25. you are not the person I thought you were
"Partner."
That's what does it. Something snaps, something important, something vital-
It's the first time he's ever said it back, Yosuke's mind supplies thickly, like somehow that's the only thing that matters. It isn't fair.
It just isn't fair.
"Look at me."
He can't. He can't, so the hand around his throat reaches instead for a fistful of hair and yanks his head back, forcing him to- and he's suddenly hysterically glad, to the point of fitful, choking, crying laughter, if he could only find the breath to start, that his vision's gone too dark around the edges by now for it to matter anyway.
After everything they've done, everything they've been through, every truth they've sought; this he can't bring himself to face. He can't look. He can't see clear, steel grey eyes where there should be only piercing yellow; alert and aware and very much in control as he drives one of Yosuke's own blades deep beneath the sternum, angled upward, and twists-