Excuse my bad Jackie Chan expy name. Sticking with the name Seta Souji instead of Yu Nakamura since it's more familiar to me. Excuse my desire for shy waifu!Kanji. Also, very little editing done because this is my SHAME FIC.
They never really hung out, Chie and Kanji, despite being in the same circle and being around the same people. It's not like they couldn't get along, rather, they got along quite well. It's just that Chie's always with Yukiko or gleaming beef bowls from Yosuke, and Kanji's busy helping his ma or comfortably accompanying Naoto and Rise. It's a little awkward to hang out with someone not your same year, and especially if they weren't of the same gender.
Martial arts movies, however, broke through that block of ice.
It started very simply, when the group was meeting in the Junes food court. The smell of beef prompted Chie to guilt Yosuke by reminding him of her broken special edition Trial of the Dragon DVD. She was hungry, can't fault someone for hunger.
"Trial of the Dragon? Shit, Chie-senpai, I love that movie!" Kanji said excitedly, jumping up from his seat, the plastic chair nearly soaring in the air from being so violently pushed back.
Chie slammed her hands on the table and jumped straight up from her seat, her plastic chair mimicking Kanji's. "Is it not Johnny Chun's best martial arts film?"
"Ya think? That kick of his during that dinner scene was insane!"
"Blew out the candles with his kick. With his kick!"
"Senpai, did ya hear that the fight was totally real? One hundred percent."
"I DID, Kanji-kun! My blood just rushed when I heard!"
"Okay, so we'll let these two nerds here just talk about their dumb movie alone." Yosuke said after a long interlude of back and forth nerding out.
He would soon regret opening his mouth when both Chie and Kanji yelled at his unappreciative ass of the art that is Trial of the Dragon. To compensate, and to really shut them up, he treated them both to beef bowls.
The two Trial of the Dragon fans decided that it was absolutely necessary that they both had to hold a martial arts movie night once a week. On Saturday nights, so that they would have Sunday to do homework. Over at Kanji's place, because Chie's parents would never be okay with her bringing a boy home, and no one would believe that Kanji would dare touch her in any way.
They started with Drunken Master, because no martial arts movie night could even call itself a martial arts movie night without it.
The sessions started simple: come to Kanji's home, greet his ma, plop down on the floor of their living room, watch the movie, talk about how awesome it was, and then go back home. These nights ended early, early enough for Chie to go home alone without anyone worrying. Kanji's ma hadn't pushed Kanji to walk her home during these early days. Chie's parents didn't express worry, because she came back early enough to eat dinner.
It wasn't until The Legend of the Drunken Master that the dynamics of that night started to shift.
It was Chie's fault, so she would say, because she wasn't checking the time carefully. She discussed the movie with Kanji too deeply, talked about if it was a worthy sequel. Because she thought it was the perfect companion movie, but Kanji thought otherwise. She absolutely had to have Kanji see it her way, because the final fight, and the fight where the main guy was half naked and covered in oil.
Kanji coughed when she brought up that fight, blushing a little.
It was then Kanji's ma asked Chie if it was okay with her parents if she would have dinner with them, since it was starting to get too late. Chie felt she would only impose on their meal, but the intoxicating smell from the kitchen and the comfort she felt just sitting and talking about the movie was overwhelming. She called her parents, who were okay with her staying with the Tatsumi family for dinner, and settled back down on the living room floor for further discussion.
Their dinner was sukiyaki, and Chie wondered if Kanji's ma purposely prepared such a meal thinking she would stay for dinner that night.
When dinner was finished, it was still early enough for Chie to go home alone.
Chie started staying longer, because their chats would stretch beyond martial arts movies.
Kanji asked, off handedly if she had a shadow. Maybe if these movie nights never happened, he wouldn't have asked. Maybe she wouldn't have felt comfortable with that question. But Chie felt no discomfort in disclosing to Kanji her insecurities surrounding Yukiko, the stress she felt with their friendship, and the selfishness that was inside of her. She felt comfortable talking about her first experiences with the TV world, and how scary it felt almost dying when trying to fight Yukiko's shadow—how scary it felt seeing everyone else almost die.
The atmosphere felt heavy, and Chie couldn't direct the conversation back to Kanji. After all, she did see his shadow, see him deny and accept it. She thought of asking him about his, uh, sexuality. He did blush a bit during The Legend of the Drunken Master.
"I hope I didn' force ya to talk 'bout yourself, Chie-senpai." Kanji said quietly, guilt weighing down his voice.
Chie stretched out her legs, jutted out her stomach and threw back her head to stretch out her back. She relaxed and reached out, lightly ruffling Kanji's slicked back hair. "Don't worry about that. We're friends, remember?"
For a brief moment, with his messed up bleached hair and looking up at her shyly, Chie thought Kanji looked cute. He laughed and ran a firm hand against his hair, smoothing out the strays. "Yer right, I'd be in a worse place if I broke one of yer DVDs."
"Yosuke is dead to me in that respect."
Kanji laughed. Chie thought Kanji's laugh was kind of cute. Kind of.
"Senpai, isn't it kinda late?"
Chie jolted slightly and checked her cellphone. It was nearly ten at night. "Oh no, I stayed here way too long. And I even ate your food again."
"It's alright, ma don't mind." Kanji waved his hands. "She probably prefers having you over." He rose from the floor of the living room and stretched, pulling his arms tight. "I should probably walk you home, though."
Chie smiled and rose from the floor as well. "It's okay, I can just walk home myself. It's just Inaba."
"Well, maybe, but most everyone here thinks there was a murderer loose outside not too long ago. I doubt your folks would be pleased with you and me if you came home alone. Also, ma wouldn't ever let me live it down."
Chie chuckled and bowed gratuitously. "Well then, good knight, lead me home."
Kanji scratched the back of his neck, a sheepish grin tugging the corner of his mouth. Chie settled on thinking that Kanji was, indeed, pretty cute.
The walk back home was probably too loud for the streets, and Kanji was sure he hurt his hand too much punching that pole.
Chie realized a few months into movie night, when summer came in at a rush and school was finally done for a month, that she had a crush on Kanji. Seeing him at school made her feel uncomfortable, having lunch together made her feel tense, and the only time she felt relaxed was on the floor of his living room watching the next movie on their list.
She decided she needed to tell someone.
First, Yukiko, who spent five minutes laughing. Not laughing because Chie's crush was ridiculous, but overly tickled by how adorable her friends were. By the time Yukiko finished, however, Chie had walked off to find someone else to tell.
Next she tried Yosuke, who only sputtered and choked on his own spit. She was sure that she heard him try to say, "But that's so gay!" which didn't make any sense, but maybe he was just a little jealous. More than anything, he was probably just jealous.
She tried telling Naoto, who only blushed and ran the opposite way. Rise was too busy with her comeback, and Teddie wasn't even an option.
Finally, Chie tried calling Souji.
"It's been a while, Chie-san." Souji sounded as listless and clueless as usual.
"You've got that right! How's school going for you?" Chie started with small talk, wanting to build up to the bigger news a bit later in their conversation.
Souji paused for a moment. "Not as fulfilling as Inaba." He said so plainly, but Chie was touched. "How are you, Chie-san?"
Chie hiked her breath. Here came the big moment. "I've got something to tell you, Souji-kun, and you better sit down."
"That's alright, I prefer standing at the moment."
"…Right, so, I've got this, well, crush on a guy."
"Oh! And who might this lucky buy be?"
Chie pursed her lips, smacked her mouth. "Kanji."
A long pause passed before Souji would reply. "You were right to tell me to sit down."
She could hear him plop down on some seat, his entire body weight crashing down like as if he had consciously fainted. "Is it really that surprising?" She asked, hand to hip.
"A little. I always thought you liked Yukiko."
Chie gave her phone a look. "She's my best friend, though."
"Ah, well, maybe another life."
"What?"
"So, are you going to tell Kanji-kun?"
Chie sighed deeply. "I'm not sure, to be honest?"
"I think Kanji-kun should know."
Thank you, I never asked for your opinion, Chie thought. "Maybe."
"You should."
"I said maybe!"
"You should, though." Souji was starting to sound impatient.
Chie remembered why asking Souji for advice was a terrible idea.
"I'm going to tell him!" Chie said one day while eating over at Yukiko's home. "Tomorrow, when we watch the next movie."
Yukiko nearly snorted her rice.
Chie handed Yukiko a napkin, grimacing as Yukiko cleaned herself up. "Hey, Yukiko-chan, you've known Kanji for a long time. What do you think?"
Yukiko thoughtfully mixed her rice. "I remember in third grade, a girl left him a love letter in his shoe box."
"Really? What did he do?"
"If I remember correctly," Yukiko started snorting, "He accidentally tore the letter in half and ran away from it." She finished laughing. "He even forgot to change his shoes! Tatsumi-san was so unfuriated!" She howled, slamming her fists on the table.
Chie rolled her eyes and directed her attention back to her food.
She decided to postpone the confession to another time.
"Dude, you can't, absolutely can not, tell Kanji you have a crush on him." Yosuke had called Chie up the day following her dinner with Yukiko. An emergency so dire and dangerous that she had to see him immediately, by the riverbank, under the tree she usually kicks around. "Don't tell him."
Chie glared at him. He was so jealous. "And why's that, Hanamura-san."
"Ew, don't call me that." He was sweating, maybe from the summer heat.
"Then don't tell me what to do!" Chie stomped her foot down on the dirt. "Besides who said I was going to confess, anyway?"
"Souji-kun totally called me up yesterday! Told me you were gonna tell him."
Chie gritted her teeth—that Souji, spreading lies. "You still can't tell me what to do. Watch, I'll tell Kanji!"
"Don't you dare tell Kanji." Yosuke pointed at her accusingly, accusing her of something, though she always figured he did these things just to look cool.
"Oh, I will tell Kanji. Tonight, even!" Chie stomped the ground with such vigor that she felt the dirt sink.
"DON'T YOU DARE."
"OR WHAT?"
"OR…that's not fair, you're a girl."
"You're just saying that because you're afraid I'll kick your nuts again."
Yosuke grimaced, pulling his knees together. "Just—Just don't tell him."
Chie stuck out her tongue and walked off, plugging her fingers in her ears and screaming Yosuke's voice away. "You're just jealous of me, Yosuke-kun. Just because Souji didn't kiss you, doesn't mean you can take it out on me!" She took off with a sprint.
It was the first night where Tatsumi-san wasn't home.
"Some ol' friend of hers is visiting, so they're gonna stay in the Amagi Inn for the night." Kanji, habitually, organized the shoes in the entry way before following Chie to the living room. "I got the next movie in the player. Wanna eat first?"
"We could eat while watching the movie." Chie said, sitting on the floor and stretching out her legs under the floor table.
Kanji pointed at her. "Smart idea, Chie-senpai."
Chie chuckled, a dab of nervousness weighing down her tone. She felt a bit too flattered.
When Kanji turned into the kitchen, Chie pinched her thighs and cheeks. Get it together, Chie, she told herself repeatedly. So you're alone with the guy you like in his house and he's pretty cute and has great legs, so what? He blushes when you pat his shoulder or ruffle his hair, scrunches his shoulders a bit so you wouldn't feel so small next to him, can cook a mean meal. Chie gasped quietly as she let go of herself. "This is bad." She mumbled into her fingers. She imagined herself grabbing his hair from the back and pulling it taught, kissing him as he moaned her name in her mouth. "This is bad." She mumbled into her knuckles.
"What's bad?" Kanji asked, bringing in tea and a small basket of crackers.
Chie had stuffed her hands into her mouth. She dropped them and gaped, gasped voicelessly like a fish out of water. "Th-This movie! I-It's gonna be bad, my man!" She gestured frantically, laughing too loudly, too excitedly.
Kanji smirked, placing the tea and crackers on the floor table. "It's gonna be kickass, dude. I found the special edition DVD—has 'bout an extra hour or two of behind the scene footage."
Chie scooted closer. "No way! Does it show how Johnny Chun did that whole clock scene?"
Kanji held up three fingers. "Shows all three takes."
"No way."
Kanji nearly bounced, fists out, tray tucked under his arm. "It's hella sweet."
They were a bit too excited, chopping the air and screaming about Johnny Chun. Chie didn't really notice how close Kanji was to her, how close he always was when they bonded over movies, and she wouldn't realize until she tripped on a leg of the floor table. She could easily land without pain, without breaking a bone, but Kanji reflexively grabbed her and pulled her tight into him. He held her a bit too strongly, maybe a leftover habit from their dungeon crawls (where he commonly carried and supported his injured, sometimes nearly dying, teammates), but Chie wouldn't be surprised if her bones collapsed into broken bits if he let her go.
Kanji quickly let her go, as soon as he brought her back balance. He seemed embarrassed, maybe even blushing? "M' sorry, Chie-senpai." He muttered, rubbing the back of his neck tentatively. "I'll go check on the dinner, it's been sitting alone for too long." He muttered again, and quickly rushed into the kitchen.
The atmosphere felt heavy, and Chie felt a little guilty. Movie night shouldn't feel this way, and she wondered if it was because she was crushing on him. Was she being cursed for liking a boy younger than her? But she didn't mind it, him supporting her like that, even if it was reflexive. A bit selfish, but she liked that for such a short moment, all of his attention was only on her. She wasn't really the "trip and be caught romantically" type, though, and she daydreamed about catching Kanji in a fashion that would shame the cheesiest of her mom's favorite Korean dramas.
Kanji came back with bowls of rice, still a bit embarrassed. He wordlessly placed the bowls on the table and rushed back into the kitchen.
Chie could swear she heard him slam his head on the fridge and curse. She twirled her bowl of rice, and looked up when Kanji returned with a burner and hotpot.
"I thought sukiyaki would be nice for tonight, even if it is summer." Kanji mumbled.
Chie smiled. "I think it's a great idea." She patted his shoulder affectionately.
Kanji smiled, bright eyed, and turned on the burner.
Movie night went as usual, the dinner was great as usual, and Chie noticed it was almost midnight.
"Yo, is it okay for you to be here so late?"
Chie nodded, "I told my parents I might be here late. They trust that I'll be fine here."
Kanji was rubbing the back of his neck again. Chie figured out it was his nervous habit. "D-Do you wanna sleep over?"
Chie smiled crookedly. "I don't know, your mom isn't here."
"W-Well your folks don't know…that."
Chie stared at him.
"I mean it's not like I'm gonna touch you or nothin'."
Chie's eyes grew wider. It took all of her willpower not to laugh.
"I-I mean unless you want me to touch you, not that I'm saying you sh—oh fuck."
Chie fell on the floor, holding her stomach, laughing the hardest she's ever in a long time. She was sure she laughed so hard that even Yukiko would be weirded out. She probably laughed for a good five minutes, because when she calmed down, Kanji was looking noticeably tired out.
"I'll clean up." Kanji said quickly, gathering the dishes into the pot, and grabbing the entire burner. He made sure to quickly and efficiently get his ass out of that room.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Kanji-kun." Chie quickly said, reaching out to grab him. She hadn't calculated the move up from the floor so well, as she painfully bumped a knee on the table. The table seemed to nearly fly in the air, though in reality she just bumped her knee on a table that jerked away a few centimeters.
Kanji, however, had made a swift turn so rushed and hurried that his legs tangled. He tripped on his own leg, was losing his center of gravity, and tumbling awkwardly to the ground.
Chie was in the right position to grab him. So she did.
He was much heavier than she anticipated, but was slowly able to ease Kanji's back onto her thigh. She wasn't breathing, she realized, when she saw Kanji heaving nervously and, with a hand pressed between his shoulder blades, could feel his body tense and relax with breaths. Her arm was completely outstretched while his still bent, holding his hand in hers. She released a slow and steady, nearly shaky breath. She felt compelled to bend down, close to him, close enough to feel his heavy breath on her face. Tap his forehead with hers, maybe even kiss him? She imagined sliding her hand up his back and lightly squeezing the muscles of his neck. Rubbing it, maybe even pinching a little, before petting his hair and kissing his trembling lips. "You could, uh, sit back down any time now." She said instead.
Kanji dropped his rump to the ground; let her keep holding his hand, because that was the last thing on his mind. He was absolutely red in the face, possibly on the edge to bloody falls.
Chie pressed a hand to her cheek. It was burning to the touch. She was probably just as red as Kanji was.
"Oh shit, the dishes." Their hands fell, apart. Kanji turned his head to the mess on the floor that was abandoned as soon as he was falling, and quickly forgotten as soon as Chie grabbed him.
The burner was okay; the pot was actually okay, though a couple of the dishes broke from impact.
"Oh god, I'm so sorry, Kanji." Chie said as she helped Kanji clean up the mess.
"Nah, it's my fault. I was the one who fell." He said, shaking his head, gathering the pot and burner and carrying them into the kitchen.
Chie furrowed her brow, stretched her mouth tight. "I'm still sorry anyway." She followed Kanji with the broken pieces in hand, placed them in a plastic bag and then in the trash as Kanji asked of her. "I ruined movie night." She said.
"No! That's not true!" Kanji turned to her, hands wet from washing the pot and what dishes remained intact. "That's not true at all, Chie-senpai! I still had a lot o' fun hanging out wit' ya and, like, I really enjoy you bein' around here. You're really fun to hang out with, and you're a really good listener and you care and shit and," Kanji huffed, smacked his dry mouth. His hands were tightly fisted, knuckles white. "and I just really like having you around. You didn't ruin movie night, if anythin' I did with my falling like an idiot and all and saying stupid shit like this."
Chie pressed a hand against his chest. "Kanji, I like you."
Kanji glared at her. "Wh-What?"
She smiled. "I want to protect you."
"H-Huh?"
She laughed. "I like you and I want to protect you."
Kanji slammed his back against the kitchen wall so hard Chie swore the entire place rattled. His entire body was red.
Chie didn't move. Maybe she could've kissed him or have given him a hug, but she was sure he would explode if she even touched him. "I think I should go, though, parents and all. Can you walk me home again?"
The walk was very quiet, very still, and the entire time Kanji walked a good distance from her side. He was still very red.
Chie kept her eyes to her feet, and looked up only to check if her home was near. "Here it is." She said, cutting the silence.
Kanji stood in front of her, staring down at their feet. He had been rubbing his neck constantly throughout the walk, and was still rubbing it now.
Chie wondered if he would ever respond to her confession. The thought that he wouldn't was disappointing—okay, well, more than disappointing. "The movie was good today, huh?" She said, trying to bring back whatever friendship was lost. "When Johnny Chun fell off that clock tower, my heart nearly stopped." She could feel their bond slip away, like as if that night was the scissors that cut the string binding them. She thought of calling up Yukiko, maybe crying a bit into a tub of ice cream. "I hope that we can do it again next week." She said quietly, though incompletely because Kanji had awkwardly kissed her. On the mouth, in case you weren't sure that he was kissing her on the mouth. Mouth.
Chie remembers in dramas, the one being kissed would stare surprised at their partner. She always wondered how that would even look, and she realized it's strange. It's not just the strangeness of how the person looked so close that she was unable to even focus on his features, but how strange a kiss really was. Not that it felt bad, and she could probably do this all night. She imagined grabbing his waist, maybe whispering, "Senpai will take care of you."
Kanji sprinted off back to Tatsumi's Textiles, "I'll see you next week, senpai!" He hollered.
Chie stared at his retreating figure for a good second before sprinting back into her home, noisily shutting the door. She could hear her mom screaming, "Chie, is that you?" startled by the noise. Chie just grunted affirmation, flying through her room door and onto her bed. She quickly whipped out her phone and texted everyone she told of her crush.
"wwwwww congratulations!1! wwwwwwww 33" Yukiko replied.
"DID HE CRY?" Yosuke replied.
"I congratulate you two, this is quite a firm step towards new directions and I hope—" Chie appreciated Naoto's formalities, but decided to read the long text another time.
Souji, however, called her.
"Souji-kun?" Chie knew he preferred phone calls, but it was in the middle of the night.
"I knew you would confess tonight." Souji said simply, before hanging up.
Chie stared at her phone, confused. She punched her pillow when she realized that he was the one who set up Yosuke to bicker with her, because Yosuke was the only one who could rile her up into making bad decisions. Her hugged her pillow close and groaned loudly, kicking her feet on the bed. She quickly sent Souji a text, "I hate you, thanks."
"Take it slow and steady." Souji replied. Chie smothered her phone under her pillow. She rolled off her bed, off to change her clothes to sleep. She could take a shower in the morning.
Her phone ringed, another text message. She was halfway out of her shirt when it came, and assuming it was Yukiko she checked.
"I like you, too." Chie felt embarrassed that she received this reply from Kanji while she was half naked. Her phone rang again. "I fergot to tel you."
"I figured with the kissing." She replied. Gibberish came back, and she figured he tried to spell out a coherent message but it came out nowhere near readable. "See you tomorrow! At Aiya's! Good night 3" She quickly erased the heart, thought for a moment, then put it back.
Kanji replied with gibberish.