Author's note: So, I came back yesterday from some sort of camp-like thing I had for school. I was away for two days and seriously it was boring. It was raining so we had to sit in our room with nothing to do, seriously we just sat there in silence, talked a bit and wandered through the castle (where we were staying). We did all of that a lot in one day. We also searched for food though and yes, we needed to search for our dinner. I'm probably never going to something like that again if it's held by my school. Also the roof leaked, beside my bed. I was really lucky the water missed it.
Anyway, let's ignore my complaining and continue to the story! I hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own persona 4 or any of the characters that are mentioned.
Yosuke Hanamura had heard many complaints about his voice. They told him that he was loud and annoying every time he spoke, even his friends said that. Yosuke hated that, but didn't listen to any of those complaints.
Until he turned fourteen.
He actually got bullied by then. They told him that he would be more useful if he stopped speaking, that nobody actually listened whenever he spoke. They told him that he spoke too much, but that was not the reason why he took action.
It was when his parents started to complain about him. He actually fought with his parents whenever they were tired from work or when he accidently interrupted them while they were working or talking through the phone.
After a couple of weeks of fighting, he stopped speaking.
He always carried a pen and paper with him, it was the only form of communication that he used. He shut his phone off and didn't open it again. He placed it in a drawer in his room with the intention of never looking at it again.
The bullying stopped, but his classmates laughed sometimes when they asked him something and he needed to write his answer. His friends joke about the fact that it was actually quiet without Yosuke's constant screaming. Even his parents looked happier for a while.
They started to get worried after a couple of weeks though. It started with his mother, she got a call from one of his teachers and she confronted her son with it when he arrived at home.
"Yosuke, your math teacher called me," she started when they both were sitting on the couch, "she told me that you wouldn't answer any of the questions that she or any of the other teacher asked you."
Yosuke immediately moved to pick up the pen and paper, but Yosuke's mother stopped him. She sighed when he looked at her with confusion, but he didn't say anything.
"Yosuke, just talk to me instead of using this stupid method," she said, "why don't you talk to me, I'm your mother."
She sent him upstairs when he remained silent. She told Yosuke's father about it that evening when Yosuke was sleeping. He told her that it was just something he needed to go through and that he would speak to Yosuke the next day, when it was a Sunday and he was free.
As promised Yosuke's father talked with Yosuke the next day. He had gotten angry with Yosuke when the boy refused to speak and the older man had stormed downstairs, which cause Yosuke's mother to check up on Yosuke.
He never opened the door when she knocked.
Yosuke didn't look at them for days and when they asked him he just nodded or shook his head, not bothering to pick up the paper and pen. Yosuke's father didn't have any intentions of apologizing for his outburst and had told Yosuke's mother that it was for 'his own good'.
It was a week later when Yosuke's parents confronted Yosuke again.
Yosuke still hadn't spoken a word and they were getting seriously worried now. They just stared at him for a while, waiting for him to tell them to stop. They only made him uncomfortable though, there were no words leaving his mouth.
"Yosuke why are you doing this?" Yosuke's mother finally asked. He looked at her, a defeated look on his face, but Yosuke still didn't speak.
"Yosuke, you're not yourself like this," Yosuke father said, "I'm sorry for losing my patience with you, but you have to understand it. It's not good for you to act like this." Yosuke just nodded, but didn't speak.
"Yosuke, it's not like we or you're friends or you're classmates asked for this," Yosuke mother said. Yosuke looked at her with wide eyes.
That was also the moment were Yosuke broke down and cried in his parents arms, explaining what happened at school and how much their fights affected him.
It was two years later. The sixteen year old Yosuke was sitting in his room with his best friend Souji Seta. Yosuke had never told Souji about that moment when he was fourteen years old and he didn't intend to.
His shadow had never brought it up, so he had already accepted it. There was no reason to bother Souji with it.
"Yosuke, is something wrong?" Souji suddenly asked. Yosuke snapped out of his thoughts and raised an eyebrow.
"No, why?" he asked. Souji grinned at him before he answered.
"You're quiet, it's weird," the silver haired boy said. Yosuke laughed at that. Souji was quick to laugh with him.
"You don't know how wrong you are, Partner," he finally said. That caused Souji to stop laughing and frowned at Yosuke.
"What do you mean?" he asked. Yosuke's smile faded, but he quickly regained it.
"Don't worry, Partner. It's in the past," he just said. Souji didn't seemed to be statisfied with that answer, but he dropped the subject. He was sure that Yosuke would tell him when he wanted to, if he ever wanted to tell it.
They were in the TV again.
They were running through Naoto's dungeon and currently faced two shadows again. Souji gripped his sword tighter, Yukiko made sure that her fan was positioned the right way, Chie was jumping to gain some adrenaline and Yosuke made sure that his headphones were positioned so they wouldn't get damaged or fall of in the fight.
Yosuke watched closely after he had attacked, he waited until the others were done and kept both of the shadows in his vision.
He hadn't expected an attack that affected them all.
Yosuke was the only one who couldn't dodge it and he immediately felt his throat tighten. He tried to say something when Souji looked at him, but the only thing that left his mouth a choking sound.
This brought back some memories. Memories that he would rather forget.
In his moment of panic, he didn't notice that the other shadow was racing to Yosuke to attack him. Souji did notice it and quickly finished it with a ziodyne. While Chie and Yukiko finished the last one, he ran to Yosuke.
The brown-haired boy was gripping his throat and kept making choking sounds. Souji knew that Yosuke was desperately trying to talk and that he wasn't planning on waiting until Yukiko was finished, so she could cure him.
Souji pulled Yosuke's hands from his throat and when Yosuke looked at him with wide eyes, Souji smiled gently at him.
"Don't worry, Yosuke, Yukiko will heal you soon, just stop trying and wait for her," he said. He pulled Yosuke in a hug. "It's going to be alright, Yosuke, so calm down," he said. His smile widened when he felt Yosuke relax and when he heard how Yosuke's harsh breathing became slower.
"Is he alright?" Yukiko asked as she ran towards them. When Souji nodded, she positioned her fan and called Konohana-sakuya. When the persona had disappeared, Yosuke let out a deep and shaky breath. Chie decided to join them at that moment and looked at Yosuke with worry.
"I'm alright," he finally said. He produced a watery smile, but Souji sent the two girls away, just around the corner so he could speak with Yosuke alone.
"I think you need to tell me something," he said when the girls disappeared around the corner.
"Yeah," Yosuke just said. He looked at Souji before he added: "I'll tell you when we get out of here." After that he hurried after the girls, Souji following him closely.
Author's note: in case you didn't get it, Yosuke was affected by the silence status effect. This also turned out like something entirely different then I first had in mind, but who cares? Anyway I blame the fact that I was listening to music while writing this for every mistake I made.
