A response for the kinkmeme, for a 10 Things I Hate About You style confession from Yosuke to Chie. Have at you!
Everything clicked in Yosuke's head on a Thursday at 8:15 AM.
Coincidentally, 8:15 AM was also two minutes after Chie had kicked him in the stomach. Hard.
"That's for calling me at two in the morning last night, jerk!" she steamed, fists balled by her sides, "I've told you a million times, I don't care how much the grain in your bed frame looks like a…like a…"
"Like a vagi-ow!" He rubbed his arm, which would assuredly soon be blossoming with a bruise where her fist had connected, "Jeez, sorry! You don't have to hit so hard!"
"Yeah, well," Chie sniffed, brushing her hair from her eyes in a huffy way that didn't really suit her, "Maybe I wouldn't have to if you listened for once. Why do you call me all the time, anyway?"
Yosuke blinked once, then a second time, unaware as the minute hand on his watch ticked right over the three. He called Chie because…well, there were a lot of reasons. Yukiko would probably just hang up on him once he greeted her with a hey, I can't sleep, can you? Kanji would probably just let the phone keep ringing once he saw his name on the caller ID. Rise…well, he didn't know Rise that well yet. She was his dream girl, sure. Hell, she was everyone's dream girl, wasn't she? Still, despite what others probably believed, he didn't particularly enjoy being relegated to a stuttering mess of nerves. Souji would probably talk to him, but as much as he enjoyed his partner's company, there was something about his gentle hums and agreements that left him wanting more.
Wanting Chie.
His eyes widened as he blinked owlishly down at the girl. The only person other than Saki-senpai to pay him any mind before Souji came along. She was still staring up at him, hands poised angrily on her hips. Hips, Yosuke thought wildly while his throat closed up, When the hell did she get those!?
"Hellooo?" Chie asked, waving a hand in front of his eyes, "Earth to Hanamura. Jeez…" She sighed dramatically, folding her hands into her pockets and dropping the aggressive pose. Yosuke merely continued to gawk, causing the girl to purse her lips in frustration, "You're acting weirder than usual today. Just remember not to call me, okay? Normal people aren't awake in the middle of the night!"
Under less trying circumstances, Yosuke may have bitten back with a snide comment about both their sleeping habits lately (particularly during bad weather). Maybe he would have commented that it's not like beauty sleep would do you any good, Chie, probably earning himself another kick for good measure. But all the boy could do now was let his mouth fall open and nod dumbly.
"Sheesh," Chie muttered, rolling her eyes before turning back towards their homeroom. Yosuke watched her go, noticing for the first time that his friend Chie -- cheerful, tough, friendly, terrifying Chie -- was…a girl. A pretty girl. Who bounced a little when she walked.
Just how freaking long has she done that?
He would have to talk to Souji about this.
"…And?"
Yosuke groaned, slumping down against the chain link fence. He almost wished it wasn't there at all; then at least he could fall to his death in peace, without the dry commentary of his best friend. Although knowing Souji, the boy would probably score his jump on a scale of one to ten. Yosuke wagered he'd get a 7.4.
"And?" Yosuke repeated, turning his eyes skyward, "And this isn't coming as a shock to you!?"
"Which part, that Chie is female or that you have a crush on her?"
"I do not have a crush on her!"
Souji raised an eyebrow, fixing him with a momentary look before dipping his chopsticks back into their shared lunch and taking a stoic bite. Yosuke sighed, relenting to Souji's unspoken but no less clear point. One of these days, he was going to force Souji to teach him that whole "communicating everything with a single look" thing.
"So," Souji continued, once it became clear that Yosuke wasn't going to be fighting him any longer, "What do you want to do about it?"
"Woah, woah, partner," Yosuke held up his hands, laughing in a decidedly strained way, "Who said I was going to do anything about it?"
This time, Souji lowered his eyelids just a touch, letting the rest of his face fall slack while keeping those gray eyes fixed on Yosuke's.
Damnit.
"Well, just telling her is out of the question," he began, rubbing the back of his neck, already feeling defeated, "She'll think I'm kidding or something and kick me in the balls before I have a chance to explain."
"Mm," Souji nodded, conceding the likelihood of Yosuke's claim. If the brunette was looking for a blindly supportive outlet, he was going to the wrong guy. Not that he didn't already know this. If anything, Souji's blunt realism was what kept him from going into things half cocked. Not that he didn't do that anyways, but Souji was still there in the end to tell him just why that was idiotic.
Case in point, his imaginary 7.4 swan dive off the side of Yasogami High, which he was now starting to consider more seriously.
"Well what would you do, oh Great Guru of Lady Parts?" Yosuke asked caustically, bending into an exaggerated bow. Souji took it in stride, poising one hand against his chin in thought. For all his sarcasm, Yosuke wasn't entirely sure his invented title was too far off base from the truth.
"Well," he began, matter-of-fact as ever, "I'd find something I do well and try to use that. It's hard to turn someone down when they're being impressive."
"Yeah, I guess that makes sense," Yosuke consented, twirling his headphone cord around his fingers absently, "Still, I'd have to be good at something for that to work."
If Souji's lips curved into a slight smile, Yosuke was too busy feeling sorry for himself to notice.
"You're good at a lot of things, Yosuke," Souji encouraged, standing up and brushing away some loose bits of gravel sticking to his uniform pants, "Just think on it for a bit. You'll get it eventually." With a final smile and squeeze of his best friend's shoulder, Souji shoved his hand in his pocket and headed for the stairs, with Yosuke staring after him agape.
"Asshole," he muttered, just as the bell rung and he hastily rose to his feet, rushing after his best friend and their classroom.
Souji awoke at 3:34 AM, to the sound of none other than the Junes jingle.
"Dude," Yosuke gushed, voice tinny but no less enthusiastic through the phone, "I've got it."
"That's great, Yosuke," Souji mumbled, only half remembering their conversation on the roof, "Couldn't this have waited until tomorrow?"
"Nope!" he chirped, baffling Souji with his level of energy, "I need you to do me a favor."
"What kind of favor?"
"Well," Yosuke's smile was almost audible, "you're in music club, aren't you?"
It was a week later that everything came together in a giant mess of…something. Yosuke wasn't sure if it was a good something or a terrible something, but one thing was for sure.
It was a mess.
It had taken ages of careful planning (not to mention a lot of uncomfortable flirting with the A/V girl) to get everything in order, but at last the stage was set. Chie was eating lunch on the roof with Yukiko and Rise, Souji was corralling the (admittedly small) group of symphonic band members who had agreed to help them with their little venture, Kanji was standing guard while the smitten A/V girl rewired the school's intercom to a microphone, and Yosuke was sneaking his guitar out of the supply closet he'd spirited it into that morning.
"Showtime," the brunette mumbled to himself, trying to ignore his sweaty palms and dry throat while hoisting the guitar over his shoulder. The weight was comfortable and familiar, easing his nerves somewhat while he plucked out a few notes. Smiling -- satisfied with both his accuracy and the tuning -- he took a deep breath and headed towards the end of the hall where Kanji was waiting with a small black microphone.
"On button's right there," the taller boy nodded gruffly, attaching the small device to the collar of Yosuke's shirt, then another to the neck of his guitar, before taking a step back, "Knock 'em dead, man."
"You're not going to watch me make a fool of myself?" Yosuke asked, genuinely curious while he adjusted the microphone, "I hear everyone's going to be there."
"Nah, you'll be fine," Kanji shrugged matter-of-factly, prompting a small smile out of Yosuke for reasons he couldn't quite place, "Besides, I don't need to be up there to hear you. The way Bunto-san wired you up, they'll be able to hear you all the way in the basement."
"R-Right," Yosuke nodded, feeling his throat tighten once again. Still, Kanji's eyes remained as confident and approving as they had from the get go. Who knew someone so scary could be so…soothing? Yosuke almost called him on it, but quickly thought better of it, opting for a simple, "Thanks, man," before heading up the stairs to -- quite literally -- face the music.
---
Chie was enjoying her third steak ramen when a familiar figure burst through the rooftop's double doors. Under normal circumstances, she wouldn't have thought much of it, but from the way Rise was suddenly grinning like a cat and the new mass of strings and cords hanging off her friend's body, apprehension started to blossom in her stomach.
"Yosuke, what are you-"
The brunette said nothing, but silenced her with a single finger to his lips. Her brow remained furrowed, and she was about to ask another question (most likely with a threat attached), when Yosuke fiddled with something on his shirt and took a deep breath.
And then, as if this was the most normal thing in the world, he started to play.
It was just a few simple cords, but the resounding way they echoed -- no, boomed -- throughout the rooftop was enough to make Chie's mouth drop open. Now that she listened closer, she realized it wasn't just the rooftop either. The entire school was full to the brim with Yosuke.
And as if that couldn't get any worse, the awkward boy she'd known for a good year now opened his mouth and began to -- she was already flushing with embarrassment -- sing.
"My story is much too sad to be told," he began, more than a little unsure as his voice bounced off seemingly everything, "But practically everything leaves me totally cold." With that, Yosuke turned on his heel, taking a few steps towards the edge of the roof with his back to the girls.
"The only exception I know is the case, when I'm out on a quiet spree, fighting vainly the old ennui," he highlighted his words with an over the top French accent, prompting Chie to wince in sympathetic embarrassment while Yukiko started to giggle, "Then I suddenly turn and see…"
There was a pregnant pause, followed by Yosuke turning dramatically back towards them, neck of his guitar stretched outward in Chie's direction, "Your fabulous face!"
Chie barely had enough time to appropriately gage just what the heck was going on and why the hell Yosuke was grinning at her like a total dork when an earsplitting crash echoed from the rooftop stairwell. Flipping around fast enough to get whiplash, Chie was greeted with the disturbing sight of Souji -- calm, collected, normal Souji -- leading a mismatched group of band geeks out onto the roof. They were playing a lively little number -- with Souji chiming in with his own little trumpet solos every so often -- but Chie didn't have time to dwell on just how so few people were making so much noise.
Yosuke had started singing again.
"I get no kick from champagne, mere alcohol doesn't thrill me at all," he sang, getting measurably more into it now that he was no longer the sole focus of attention, "So tell me why it should be true." Somewhere, in the steadily growing crowd, Chie was sure she heard a cork pop, "That I get a kick out of you."
Yosuke performed an impressive high kick, nearly toppling himself over, recovering just in time to start the next verse. The crowd on the rooftop was now mostly onlookers -- some watching in awe, most suppressing laughter.
"Some, they may go for cocaine," Yosuke shrugged, going so far as to gesture dramatically with a finger to his nose, "I'm sure if I took even one sniff…" He was closer now, crowding Chie's personal space (which was starting to shrink rapidly as more and more people piled onto the roof), "I'm sure it would bore me terriff-," he paused, letting the rhyme sink in, only inches from Chie's face, "-fically, too. But I get a kick out of you!" On 'kick', Yosuke spun away, providing his own lopsided version of a roundhouse kick. If Chie was in any capacity to notice something beyond the incredibly heat against her cheeks, she may have recognized it as one of her own preferred moves against him, of all people.
The music suddenly shifted as the bridge rolled in and Yosuke, who had given up trying to keep up on guitar, gestured wildly along with the lyrics, "I get a kick every time I see you standing there before me!"
From the back of the crowd, a familiar voice was starting to break through the laughter, mocking jibes, and supportive cheers.
"I get a kick, though it's clear to see…," Yosuke tried for a hangdog look, although the adrenaline wouldn't allow him to wipe the broad grin away from his face, "You obviously don't adore me."
Suddenly, the all too unpleasant voice of Mr. Morooka sounded louder amidst the deafening sound of Souji's trumpet, a third year's keyboard, and a particularly tiny girl's honking trombone, "What the hell's goin' on here!?"
"Shit," Yosuke whispered, although the mic picked it up anyway, "I-I get no kick in a plane!" He was already backing up, eyes fixed on King Moron as he fought his way through the crowd, "Flying to high with some gal in the sky, is my idea of nothing to --shit! -- do!"
Yosuke was off like a shot the moment his teacher broke through the sea of onlookers, the two racing fruitlessly around the rooftop. Yosuke was clamoring over heating ducts, panting out the final verses of his song while Chie buried her face in her hands.
"Yet I get a kick!," he sang, leaping dramatically off one of the ducts, with King Moron in hot pursuit, "Yeah, I get a boot!" Another kick, this one even more wild than the rest as he worked his way back to where the girls sat, lunches long forgotten. Rise was cheering with each new verse and booing enthusiastically each time King Moron's fingers nearly closed around Yosuke's t-shirt or guitar. Yukiko was on the floor, face red as a beet while she laughed uproariously at anything and everything playing out in front of her. Still, not even her face (or even her sweater, in retrospect), could compare to Chie's cheeks. Any more of this, and she was sure third degree burns were imminent.
"Oh, I get a kick-," Yosuke sang -- no, more like panted at this point -- landing on his knees in front of his friend with a dramatic tumble, "-out of you!"
The band played out a few more notes, ending just as Mr. Morooka's hands clamped tightly down over Yosuke's shoulders, hauling the still-grinning second year to his feet.
"What the hell are you assholes up to!?" the hunched man screamed, booming throughout the school once Yosuke's mic picked up his voice, "What's the meaning of this!?"
"Sorry, Mr. Morooka," Yosuke smiled, looking as far from sorry as someone could possibly be. Craning his neck away from King Moron's unpleasant scowl, his eyes landed on Chie. He offered her a sheepish smile and shrug, looking rather flushed face himself. Chie could only stare in shock.
When the hell did Yosuke get handsome, anyway?
"Detention!," King Moron screamed, "For all of you! Every single one of you!" He dragged Yosuke off towards the doorway (where most of the onlookers had already fled), "Fucking kids with their fucking hormones."
Yosuke smiled once more at Chie, offering a brief (and somewhat anticlimactic, after all the spectacle she'd just bore witness to) wave before being pulled roughly down into the stairwell. Chie merely blinked, eyes not leaving the door even as Yukiko's laughter looked as if it was going to make her burst.
"What-," she snorted loudly, hardly covering a long succession of similar snorts with the palm of her hand, "What was that!?"
Chie blinked again. She had no fucking idea.
It was a Thursday, 8:15 AM. Three weeks after everything clicked in Yosuke's brain. Two weeks after everything clicked in Yosuke's plan, and a
long time since Chie had last spoken to him.
In the end, it had only been him who got the detention King Moron had so aggressively awarded all of them. There were too many others to count, and since the ring leader was obvious, the school board was satisfied with awarding him two weeks of early morning and late afternoon sessions of tiding up athletic closets, empty club rooms, and King Moron's classroom. He could honestly say he had learned more opinions of the man than he'd ever cared to know. Probably even more than anyone cared to, even King Moron himself.
And on top of everything, Chie had gone silent on him. He hadn't even seen her outside of class since his -- now pathetic, he realized -- display. That, combined with the new and unsettling trend of students (and occasionally faculty) crooning Frank Sinatra tunes to him in the hallway, made Yosuke wonder if just dropping out of school (or maybe off the school -- 7.4 wasn't such a bad score) would be a better alternative to this.
It was his last day of detention, and once again, Yosuke didn't notice when the minute hand on his watch landed atop the three. What he did notice was a small hand tapping him roughly on the shoulder.
Yosuke groaned.
"Before you ask," he muttered tiredly, still focusing on tucking things away into his shoe locker, "No, I don't have blue eyes."
"Huh? I know you don't, idiot."
Yosuke spun around on his heel so fast, he was sure he was going to trip. He probably would have, if his hand hadn't flung out to grip the shoe lockers just in time. "C-Chie?"
"Hey," she mumbled, looking down at her shoes. If Yosuke had a mirror, he may have noticed that their faces wore a matching shade of pink, "Today's your last day, right?"
"Um, y-yeah," he nodded, rubbing the back of his neck. The little hairs there were starting to stand up the longer he stared at her. Contrary to his secret hope, two weeks of silence between them had not softened his infatuation in the slightest.
"Good," she nodded, taking a deep breath, "Then I want you to go to this kung fu marathon in Okina with me tonight. That cool?"
Yosuke stared, trying (and failing) to keep his mouth from hanging open unattractively, "I…I mean…"
"Is that a yes?" she asked tersely, hands back on her hips, quite like they had been when he first realized his feelings. Yosuke indulged himself a quick stare, only to yelp once his eyes met her fierce glare.
"Y-yeah!" he yelped, finally allowing a nervous smile to play across his lips, "That…I mean, that would be awesome!"
"Cool," Chie nodded, closing her eyes, "Now I won't feel bad about doing this."
Yosuke was allowed a few blissful seconds of ignorance before "this" impacted right into his gut.
"Shit!" he cried, crumpling back against the shoe lockers with a mournful note to his voice, "What the hell was that for!?"
"For not asking me out like a normal person!" she huffed, crossing her arms snugly across her chests, "You better never do that again, or I'm aiming lower."
Yosuke should have felt anger (hell, he should've felt fear), but for some reason, all his face seemed to want to do was grin like an idiot.
"Chie Satonaka," he asked, voice still cracking and thin from the pain of her punch, "Will you go out with me tonight?"
"I already asked you, dumbass."
"Is that a yes?"
Yosuke's smile seemed to be infectious, and it wasn't long before Chie was hiding a grin of her own in the collar of her sweatshirt.
"Yes."
"Cool."
Yosuke leaned forward slightly, allowing his eyes to slide shut while Chie's grew as wide as saucers. The boy's lips barely had time to brush her cheek before another slap was hurtling through the air, knocking him back roughly into the shoe lockers.
"Ow…," he whined, rubbing his cheek, "What did I do to deserve that one?"
"Trying to kiss me before we've even had one date, for one!" Chie retorted, arms once again folding protectively in front of herself. Only this time, her anger had considerably less heat behind it, and it wasn't long before both she and Yosuke were filling the empty hallway with their nervous laughter.
"So I'll meet you here after school then, right?" Yosuke asked, cheeks warming with a mixture of nerves and lingering pain from the smack. Chie nodded, lips quirking into her own little sideways smile.
"Sure thing, Hanamura."
Before Yosuke could comprehend what was happening, Chie had a grip on both his wrists, standing up on her tip toes and planting a shy, inexperienced kiss against his lips. It was over before he even had the chance to kiss back, and after a hasty goodbye, his friend had already taken off up the stairs to homeroom. Yosuke could only stare after her retreating form, blinking dumbly as warmth blossomed anew over his face.
Students were starting to filter in from outside now and, like clockwork, the refrains of My Way and I've Got The World On A String started filling the halls; following him all the way up to homeroom, where Yosuke settled into his desk with that same goofy grin on his face.
So, so worth it.
Feedback loved and appreciated, if you wish to give it!