Disclaimer: I wish I owned Yosuke. But we won't get into the details of why.

Suspicion

by Raine Ishida

Yukiko wasn't sure what to think when Souji stood up. He'd been so quiet, diligently studying in his chair next to her in the library. Chie was reading what looked like a text book, but Yukiko knew it was actually a kung-fu magazine hidden between the pages.

He'd checked his phone momentarily, closed it and put it back into his pocket. This wasn't unusual behaviour. As their 'leader', he was constantly receiving text messages or phone calls from others in the 'Investigation Team'. But three of the team members were sitting there with him. Kanji wasn't exactly technologically inclined, but Rise was. Yukiko felt a small flare of jealousy at the thought of Rise.

Rise had never announced intentions of pursuing Souji, nor were Yukiko and Souji considered 'together', but the girls in the team knew Yukiko liked him the most, and that he considered her with fond regards.

"Was that Rise?" Yukiko asked softly. It had been ten minutes since he'd put his phone away and Yukiko wondered if she was out of context with her question. Souji frowned for a moment before smiling gently.

"No, it was Yosuke."

Where was Yosuke? "Wasn't he supposed to be meeting us here for study group?" Chie asked softly. Chie's voice was naturally loud and she made a conscious effort to keep it down after being asked one too many times to leave. It had cost her a grade on her exams.

"He couldn't make it," Souji said simply, returning his eyes to his books. Yukiko nodded to herself with a 'hmm.'

"Is he working today?" Yukiko asked. Souji frowned and glanced over at her.

"Are you okay?" he asked. "You're never so preoccupied with things other than your studies."

She blushed, embarrassed because she'd been caught. "I-I just wondered..."

"How are you doing with your calculus?" he asked, peering over at her notebook, which was only half-full, when a normal, focused Yukiko would have written out two pages worth of problems already.

"I'm just a little distracted today, I guess," she replied with a blush. Souji reached for her hand under the table and squeezed it gently, out of Chie's line of sight.

"I'll get you a drink from the machine outside. What kind do you want?" he asked, standing and reaching into his pocket for some change. Yukiko blushed, but asked for an iced coffee. She gave an apologetic smile to Chie when Souji left the library without asking Chie if she'd wanted one.

...

Souji glanced back and forth and hurried off to the practice building. The vending machines were in the other direction, but that hadn't been his original destination. Yukiko's distractions had given him a great excuse to get away from the table. He was healthy, he had eaten well today and wouldn't be able to claim stomach cramps to get him to hide in the bathroom for half an hour. By that time, Chie would have sent someone in after him to see if he was alright.

A small amount of panic rippled through him as he hurried down the hallway. What if he got caught by someone he knew? If someone saw him...? What if Kanji saw him? That would be a little difficult to explain...

It wasn't something he wanted to explain, or to think about, so he kept going until he rounded the corner and found his destination. A janitor's closet.

He opened the door, glanced around behind him and stepped inside. From the dim light filtering through the crack under the door, he saw someone leaning against the wall on the far side of the closet and heard him smile. Yosuke.

"I thought you weren't gonna come," he said with a small laugh. But talking took time, and revealed their location. Souji waited to move before his eyes adjusted to the darkness and he could vaguely see Yosuke's outline.

"It's hard to get away from them sometimes," Souji muttered, sending his hands out to blindly look for his companion. Finding material, Souji tangled his fingers in what was Yosuke's shirt sleeve.

"Can't you pick a better location?" Souji complained. Yosuke snorted lightly, but didn't reply. He was busy trying to find Souji. His hands found Souji's waist and he pulled him closer.

"Stop complaining. You could have just told me no," Yosuke whispered, his breath ghosting across Souji's chin. He was closer now, just close enough.

Souji decided there had been enough talking and kissed Yosuke's lips lightly. "I'd have never heard the end of it."

For the next few moments, which felt longer, but probably weren't, all they were aware of was each other. The sound of frantic breathing, of the tug of fabric from anxious fingers, and warm breath was intoxicating and it was all Souji could do to keep himself under control. Yosuke was another story, however, and Souji had to peel him off of him. "Calm down," he whispered against Yosuke's mouth. "We don't have time for this."

Yosuke groaned softly, holding Souji's hips tightly against his own. "We never have time for this..."

"Maybe we would if you'd stop calling me to meet you during the day," Souji muttered, pulling back reluctantly. "We have to get out of here."

Yosuke reached up with one hand to smooth Souji's hair. "Fix yourself up first. You look all ruffled, like you were making out with someone in the janitor's closet."

Their eyes had adjusted so well by this time that they were able to see most of each other's faces. Yosuke's comment made Souji smirk and he smoothed his hair down. Yosuke ruffled the front of Souji's hair and grinned mischievously. "You missed a spot!" he exclaimed, giggling.

Souji frowned, appearing scandalized as he wrapped his fingers around Yosuke's neck and pushed him against the wall. "That was unnecessary," he said firmly, hiding his amusement. Yosuke froze for a moment, unsure if Souji was actually angry.

"I'm going to have to make up something when I go back to the library. Are you coming with me?" Souji asked, his proximity still very threatening to Yosuke.

"Haha," Yosuke stuttered. "You're kidding me, right? The girls will know right away if all of a sudden you and I show up together."

"Yukiko already knows," Souji said, releasing Yosuke. The brunet's shoulders slumped and he frowned.

"How? Did you say something?"

Souji tried not to laugh. "I hope that was a joke."

"She's...I mean, how does she know?" Yosuke asked. His voice was more and more panicked.

"She's clever." Souji was facing the door, his hand on the doorknob to leave. Yosuke sighed.

"I hope she's not too clever."

"I'm leaving now," Souji said, turning back to Yosuke and kissing him softly. "Let's meet somewhere else next time, okay?"

Yosuke blushed, but that went unseen in the darkness. 'Next time.' It gave him warmth in the pit of his stomach.

Escaping from the janitor's closet was the part that took skill, which was why Souji always went first. He was a lot stealthier about it.

By the time they had both escaped, Souji was hurrying to the library, drinkless.

Yosuke had followed him and they'd made up a quick story about running into each other in the hallway.

Back in the library, Yukiko was writing calculus problems furiously. She relaxed her pen when Souji sat back down, but frowned when she noticed his empty hands.

"Sorry, they were out of coffee," Souji explained. "I went to the ones in the practice building, but they were out of order."

Yosuke waved and sat down next to Chie. "Ran into me instead," he explained. "What are we studying?"

Ignoring the obvious flush on Yosuke's cheeks, Yukiko closed her books. "Actually, we were just finishing. Chie and I were about to go to get some tofu, does anyone want to come?"

"Are we visiting Rise?" Yosuke asked, smiling cheerfully.

Yukiko frowned, the jealousy prickling at the back of her throat. "No, that wasn't the plan, but we could always say hello while we're there."

Yosuke smiled. "Great!"

Chie was watching Souji, who was watching Yosuke, glancing up every few moments from his books. Chie glanced at Yukiko, who met her gaze, and frowned. The small conversation they had with their eyes was enough. Yukiko stood and gathered her books into her school bag.

"Well, let's go..."

Souji stood and gathered his books into his bag. As the four of them walked down the hallway, Chie and Yukiko fell back to walk behind them. Yosuke made a joke about something and laughed hysterically, throwing his arm around Souji's neck, stretching a bit to make up the height difference.

Chie squeezed Yukiko's elbow lightly and frowned. "It probably isn't what you think," she whispered soft enough just for Yukiko to hear. But Yukiko was watching Yosuke intently.

Yosuke kept laughing, his smile genuine as he glanced back at the girls, focusing his gaze on Yukiko with his smile, and then his smile faded just enough as he looked back, his arm still wrapped around Souji's neck.

Yukiko stopped walking, frozen in place. Chie caught her arm. "What is it?"

Yosuke glanced back and frowned. "Yukiko-san, what is it?" His arms both fell back down to his sides and Souji turned around, seconding the frown.

"Yukiko?"

"I-I'm fine," she stammered. She looked at Souji, then at Yosuke, and then back at Souji again. Souji felt the anger, the jealousy, the pain in her heart as she stared him down. He couldn't talk to her about it in front of everyone. Or ever. He could convince her she was being silly, but...she was smarter than that. He couldn't mock her like that to her face.