11. aesthesiogen
Inaba wasn't particularly known for having much in the way of severe weather, but the occasional tropical storm was far from unheard of. That one might catch them by surprise one summer evening was really only a matter of timing and luck.
"Okay, there is no way that I'm walking home in that," Yosuke declared, Nanako having brought their attention to the downpour that was beginning outside. Souji glanced up at the darkening sky, resolutely closing the door before the rainwater could blow in onto the floor when a strong gust of wind tore down the street.
"I don't blame you," he replied, going down a mental checklist of the house windows and noting that he would need to close the one in his room. "Nanako, is the laundry-?"
She shook her head, looking up from the TV; "I brought it in earlier."
"Alright. That just leaves-"
"I'll call my mom and tell her I'm staying here," Yosuke finished for him, reaching for his cell phone as he spoke, "She'd have some kind of nervous breakdown if I walked home and got there soaked, anyway."
Satisfied, Souji gave a short nod before retreating up the stairs to close his window and search out some extra blankets from the closet.
All told it was fairly standard procedure, impromptu rain or not. It was hardly the sort of thing that beared paying any mind at all, and the two of them companionably enjoyed the rest of the evening as though it had been planned that way all along.
It was nearing eleven o'clock when the storm's intensity suddenly grew, thunder and lightning steadily and seamlessly cutting into the rain. From where he'd taken up residence for the night on the couch in Souji's room, Yosuke sat with his shoulders drawn in upon himself, a blanket held loose around his shoulders. They'd been talking about nothing in particular, bored and unable to sleep, when the sounds from outside had intervened, the brunet becoming increasingly distracted as time wore on.
After a point, he would go entirely silent for long stretches of time, often in the middle of his sentences. This type of behavior, Souji was more than confident, was hardly normal.
"Yosuke," he began, tentatively. "You're not... I mean, do thunder storms-?"
"No!" Yosuke snapped, interrupting. "Jeez, it's not like I'm... eight," he finished lamely, pulling the blanket tightly around his shoulders as he glared pointedly at his feet. It wasn't a very convincing argument even in his own mind, in no small part due to the fact that Nanako hadn't seemed bothered by the storm at all-and she was only six. He scuffed a foot against the floor with a short huff.
Souji turned on his side, propping his head up with one hand and searching him out in the darkened room, "You're sure acting like they bother you."
Outside, a sharp clap of thunder split the air, continuing to roll loudly for some time afterward. A flash of lightning lit up the room well enough for Souji to catch the other teen's flinch.
"Fine," Yosuke groaned defeatedly, drawing his legs up onto the couch as he did. "They do bother me, alright? I'm not scared of them, though, I haven't been since-" He cut himself off in response to the soft chuckle from across the room. "Shut up already!"
"Sorry."
"No you're not," he retorted, folding in on himself a little more with the next thunderclap. "Ugh. I never liked storms, but they weren't this bad. It's like..." He paused, as though considering whether or not the following thought was too stupid to bother going on to try and explain. "It's Jiraiya, I think."
From across the room, Souji let himself fall back onto his futon, staring thoughtfully up into the dark.
"I don't know," Yosuke continued, "It's kind of the same feeling, anyway. It's like he's really on edge, or something. I can't settle down."
Silence reigned for a moment or two, interrupted only by the sound of rolling thunder.
"...it's stupid. Forget it."
"No," Souji said quietly, setting his jaw and thinking it over once more before finally rolling over and pushing himself back up onto his elbow, looking over toward where the other was curled against one corner of his cramped couch, "Actually, that makes a lot of sense."
"Seriously?" Yosuke laughed awkwardly, raking a hand through his hair before another flash of lightning caused him to yank it back against his chest, clutching his blanket tightly once more. "...what are you talking about?"
"Jiraiya's weak to electricity, right? Maybe you're right, thunderstorms probably just make him nervous or something."
Another round of silence, during which Souji could only assume that the other teen was contemplating this theory.
"Partner," Yosuke finally spoke, "That is, without a doubt, the stupidest thing I have ever heard."
"Stupider than when Chie told us about the Midnight Channel?"
He might not have been able to see it, but he was sure that he couldfeelthe glare that was thrown at him in response to that remark.
A particularly loud crash of thunder suddenly rang through the air, lightning splitting the sky and illuminating the room with an almost dizzying brightness, Yosuke pulling the borrowed blanket over his head as he doubled over with a frustrated shout that was only partially muffled by his knees.
"Damn it," he ground through his teeth after a beat. "I hate this storm."
Watching from his spot on the futon, Souji briefly considered the situation before settling on the solution that came easiest; he lifted the covers with his free arm, waiting quietly to see if such a simple invitation would be enough. In the dark it was difficult to tell, but he thought if he looked hard enough he could see the flurry of emotions that passed through the other's eyes, ranging from confusion to embarrassment. He didn't speak, though, choosing instead to pull himself from the small sofa and shuffle over to the futon without a word.
Souji scooted aside to give him room, waiting until he'd mostly settled before throwing the cover back over the both of them and resting against his pillow with a sigh.
"...didn't have to do that," Yosuke mumbled after a few minutes.
Souji allowed himself a brief smile, eyes already closed; "No, I didn't. But I wanted to." He didn't have to look to envision the blush that sentiment had most likely earned him; it would probably have been too dark to see, anyway. "And besides," he continued, as an afterthought, "Izanagi's not bothered by electricity. He'll protect you."
There was a scoff at his side, equal parts derisive and amused. "You're an idiot. You know that, right?"
Souji hummed in acknowledgment, rolled over, and went to sleep.
It was nearing three in the morning when he awoke with a start to a terrible howling sort of noise, unlike anything that his sleep-addled brain could fathom an explanation for. He blinked into the dark, glancing around to try and identify the source of the sound. Yosuke was fast asleep only a few inches away, back turned to him. The sound picked up, suddenly, before dropping off once more into little more than a quiet rush of air outside the window.
The wind, Souji realized abruptly, turning his attention toward the offending window. Even secured closed as it was, the strong gusts of wind outside whistled through every crevice of the house. It was oddly loud, oppressive and rattling in a way that he wouldn't normally have associated with something so harmless.
It's only the wind.
Somewhere in his mind, he felt the buzz at the corner of consciousness that he'd come to associate with his Personas-a white noise that had been strangely easy to tune out once he'd become accustomed to it being there. Ocasionally he could feel their gentle pull, reaching for his attention for one reason or another, but generally it was he who initiated contact when it was necessary.
He closed his eyes, concentrating on the feeling and trying to bring it into focus. Another gust of wind broke that concentration all too easily, sending a shiver through him that seemed to run too deep. Only vaguely aware of how tense he was quickly becoming, he tried in vain to seek out the source of the static in his brain so that he might soothe it back into silence.
The wind picked up once more into a wailing sort of noise, and he brought both his hands to his ears as the white noise jumped in intensity to match. Izanagi, he identified, recognizing the familiar presence at once. There were others, yes, but Izanagi was kept closest to the forefront of his mind and seemed to hold the most weight when it came to the mental bonds that he maintained with his various other selves.
Beside him, Yosuke shifted in his sleep, turning on his side and blinking sluggishly into awareness in response to some unconscious prompt. He frowned, scrubbing the back of one hand across his eyes and looking up toward the other.
"What're you-?" he asked drowsily, the wind choosing that moment to kick up once again, howling outside the window. For an instant he suddenly looked very much aware before a slow, lazy grin spread across his features. "...oh."
Souji glanced over at him, dropping his hands into his lap. "What?"
"Nothing," Yosuke replied, looking entirely too comfortable with the arrangement as a whole. He reached up with one arm to gently tug the other teen back down into the relative warmth of the futon, pulling the cover around them both and deciding that moving his arm from where it had ended up across Souji's chest in the process would simply take too much effort.
"...Tell him to chill," he murmured after a moment, sounding as though he might drift back off to sleep at any time, "Jiraiya's got this one."
For an instant Souji almost considered some snide but well-natured quip to match the one he'd gotten only hours before, stopped by the odd sensation of Izanagi's quiet approval as his restlessness seemed to settle. When the next burst of wind tore against the house from outside, the level unease from his Persona had gone back to little more than a quiet grumble at the edge of his awareness, negligible at best.
He blinked into the darkened room, surprised by this development, before turning to face Yosuke a little better, finding that he'd already fallen back asleep. Lulled by the wind, no doubt, he mused as he shifted as close to the other as he dared. Warm and comfortable as he was in his friend's presence-perhaps more literally sheltered from the storm than he'd thought when he'd made that claim himself-Souji entertained one last thought on the nature of one's weakness being their greatest strength before finally allowing himself to be reclaimed by sleep as well.
