He missed the first two calls - not hearing it over the sound of the water cascading over himself in seering rivulets. He was kind of hoping the liquid would burn him; leave scars, maybe. He just wanted to feel something again. And maybe he wanted to punish himself. This was all his fault, after all. If he had realised sooner - moved faster. But no. It had taken too long, and now she was in the hospital and this wasn't how things were supposed to be. She was never supposed to get involved and now this house no longer felt like a home. It was too quiet. Too empty. No sound came from the television downstairs. No sweet voice yelling out the answers to her favourite quiz show.
It was driving him insane.
He wasn't aware of the amount of time he'd spent in the shower until he realised his fingers had pruned. Shutting off the waterflow, Souji stepped out and moved to dry himself, not feeling the chill of the open air. As he opened the door to his bedroom that he heard his phone going off. Pale fingers picked up the device, read the name on the screen - also noted that he'd missed two calls already - and flipped it open.
"Souji! Finally, man. I was starting to ... Nevermind. Anyway, are you home?"
"Yes. Why?"
Yosuke fell silent, but some rustling and the sound of a door opening and closing was heard, and then steps were ascending the small flight of stairs that lead to his bedroom and he closed his phone before turning to open the door, eyebrow raised in curiosity.
"Didn't want to come in if you were out. That'd be a bit creepy."
The brunet rubbed at the back of his neck sheepishly, his free hand moving to shake out the stray snowflakes adorning his messy mop as he moved into the room and took a seat on the sofa.
"Are you alright? It's late. Did you have a fight with your parents again?"
"No, no, nothing like that. Just ... I brought some stew. Junes brand, so no way will it be up to your culinary standards, but it's not too bad. And I've got some CDs with me and a couple movies, depending on if you're tired or not. Oh, and my folks said it was fine if I stayed over, if you wanted me to. I mean, we don't have to do anything, I just-"
"Yosuke."
Skidding to a stop in his rant, amber orbs glanced up to meet grey and found a soft smile that even managed to reach his tired eyes. His cheeks flushed lightly as he smiled in return, chuckling quietly and nodding.
"I was worried, okay? I know you haven't been eating or sleeping properly. And ... I know being here alone right now has to be getting to you, so I just thought that maybe some company would help? I don't know. Maybe I'm out of line here. But you can't keep doing this to yourself, Partner. Nanako-chan is safe, so is Dojima-san. They're going to recover perfectly and they'll be home before you know it and it's okay. It's okay. You don't have to beat yourself up over this. You did it. We did it. We got him. We stopped the fog. We won, Souji. Everything is going to be alright from here on out, and it's all thanks to you. You saved us all, y'know?"
The sudden serious tone in his companion's tone caught Souji off-guard. Before he knew it, his eyes were stinging and he'd dropped down beside the smaller, body turning to bury his face in the crook of a slightly tan neck. Yosuke jumped slightly, not expecting the contact, but soon his arms moved to wrap around shaking shoulders, running his fingers through still-wet strands.
"Thank you. Thank you, Yosuke. Thank you. I don't ... If you weren't right there beside me this whole time, I couldn't have done it. You know that, right? How much I needed you all there with me to stay strong? It was too close ... I was scared. We did it, right? Is it really over?"
"Yeah. Yes. It's all over so you can rest easy now, Partner. You don't have to be afraid anymore. And if you get scared again, well, I'll be here. I'll always be here. And you gotta stop trying to be strong all by yourself, idiot. Lean on me some more, will you?"
A fit of laughter racked through Souji's chest and he wiped his eyes on his sleeve before moving to cup reddening cheeks, thumbs rubbing gentle circles on the skin.
"I'm sorry for worrying you. I didn't want that, that's why I tried to keep it all together on my own. I'll try to be better about it, okay?"
The answering grin was enough to fill his heart with an overwhelming warmth. He took the opportunity to lean in and press his lips to Yosuke's, receiving a hum of approval and a small pressure in return. After a few moments, he only parted enough to rest his forehead against his lover's.
"Yeah, okay, Partner. Now are you just going to let this stew get cold? I worked hard on that stuff!"
Shoving the other with an indignant snort, Souji stood to grab said food and left the room without another word, the sounds of a grumpy boyfriend following him down the stairs.