[Author's Note: Kink meme prompt. I won't post the details of the prompt here because it kinda tells you exactly what happens.
Rated T for tongue, hehe. Pre-relationship.
A Yu Narukami version is available at Dreamwidth at the following address:
angevon dot dreamwidth dot org/20020 dot html
Every 'dot' should be a '.'
Please enjoy!]
"If you paid even the least bit of attention," Souji said in that aggravatingly calm way of his. He even had his hand on his hip like he always did when he wanted to appear so casual.
"I did!" Yosuke declared, more annoyed than he'd ever been at his friend. "You clearly said —"
The team leader shook his head. "You need to listen when I'm talking—"
Chie and Yukiko watched the back-and-forth, the latter girl gripping the former's arm tightly. The boys had been arguing for a full minute and showed no signs of stopping.
"Uh, g-guys, if you keep that up," Chie said hesitantly, "w-we're gonna get kicked out."
It was, perhaps, a good thing they were the only 'customers' in the electronics department today.
"Look," Yosuke went on, heedless of her warning. "You said, 'Use a Garula.' So I used a Garula. Not my fault that Shadow could reflect it!"
"I said don't use Garula!"
The brown-haired teen crossed his arms with a huff. "When have you ever told me what not to do?"
"Maybe if you were listening to me instead of your music—"
"Maybe if you spoke louder...!"
Souji twitched like he'd been slapped. His face, which had maintained a neutral expression up to this point despite the rising tension, flushed. He turned away sharply and strode away, dress shoes tapping out across the store's tiled floor.
Yosuke, breathing heavily, stared after him.
A few moments later, Chie spoke up. "Uh, you're just gonna let him go?"
He blinked at her. "Well, yeah? I mean..."
Then he frowned, his anger deflating as he realized he'd just had a fight with his best friend. It was the first fight they'd ever had, really.
What if Souji would keep a grudge? What if Souji stayed angry at him and ignored him the next day at school?
Just imagining that made him hug himself. When Chie gave him a funny look, he pretended he was just crossing his arms. "Uh... Did you see which way he went?" he asked as nonchalantly as he could manage.
"He went upstairs, to the food court," Yukiko replied.
What, was he going to calm his anger with a root beer float? Yosuke almost rolled his eyes.
He climbed up the stairs and headed to the table that was their secret headquarters, but Souji wasn't there. He knew Yukiko wouldn't lie to him about this, so he looked around the rest of the food court. It took some doing—his friend wasn't at any of the tables, nor the food counter, nor behind any of the decorative bushes or the trash cans—but eventually he spied the gray-haired boy at the playground. He was in the very farthest corner, sitting on the wood encircling the sandbox, his head bowed low. He didn't hear Yosuke approach.
It took Yosuke a moment to realize his friend was sobbing into his hands. His eyes widened. Had their fight been that bad?
He saw two options before him. The first was to turn around and pretend he never saw this. The other...
He took a deep breath to give himself some courage, then walked right on over to his friend, plopped down next to him, and put his arms around him.
It was only fair! Souji had given him a big man-hug just like this when he'd been crying that one time at the river...
Souji didn't really respond to his presence, or at least did he didn't stop crying, though he allowed Yosuke to pull him into a better position. Now his head was against his chest, and Yosuke was patting his back, telling him that he was sorry, he was wrong, he should've listened better to his instructions. "It's, uh, okay, partner, really. I'll, umm—"
"'s not okay," the other boy finally mumbled. His voice sounded like a croak, broken from emotion. "I'm a b-bad leader."
"You are not a bad leader!" Yosuke scolded.
"I'm a bad leader if you can't h-hear me."
"You are not a bad leader," Yosuke repeated, but Souji was stubbornly shaking his head.
"I'm a bad leader, a-and you know it."
"Look at me, look at me!" Yosuke forced Souji's face up and stared into his eyes, which were all puffy and bloodshot and full of hurt. "You. Are. Not—" he began to enunciate slowly, but Souji was already shaking his head in denial yet again.
Frustrated, Yosuke looked away from him, and that's when the idea came to him: something that would surely get his partner's attention.
Without thinking about it further, Yosuke tilted Souji's head just so and kissed him with his eyes closed.
Souji didn't kiss back, not really, though Yosuke could tell he was startled from the way he shifted, but at the same time he hadn't pulled away, and...
"If... if you were a bad leader, I-I wouldn't have done that," Yosuke murmured.
Several beats passed, Yosuke's heart pounding as he worried about how his partner was going to react. Then Souji blinked and repeated, "I'm a bad leader."
"Oh, you are not!"
"Am too..."
"No," Yosuke told him firmly. He pressed forward and kissed him again and again. "You are," – kiss – "the best" – kiss – "leader" – kiss – "and my partner."
He finished it with one very long kiss. He was blushing now, because that had been one heck of an admission.
Souji's cheeks were pink, too, and he didn't look all that unhappy anymore. But then he shifted in Yosuke's arms. "Don't believe you," he muttered.
"What? What's not to believe? I'm here right now! You led me here, leader!" He chuckled, and then kissed Souji again. This time he felt the boy smile into the kiss.
He drew back and rubbed his nose against Souji's cheek. Now Souji licked his lips. "I... I'm still not sure."
"You're the one who got us through the castle," Yosuke murmured. He kissed the corner of the boy's mouth, and Souji turned into the kiss, catching him on the lips.
Now Souji was taking the lead here, his hand at the back of Yosuke's neck and the kiss deepening. When he pulled away, Yosuke tried to follow with a disappointed sound. "Yosuke... do you really think...?"
Yosuke nodded eagerly and pressed back into his partner's mouth. He ran his tongue over the other boy's lips. Souji parted them, and then Yosuke began to explore the inside of his partner's mouth. It tasted like Chewing Soul, not a pleasant flavor, really, but at the moment he simply couldn't get enough.
"Partner," he gasped when he came up for breath. "You're the only one I ever want at my side."
He felt Souji's hand at his back travel down to his backside. "Yeah?" the boy said casually while his fingers toyed with one of his belt loops.
"Yeah," Yosuke assured him, very aware of the warmth of his partner's hands through the fabric of his pants. "But... serious talk here. What got you so upset...?"
Souji lowered his head until his forehead was resting against Yosuke's chest. "I just... h-hate raising my voice..." he mumbled.
"I love hearing your voice," Yosuke said. "Uh, uh, I mean... Quiet or loud, it's..."
"Mm," said Souji. "I hate shouting. But you need to be able to hear me in the middle of battle."
"You've been doing great so far," Yosuke assured him. "It was just today things went bad..." He trailed off, aware that Souji's fingers were now curling under his waistband. He swallowed. "Y- yeah, d-don't be afraid to sh-shout at me..." His voice was shaking as much as his body.
"I'll try," Souji murmured, his eyes unfocused in concentration. Yosuke felt his fingers inching their way down under his waistband now. He swallowed again, and when he shifted in his seat, Souji used the opportunity to move his hand down further until his hand was most definitely flush against the skin of his butt.
"F-Feeling better now?" Yosuke murmured.
"No," Souji said, his eyes sparkling from the force of his lie. Yosuke snickered and told him he'd make it better. He proceeded to kiss him, pushing his tongue into the other boy's mouth, and he was rewarded with Souji squeezing his butt.
Then Souji drew away suddenly, pulling back his wandering hands, too. Yosuke frowned at him, but Souji was looking past him. He turned to take a look.
"Mama, watch me go down the slide!" a little kid shouted, running towards the playground.
Yosuke sighed. Customers always ruined everything.
Souji patted his hand. "We're going into the TV again tomorrow..."
"Yeah?"
"I might... need some more reassurance afterward..." Souji's fingers curled around his hand and squeezed.
Yosuke just grinned.