a moment of comfortable silence, relief overpowering his embarrassment as Souji nodded in agreement and gave him a small smile.

"I know what you mean. That was definitely… different," Souji said with a quiet chuckle, "but I missed this too. I wouldn't trade being able to be by your side like this for the world."

Yosuke's quickly glanced away at that, his face burning even as a flustered smile tugged at the corners of his lips. "No need to get that sappy on me, partner," he teased with a weak laugh, before quietly adding, "but… yeah. Me too."

One furtive glance back at Souji showed that there was at least a little bit of color in Souji's cheeks, even if his blush wasn't as obvious as Yosuke's, and the smile on Souji's face made Yosuke's embarrassment over his admission feel completely worth it.

Cheesy as it may have sounded, Yosuke wouldn't trade this feeling for the world, either.

Dinner was delicious as always, and there was a content, relaxed air to the room that usually followed in the wake of successfully rescuing someone from the TV World.

They would both sleep well that night, Yosuke was sure of it.

(He forcefully repressed the blush that threatened to surface as the thought of sleeping well brought with it the memories of last night, with Souji's peacefully sleeping face as Yosuke held his shrunken body in his hands.)

Souji invited Yosuke up to hang out in his room after they cleaned up the kitchen and put the dishes away--though Souji insisted that Yosuke didn't have to help, Yosuke pointed out that he was over way too often to still be treated with guest privileges, which pulled a chuckle out of Souji as he reluctantly backed down and let Yosuke do what he wanted--and though it was getting late, Yosuke wasn't about to turn down an opportunity to spend a bit more time with his partner. His parents (and Teddie) would just have to understand and deal with him not coming home right away. Or maybe at all that night; it wasn't too uncommon for Yosuke to end up spending the night after the two of them lost track of time talking and laughing and just generally enjoying each other's company without stressing about saving people's lives and solving mysteries.

They did that together too, of course, but tonight definitely wasn't the time for that. They'd done more than enough of that already, between yesterday and earlier today.

Yosuke plopped himself down onto Souji's couch with a tired yet content sigh, and Souji sat down next to him with a bit more grace but the same amount of relief.

"It feels like it's been a lot longer than just one night," Souji commented as he glanced around his room.

"I hear you," Yosuke replied with a weak laugh. "So much happened in less than 24 hours, it's crazy."

"Mhmm." Souji's brows furrowed, his expression falling in a mixture of guilt and worry. "I'm glad today was at least a Sunday, so no one missed any school, but… I really hope everyone didn't get in any trouble with their family."

Yosuke reached out without thinking to lightly rap his knuckles against the top of Souji's head. "Partner, you're worrying too much. It was only one night, and they're all smart; I'm sure they'll be able to figure out how to get themselves off the hook even if they do get in trouble."

Souji flushed lightly at the sudden contact, his expression relaxing briefly as he nodded in agreement before turning pensive.

Yosuke barely had the chance to open his mouth and ask Souji what was on his mind before Souji reached out and grabbed Yosuke's hand without preamble, holding onto it with no signs of letting go any time soon as he ran his fingers along Yosuke's open palm with furrowed brows.

He wanted to question what Souji was doing, but all he managed to get out was a high-pitched "Um???" that did nothing to lessen his own embarrassment, the feeling of Souji's fingers brushing against his skin so casually making his heart pound for reasons he couldn't wrap his mind around (or so he told himself, at least) and leaving a searing, lingering heat in their wake.

"I sat here," Souji breathed out after a moment. "Hardly even a day ago, I was sitting here. God, I was so small…."

The astonished murmur pulled Yosuke from his flustered state, enough so for him to at least try and put himself in Souji's shoes--and it hit him how disorienting and disconcerting it must have been for that realization to set in, to see for himself some sort of scale to show him just how small he'd been.

"Yeah," Yosuke responded quietly. "It… honestly, it was kind of terrifying, knowing that one wrong move and I could have seriously hurt you, or worse."

Souji's expression softened as he properly took Yosuke's hand in his own and gave it a gentle, reassuring squeeze. "You didn't have to worry about that, Yosuke. To tell you the truth, I…." He trailed off for a moment, his cheeks heating up lightly as he forced himself to continue. "A few times, I thought about what would have happened if I'd been with anyone else when Naoto's Shadow captured me, and… honestly, I trust all of our friends, but I wouldn't have wanted to be with anyone other than you. I-- I wouldn't have felt as safe as I did with anyone other than you."

Yosuke's breath caught in his throat as he took in Souji's words, his flustered expression, the hand that was still holding his own… and despite the heat that was burning his face to the tips of his ears, he couldn't help the small, shy smile that tugged at the corners of his lips.

"I'm… I'm really glad to hear that, partner," he replied. "But why me? I mean, I kinda get not wanting Chie or Kanji or Teddie to be the one looking after you, but I bet Yukiko or Rise would've been able to look after you just fine."

Souji shook his head. "Even if Yukiko or Rise were able to escape Naoto's dungeon with me safely… well…." He glanced away in embarrassment as he sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. "I don't think I would have felt, ah… comfortable, staying in their care for the night."

"What do you-- ohhhh. Right, yeah, okay, that makes sense," Yosuke replied with a nervous laugh. "It probably would've been a bit harder to, uh… have them help you with a bath and stuff, and sharing a bed would've been pretty awkward I'm sure."

Souji nodded, obviously relieved to not have to be the one to say it aloud. "That, and, well… they're just… not you," he continued after a moment, ever earnest even despite his embarrassment. "You're my partner. Of course I would feel safer in your hands than anyone else's--literally, in this case," he added wryly.

Yosuke swore he felt both his heart and his ego physically swelling, pleased pride flooding through him from the simple knowledge that he was special to Souji not because he was the most convenient choice, and not because of process of elimination, but because he was Yosuke, because he was Souji's partner and Souji didn't want--didn't trust--anyone but his partner to look after him and protect him when he was in such a vulnerable state.

"I'm-- that's--" Yosuke stammered, trying to come up with a coherent response beyond babbling about how grateful he was to have Souji in his life and how much he appreciated Souji's trust in him even if part of him felt he didn't deserve it. "Thank you," he finally managed to get out--and because he had a constant need to shove his foot in his mouth, he followed up that genuine expression of gratitude with, "So is that why you fell back asleep so quickly when I picked you up?"

At the very least, Yosuke wasn't the only one embarrassed by his sudden question--he didn't think he'd ever seen Souji turn so red, and if he was being completely honest with himself, it was kind of cute seeing his normally-composed partner looking so flustered.

"I, ah… y-yes," Souji managed to stammer out, and Yosuke had to give him credit for being able to answer honestly despite his clear mortification. "I was just… I was so tired, and when I saw it was you that had moved me and was holding me, I…." He fell quiet for a moment before continuing, his gaze firmly locked on the floor and pointedly not looking anywhere in Yosuke's general direction despite not having let go of Yosuke's hand. "It was so warm and comfortable, and my first thought was 'finally, I'm safe, I can rest', and then I just… god, Yosuke, I don't think I've ever had such a peaceful sleep; it was incredible."

Yosuke swallowed thickly, observing how Souji seemed to relax with a small, blissful smile just from the memory alone despite the blush lingering in his cheeks.

"I really… did that for you?" Yosuke breathed out quietly, looking down at their joined hands in stunned awe--he'd seen how peacefully Souji had been sleeping in the moment, of course, but to hear it from Souji himself….

Souji finally lifted his gaze to look at Yosuke, and Yosuke couldn't help the flustered smile that tugged at the corners of his lips as he basked in the warm expression on his partner's face--a look that he'd never once seen directed at anyone but him, a look that Yosuke treasured even more knowing that he'd done something to bring it to Souji's face in the first place.

"You did," Souji confirmed, before lifting their joined hands and--to Yosuke's stunned shock--tentatively pressing a kiss to Yosuke's palm. "And only you could have ever made me feel that way."

"S-Souji…."

Part of Yosuke felt the instinctive need to pull his hand out of Souji's grip, to put distance between the two of them (when had Souji gotten so close?), but… he didn't want to. His heart was pounding, his hands were trembling slightly in Souji's hold, but he'd never wanted to be closer to his partner than he did now.

When he did take his hand back, Souji barely had the chance to look disappointed or apologize before Yosuke's arms were wrapping around him and pulling him close, Souji's flushed face coming to rest in the crook of Yosuke's neck.

"I want you to always feel that way with me," Yosuke murmured, his voice hardly a whisper as his breath ghosted against Souji's ear, prompting a small shudder from him that Yosuke enjoyed more than he probably should have. "You're always safe with me, partner."

Souji melted against Yosuke with a soft sigh, his eyes drifting shut as he nodded against him. "Thanks, partner."

Yosuke smiled, feeling the same peaceful contentment wash over him that he'd felt while watching Souji sleep on his hand. There was just something about watching Souji's walls come down--and knowing that Souji only felt safe letting his guard down like this with him--that made Yosuke's heart swell, his embarrassment taking a backseat as he basked in the feeling of trust emanating off of his partner.

He didn't even realize that his hand had moved up to run through Souji's hair until he heard (and felt) him let out a pleased sigh, his body turning practically boneless in Yosuke's arms.

Well. Far be it from Yosuke to stop if Souji was enjoying this.

He continued to gently toy with Souji's hair, letting out a soft, breathless laugh as Souji practically purred in response with his eyes closed in obvious bliss.

It was only when Yosuke's lips found their way to the top of Souji's head without thinking that Souji's eyes shot open, his already-flushed face flooding heavily with color.

Yosuke froze, panic washing over him like a bucket of ice-cold water, but before he could so much as pull away and stammer out an apology, an explanation, something, Souji tightened his hold on Yosuke to prevent him from moving.

"Yosuke, I-- the reason why I feel safe with you, it's… not just because you're my partner," Souji began, his voice shaking in a way that Yosuke had only ever heard once before (and never wanted to hear again, he didn't want Souji to be scared, he wanted to just take back what he did and go back to before he fucked up and ruined the moment by doing something stupidly impulsive and--). "It's… I… god, Yosuke, please tell me I'm not reading you wrong, and if I am, please don't hate me for this…."

Before Yosuke could question Souji, before he could apologize and assure Souji that he would never hate him and that Souji was the one that should be hating him for ruining the calm, peaceful moment between them--

Souji's lips were suddenly pressing against Yosuke's.

Yosuke had another brief moment of panic--they were kissing, they were both guys, Souji was kissing him--before realizing that he really, really didn't care about freaking out over this, not when Souji felt so right in his arms and when Souji's lips felt so right against his and god this explained so much, all the fluttering in his chest and the bursts of flustered joy whenever Souji would compliment him or defend him and the disappointment whenever he couldn't hang out with Souji and the need to constantly assure that he was an important part of Souji's life and--

And he should really start kissing Souji back before Souji got the wrong idea.

Just as Souji was about to pull away and beg for forgiveness, Yosuke tightened his hold on his partner and pulled him closer, crushing their lips together in a kiss that left Souji breathless and dazed even after they pulled apart for air.

"Y-you, uh… weren't reading me wrong, I guess," Yosuke replied with a nervous laugh.

He wished so badly that he could have captured the moment--frame by frame, second by second--as Souji's expression shifted from shock, to tentative hope, before finally spreading into the brightest, most beautiful smile Yosuke had ever seen on anyone, let alone on his normally composed and stoic partner.

Even if he couldn't capture the moment, he could at least capture his lips again in a kiss that Souji eagerly melted into, the soft, muffled noise that he let out causing Yosuke's heart to swell in what he was belatedly realizing was affection.

God, how had he blinded himself to his feelings for Souji for so long? No wonder Susano-o was constantly kicking up a fuss in the back of his head; it was a wonder that his Shadow didn't come back out to kick some sense into his thickheaded, oblivious skull.

"Yosuke," Souji breathed out as soon as they broke the kiss again. His tone and expression were both so reverent and filled with so much unmistakable love that Yosuke felt his face flooding with heat even as he grinned, feeling nearly giddy with the knowledge that out of all the people Souji could have, he wanted him, he felt safe with him, he trusted him… it was incredible to even think about, let alone to acknowledge as the truth.

Yosuke trailed his hand back over to Souji's head, his fingers threading through Souji's hair, and he reveled the sight of Souji's features relaxing in bliss as his eyes drifted shut and his head eagerly tilted up against Yosuke's hand.

He was sure he would never get enough of this sight, nor would he ever get enough of the feeling of happy contentedness that washed over him once more just from watching Souji's body go limp under his touches and listening to the soft, pleased sighs that Souji made each time Yosuke's fingers ran through his hair.

This time when Yosuke kissed the top of Souji's head, it was purposeful, and was met with a noise of contentment instead of panic as Souji nuzzled closer to him in response.

As frustrating and stressful as dealing with Naoto's Shadow and her dungeon had been, he still couldn't help but idly entertain the thought of thanking her come tomorrow--after all, even though there had been a lot of grief and close calls, in the end everything had led to this moment: with Souji peacefully dozing off in his arms, only barely staying awake enough to change and get into his futon first before curling up against Yosuke with a blissful smile when he joined him (with only the slightest bit of embarrassed hesitance) in his futon.

"Goodnight, Yosuke," Souji murmured, his voice muffled from both sleep and his face being pressed against Yosuke. "Love you."

There was a moment of flustered hesitance before Yosuke pressed a kiss to the top of Souji's head and gave a quiet reply in return.

"Goodnight, partner… love you too."