The Hedgehog and The Detective Prince
(FOREWORD: Why have I submitted these in Persona Series and not the Crossover section? I honestly believe these will be noticed more in the Persona section. I am aware there is a crossover section, and if this breaks the rules and risks having these stories taken down or something, I will move them. Sorry if I come off as an idiot here, but I thought I should point this out.)
The Investigation Team, aswell as some members of Sonic Team (Sonic, Shadow and two OCs) decide to reward themselves on solving a small case by heading to Port Island and hitting the club. Then two certain people get an idea which has some fairly disastrous consequences. At first. Friendship fic, revolves around Yosuke/Naoto/OC, some very small Yosuke/Chie pairing hints at the end. Set after the True Ending of the game, if the horrible crossover idea didn't give that away. Joe's profile is in my profile. I like the idea of Yosuke/Naoto friendship fics so I thought I'd give it a try. While also putting my OC in so I can stroke my ego in some way. Anyway, hope you enjoy.
He was laying on the makeshift bed he made from the couch in their hotel room. He was sharing it with two of the Investigation Team who he had made allies with some months ago. Right now his friends and the rest of the team were still out in the town or maybe relaxing in their own rooms.
They had just recently solved a case. Nothing major like the serial murders; it was just a mass shoplifting circuit. It seemed bizarre a major team were set up for something petty like that, but who knows how people like that think. They weren't even intending to do anything work or case-related, this was the Team's summer break.
They had travelled to Port Island once again since while his friends could have easily taken them outside the country, the Team's parents and responsibilities were obviously going to put a stop to that. Not that it took the yellow hedgehog much convincing mind.
As long as it has some place comfortable to sleep and a good TV, I'll be happy.
While when it came to fighting he was easily restless and always raring to go (like a certain Trial of the Dragon enthusiast), outside of that he just wanted to get comfortable and sleep. And that's what he was doing right now. He hated to show that side of him; getting as comfortable as possible in bed and acting like it was his shield.
His room-mates probably didn't help. One wasn't bad at all; it was Yosuke, the member of the Team he easily got along with the most. Hell, when they hit the club the Team went to during the murder case, they both found a karaoke machine and had their fun badly singing rock songs, ending with a song that they both secretly agreed on and prepared their escape plan when it was over.
Sex Bomb. Classic.
He laughed to himself as he flipped through channels while trying to keep as much of himself under the blanket as possible. He and Yosuke started out fine enough with the choices of song. 'Energy' by Shinedown (which only the hedgehog, his indigo echidna friend and Yosuke knew who they were, getting confused looks from the others), then 'Time to Shine' by Saliva (even the echidna Nexus didn't know that one, yet Joe, the yellow hedgehog and Yosuke still knew).
But then of course they spotted that song. Yosuke whispered to him while they were pretending to look through the songs. "Wanna mess around with everyone? You gotta choose this one." He pointed to the song which brought a smirk to the hedgehog's face. "Genius. The look on their faces will be priceless.
Yosuke chuckled as he selected the song. "You remember where the exit is right? Cause I'm certain we'll be running the second it's finished." Joe laughed back at him. "Yeah, we'll meet up in our room in an hour or so. Man I'm gonna love this."
And to be fair, they did have one hell of a time mugging their performance. If you could call it that. They knew they were horrible but hey, they were having fun. They both made sure to look at the groups' faces as they went on, trying hard not to burst out laughing when they saw a constant mixture of shock, infuriation and more than likely murder from the women. Mostly just apathy from the guys.
The second the song ended, the girls were ready to jump at them. Luckily they dodged and ran the hell out of there. The Team's leader, Souji Seta, turned to the leader of Sonic Team, the blue hedgehog Sonic (obviously). "He's usually like that isn't he?" The hedgehog nodded his head and sighed. "Same for him?" To which the silver-haired hero also nodded. Guess we better chase after the girls before they commit something even Adachi might call excessive. The girls had already ran after the two when the two leaders were talking, although one gave up and came back almost immediately.
"You still don't think that way do you Souji?" The reddish-brown haired girl asked, taking a seat right next to him and taking one of his arms like she usually did. "Of course not Rise. I wouldn't be that vulgar unless really intoxicated." She smiled. "And that's why you're our leader, you always use your head!" Sonic raised a brow at her praise, mostly because that's not what he meant at all.
It had been around two and a half hours since then, and Joe was in his makeshift bed. He guessed Yosuke hid himself really well and didn't want to risk running back into the girls, or they had already caught him and... well, it'd be best not to go into that.
"Hardly anything on. Guess Japanese TV does that." The hedgehog (reluctantly) moved out of the bed and went to his bag in his room. He picked out a random DVD and walked back into the lounge and put it in the player.
He quietly hummed to himself when he got back into his bed. Damn it was comfortable. He almost forgot that he probably wouldn't be so comfortable for that much longer. One of the girls he and Yosuke pissed off was also their room-mate; Naoto Shirogane. And considering she had a gun that she knew how to use...
The hedgehog put the thought of his head briefly before he heard the lock of his hotel room. Guess Yosuke finally decided to stop hiding. Joe smirked before he went back to his movie. "Took you long enough. Didn't want to risk their combined wrath did you?" He said as he heard the door open. There was no answer as it closed again.
"Guess you're exhausted. Must've got close to you a few times." Still no answer as the hedgehog heard a coat being hung up and shoes being kicked off. Joe closed his eyes and laughed to himself. "Though I guess it was worth it seeing their faces wasn't it?"
Click.
He opened his eyes and looked to where the sound came from. His eyes turned to the right and saw a gun pointed right for his head, with a white-knuckled hand holding it belonging to a very pissed-off young detective woman, who had nothing but murder in her eyes as she grit her teeth at him.
Joe just smiled like nothing was wrong. "Hiya. Given up on looking for Yosuke?" Naoto's reaction was just to tremble in rage as her face burned almost bringing out her bright blue shirt even more than it usually did. She almost lunged forward making the hedgehog lay on his side while her gun was still pressed hard against Joe's head.
The young detective almost couldn't speak as she trembled above him. "Give me one... JUST ONE reason not to shoot you right now." It was taking all of her willpower not to scream out and empty out her entire six-shooter into the hedgehogs head. His reaction was making her even worse. "Cause I look good? Cause I doubt you'd want to go to jail for this crime against not just humanity but several women who adore me?"
He... H-He did that... And he S-STILL screws around like nothing is happening?!
Naoto almost couldn't see straight as she listened to him. No one could be THAT arrogant surely? Of course she had only known the yellow hedgehog for a few months. That question should have been answered already. "why? Why did you... humiliate yourselves... but also US in such a derogatory manner?! There was NO REASON for that!" She near-screamed at him as she also grabbed the hedghog's red shirt. The grin never left his lips. "To be fair, it wasn't my idea. Yosuke came up with it. He was a genius for it."
Naoto almost lost all train of thought, feeling or anything. Was he... insane? Did he actually have no brain? Was he even aware of what he was saying? Did the hedgehog even know he has a fully loaded gun pointed right at his head?
"Besides, it's your break. You all should take our lead and just mellow out and have fun." She twitched. She actually twitched at hearing this.
M-M... Mellow... M-Mellow...
Her face went right into the hedgehog's, so much so that he thought he could actually see fire in her eyes. "M-MELLOW OUT?!" She couldn't contain herself anymore. The hedgehog just pressed her buttons fully knowing what he and that damn Yosuke did, and he still has that stupid grin on his face!
"Y-You HUMILIATED us! You made us a LAUGHING STOCK in there! I don't think m-ANY of us can go there again!" She somehow still had the willpower to correct herself, yet his stupid grin was giving her more reasons to summon her Persona and just Mundoon him. And what he did next made that option all the better. He laughed.
"Oh come on Naoto. You mean to say you've never let loose and just had fun? You've never played jokes with your friends?" She grit her teeth at him again. He was actually trying to justify this. "I felt no need. I had more important things to do in my life." She then shoved the gun back into his face. "And don't try to deflect the issue!"
Joe continued to grin at her. "If it makes any difference, it was nothing personal against any of you. Was just two guys having fun." Naoto just glared at him. "At OUR expense!" The hedgehog rolled his eyes which made Naoto's widen.
Is...I-Is he MOCKING me now?!
She wrapped her free hand round the hedgehog's throat and got back in his face. "Why do I have this feeling that when I pull the trigger and find you here, no one will actually be too bothered about that?" Joe choked out another laugh. "Well there are people who are expecting me to come back. Not to mention Yosuke at least might be a little upset that he'd probably have to pay to clean up your mess."
The young detective's pupils almost dilated. She was shaking almost violently at this rate. She clicked her gun again and aimed it right on the hedgehog's forehead. The grin now faded from Joe's face.
Wait. Is she... is she actually going to SHOOT ME over this? It was a song, I didn't destroy her house!
He shut his eyes since even he couldn't dodge from this close. Even if he did try to shove Naoto off of him, she could easily still pull the trigger and hit him. He was actually preparing for the worst. Even if his ego was also on other things.
And she had to knock me out of my 'comfort zone' to do it...
He did hope Yosuke or any of the others would knock on the door and snap Naoto out of it, but those chances were already slim, and they were not getting better as the seconds passed. He waited.
And waited.
Nothing.
Though he did hear something else. Sniffing. Wait...
He opened his eyes. He didn't even notice the gun wasn't pressed on his head any longer, it was on the floor. But that wasn't what he noticed or even cared about. Naoto was still sitting above him... but she was still shaking. But not with anger anymore. Maybe not completely anyway. But her head was down and her cap was pulled down to try to hide her face from him.
His expression changed when he noticed a tear hit her bright blue shirt.
She's crying? Did she... really take it personally?
Joe didn't move as he watched Naoto silently cry infront of him, she was still shaking and wrapped her arms around herself to try to stop herself in vain. She shut her eyes to try to stop the tears but that wasn't working either.
Dammit, I'm stronger than this! This is how my shadow reacted, like a child! I thought I was better than this already!
The hedgehog was about to say something when Naoto snapped right back, almost sensing he was about to speak.
"Shut up! Don't say anything! Don't even look at me..."
Naoto didn't even know why she was still even in the room. She should have ran out ages ago. Maybe she was scared she'd run into Yosuke and he'd remind her of this little 'joke' of theirs. Or scared of what she would do to him if she saw him. Though right now all she cared about was trying to hide the fact that she was crying infront of the asshole who did this to her in the first place.
The hedgehog was about to try to speak again, but for the second time Naoto snapped at him. "I said shut up! Just... j-just shut up..." She couldn't even keep her fake voice in now, nor her tears as they were freely flowing from her eyes and she trembled. "W-Why? Why did you do that to us?"
To me...
That's what was wanted to say. She already thought she'd be telling herself tomorrow that she was grossly overreacting and was taking this too personally. And she shouldn't be seflish and act like this offended her more than everyone else. Yet she still did.
"That song... those l-lyrics... just for a joke... don't you care about other people's feelings? I thought Yosuke had at least some basic concept of t-that..."
Joe again tried to speak, but the detective woman kept talking.
"N-None of us have even thought about stuff like that because of what has happened the past two years. You don't flaunt that stuff around..."
Especially if you saw my shadow...
"Y-You know from the others how I tried to hide myself from everyone else. That I didn't want to be known as... as a girl... Y-Yet you both seem to just sing that kind of thing and mock me over it..."
Joe now raised an eyebrow.
Hold on. She DID take this personally? She thinks we just did this to take shots at her?
"Man. You ARE a child aren't you?"
Naoto didn't expect that answer. She turned almost instantly to face the yellow hedgehog, tears flowing down her cheeks even faster as her anger was about to come back to the surface again. She held her arms as tightly as she could around her body to stop her shaking.
"W-What did you say?"
Joe just shook his head. "That song was not a dig at you. It wasn't a dig at ANYONE. We just did it to get a reaction from you girls as a joke. It was us having fun on our time off."
Naoto opened her mouth to reply, but nothing came out, just a choke as more tears flowed from her eyes. She sniffed to herself as she tried to hide her face in her cap again. God this was even more embarrassing. She was crying infront of him, something she only did infront of Yu and Kanji but she trusted those two.
She knew them a lot longer. She only knew those anthropomorphic animals (which everyone thought were shadows at first) for about eight months. And the most arrogant one of the group was now giving her a lecture? Way to drive her into the ground...
"I do not see how a song called 'Sex Bomb' is mocking a girl who is insecure about who she is. Not to mention you're acting like a selfish child acting like this was all about you."
Was he just TRYING to make her feel even worse about herself right now?
"But..."
Her head moved up sharply to look at him.
"If you did take it personally, and thought it was a dig at you and what you've been through, then I apologise."
The hedgehog had to fight the urge to turn his head in slight disgust. He was not used to that, he didn't like having people see this nicer side of him. Just felt off to him.
Silence had taken over for the next five minutes, minus some minor sniffing by the still softly crying Naoto, though she did seem to be calming down a little. She then shook her head and wiped some of her tears away.
"No... I should be apologising. Threatening you with a gun, letting myself take a little song as a personal attack, acting like... an immature child." She felt more tears welling up as she said that, but it took everything she had to hold them back. She sat down on the couch by the yellow hedgehog as she finally unwrapped her arms from her upper body and she rested her hands in her lap.
"I guess even now I still have some things to learn. I really am still a child aren't I? This is exactly how my shadow acted."
Joe nodded. Souji had told him what had happened two years ago. How everyone had worked together to solve the serial murders, and that they had confronted their hidden feelings and gained their personas from it. Did sound unbelievable at first, but considering some of the things that have happened with Sonic and the others, this sounds normal by comparison.
"You don't have to apologise to me." The hedgehog said. He then turned his head to look away from her, which confused the detective. "But don't cry. It... makes me feel bad. I don't like seeing girls cry."
Naoto actually laughed a little. "S-Sorry. I guess I keep this bottled up too much and when it comes out I just explode." She laughed again quietly, though again feeling tears welling up. "And when this happened before, it was a bit hard to stop. Souji actually had to deal with this for a good thirty minutes."
Joe frowned. He didn't know how he'd last if he had to watch Naoto cry for thirty minutes straight. He wasn't good at comforting people, at least he felt like he wasn't. "Well... why not go to their room? I'm sure you'd rather have them be with you right now, I'm not exactly good at this kind of thing."
The young detective shook her head. "It'll be too late now. Besides, I doubt it would look good having me walk around the hallway with red eyes and a trembling v-voice. And we've both apologised, so I can survive being in the same room as you." She said while laughing sadly. The yellow hedgehog had an idea. One that might help cheer her up, or make her night better at least.
"You wanna sleep here tonight? The bed's warm for you, and I did make sure it was confortable before I got in." The detective blinked. "But, where are you going to sleep?" The hedgehog smiled at her. "I'll just sleep on the floor or something. Besides, I doubt you want to be alone even if I'm probably not the best choice for other people to be around."
Naoto remained silent and lowered her head for a moment. Now after she let out her anger and sadness in such a short amount of time, she was now feeling tired and it was getting late. Yosuke still wasn't back yet though. "But what about Yosuke?"
Joe just laughed. "Honestly, if he isn't back by now the rest of the girls probably caught him. I doubt he'll be back for the rest of the night." The detective let out a small laugh and gave a small smile. "Good point." Naoto wiped her eyes to make sure there weren't any stray tears and she stood up. "I guess I'll take up your offer for tonight. We do have the rest of our break to relax after all."
The hedgehog smiled back at her. "Now that's what I like to hear." He got up from under his blanket and stretched. "I spent about two hours making sure it's comfortable, so the results should benefit the good lady." He said pretending to be mock-salesman of some kind, which brought a small chuckle from Naoto, which she tried to hide.
"As long as I can sleep in it, I'll be happy." She said when she sat back down on the couch and removed her socks and slowly removed her cap, letting the hedgehog see her unhidden face for the first time in a while. He gave a small smile as he looked at her which made the young detective raise an eyebrow.
"What is it?" Joe just kept his smile. "Just haven't seen you with your hat off for a while. You look great, even with your red eyes." Naoto's head snapped away from him as she felt her cheeks heat up. She responded by throwing her hat at him which made the hedgehog laugh.
"D-Don't say stuff like that! It's embarrassing..." Joe picked up her hat while still laughing. "Just saying what I see." He then smiled warmly at her and held out her hat for Naoto to pick back up. "I mean it you know. You do look great, don't let anyone convince you otherwise." Naoto slowly took her hat back and was about to put it back on in stubbornness, but then decided against it and gave a small nod.
"T-Thank you. I didn't think an anthropomorphic animal would find humans attractive." The hedgehog laughed. "Hey, we might be different species but we're not brain-dead or anything." He sat down on the couch and looked at her. "I reckon any guy would be lucky to have someone as passionate about her friends and her work as you." Naoto again felt herself blush as she hugged her cap to her chest.
"I-I don't know about that..." She said quietly to herself before she turned her head and looked at the bed. Just looking at it seemed to make her sleepy, she slowly put her cap down on the table near the couch and proceeded to get under the blanket Joe provided for her, and her eyes widened as she felt the warmth underneath it.
"Wow... so warm. Is there any heating under this?" Joe gave a small laugh and shook his head. "Nah, just being under there for over two hours helped with that. I do hope it's comfortable enough for you, I'm sure it can't beat an actual bed." Naoto almost didn't hear him as she unconsciously snuggled herself in, trying to wrap the blanket around her.
"It's... amazing... Something so simple." The hedgehog smiled at her. "Glad you like it." He sat down on her right so he could see the door. "Want me to switch off the TV?" Naoto shook her head slowly, not even wanting to move from under the blanket. "It's fine."
Joe gave her a cheeky grin. "You really look like a child laying under that." The young detective just closed her eyes and gave a small hum. "Shush." The hedgehog laughed as he watched her, still smiling. "Nope this makes your night better at least. I'd hate to lose a friend over something like this." Naoto didn't open her eyes, but gave a small enough smile for the hedgehog to notice.
"You consider me a friend?" Joe almost blinked like he didn't know if she was even serious. "Of course. I can see how close you all are, you're like me and the others. Nothing can tear any of us apart. We've made plenty of friends along the way and we've all kept a tight bond. I don't see how this is different."
Naoto this time gave a genuine smile, something she didn't do that often, though she had changed quite a bit since the serial murders had been solved. "You sound just like Souji. Seems even you have your good points. I'm glad you think so, I think I can say that we feel the same." She softly yawned and snuggled back into the blanket.
Joe smiled at her. "Don't tell anyone I've got my good points, I do have an image to uphold." He said with a small chuckle. He waited for Naoto to respond, but after he called out to her, he noticed she's already fallen asleep. He gave her a warm smile as he continued to watch her sleep. "Pleasant dreams." He softly used one of his fingers to move a strand of Naoto's hair so he could get an even better look at her face.
She looked peaceful, sleeping there. Almost like she hadn't cried at all tonight. He liked that, he did mean it when he said he didn't like seeing girls cry. It was another 'good point' of him as Naoto would put it. He laid his head back against the cushion of the couch and folded his arms and waited to see when sleep would take over.
Another thirty minutes would pass before the hedgehog heard the lock of the door again and he saw Yosuke almost drag himself in, sighing to himself. "Sorry I kept you waitin-" He stopped when he saw Naoto sleeping in the bed. "Why's she sleeping in your bed? Something happen?" Joe smiled. "Something like that. It was a bit bad at first, but we talked and it worked out."
"And she's now sleeping in your bed? Man you must be good to talk one of these girls out of their rage." Joe laughed quietly. "Nah, nothing like that. We just had a little heart-to-heart so to speak. She's fine now, I offered her my bed and she accepted. She's been out like a baby for the past thirty-five minutes."
Yosuke smiled as he looked at her. "I can tell. She looks peaceful sleeping there. Thank god you did whatever you did, I'd hate to see what she tried to do to you when she came in." Joe scratched the back of his head while laughing nervously. "Yeah, probably." He then turned to Yosuke. "So, what happened with you?"
Yosuke removed his jacket and sat at the other side of Naoto, making sure to keep his voice down. "Managed to avoid the girls for the best part of an hour, I think Rise gave up since I didn't see her, nor Yukiko. I think she went back to her room. Chie though..."
Joe gave a small laugh. "Bet it hurt when she got you." Yosuke actually blushed a little. "Not exactly. We... talked, like you and Naoto did."
The hedgehog's eyebrow raised with a smile. "Oh? Heart-to-heart?" Yosuke nodded. "Probably the most we've talked alone for ages. Actually reminded me how lucky I was I met her and Yukiko when I first moved here. We do argue and fight all the time, but we do care for eachother. Hell, the murder mystery alone helped prove that."
Joe nodded. "I don't say this stuff often, but I do feel great having friends like this. I've met plenty of people but there aren't a huge number I can call my friends. All of you are part of that though. It's weird how much we can all trust eachother after just eight months." Yosuke responded with a chuckle. "Aw, you're gonna make me blush."
The hedgehog laughed. "Guess you're not used to a compliment. Maybe I should insult you instead?" Yosuke tried not to laugh again. "Screw you man."
"So what exactly happened with you and Chie?" Joe asked him before yawning. Yosuke responded with one of his own. "Something for tomorrow maybe, it's late now and we've all got the rest of the week left yet." Joe nodded before looking over Naoto to Yosuke. "I know you will, but make sure to apolgise to Naoto when she wakes up. It'll mean a lot to her you know?"
Yosuke responded with a nod. "Yeah I know. Did the same with Chie." He lowered his head and smiled warmly. "She gave me one of the best smiles I've seen from her in a long time. Made me feel good you know?" Joe stretched and nodded. "Yep. Guess we better get some sleep."
Yosuke made an attempt to get up, but gave up almost instantly. "I don't feel like getting up now. Man I'm jealous of Naoto right now." Joe laughed quietly. "I know, right? Well, I guess we both better 'protect' her tonight huh?" The third-year nodded with a wink and a grin. "Yep. No shadows are getting past us."
They both yawned and Joe turned down the TV. "Good thing for friendship huh?" He said to Yosuke, who responded with a smile. "Yep. Night man." He said before closing his eyes and attempting to get comfortable on the floor. The hedgehog responded in kind. "Night." They both managed to fall asleep shortly after, the three proving tonight at least, that they all shared a bond that wasn't going to be broken anytime soon.
I'm sure I've got their characters wrong (only beaten Persona 4 once, recently mind, and I have read some other P4 fics as inspiration), but I hope they do at least follow them in some capacity at least.
I've actually got some more ideas for some more friendship fics like this, though I have some ideas for actual pairing fics too. My favourite parings are Souji/Naoto, Kanji/Naoto and Yosuke/Chie. Sorry for the yaoi fangirls, and I don't hate the other characters, though of course if it comes to friendship fics, everyone is eligible.
I think I will try to write something to explain how the Sonic Team arrived in Inaba (before putting it to 'Crossover, anything can happen')
I said some fics gave me inspiration, I'll give you the names and Authors;
FortunesRevolver: Has written several Souji/Naoto fics, and they are all great to read and very touching for people who love this pairing. u/1566383/FortunesRevolver
Mayumi-H: Has written a huge post-game Yosuke/Chie fic called 1 More Chance! Like the pairing? Then read. Has also written other P4 fics with various pairings/friendships. u/8214/Mayumi-H
Rayless Night: Plenty of P4 pairing/friendship fics, and honestly might be one of the best character writers I have seen when it comes to stuff like this. She hasn't written P4 stuff in quite a long while, but maybe she will again sometime. u/965758/Rayless_Night
Zero-Damage: My main inspiration for writing/thinking of these ideas. Did some Yosuke/Naoto friendship fics, aswell as other one-shots. But if you read only one thing from her, you must read 'The Shortest Distance', it is a Kanji/Naoto fic that covers Kanji's and Naoto's views on the events of the game (while changing a few things). Fantastically written. u/1861271/zero-damage
Right, read those authors' stories and see how much mine pales in comparison.