Sorry for the lengthy delay! I got caught up with a multitude of other stories (many of which sadly aren't quite fit for this site) and took a break from this. If you'd like to check out some of my other stories (and my art), I have a fanfiction journal here: w w w . community . livejournal . com / bedsafe_fanwork (remove spaces, natch)
December 20th, 2013
There were some tortures in life you couldn't avoid. Dentist visits, awkward lunches with distant relatives, those big bugs that buzzed around your window (and occasionally got in). Yosuke knew that. He accepted that. Still, as another piercing clink of porcelain knocking together rang out through the room, Yosuke had to wonder if 'rooming with your best friend' was among those required sufferings.
Something told him it wasn't.
With a dramatic puff of air, Yosuke rolled onto his side, putting on a grand show of restlessness for his friend on the opposite side of the room. Souji was either unimpressed or simply engrossed in his book, as all he did was take another sip of tea and turn the pages of The Princely Way. Otherwise known as the noisiest book in existence.
"Souji," he finally groaned into his pillow, "It's late. Go to bed."
His best friend responded with another scraping, insufferable turn of the page.
"In a bit," he mumbled, after a pause that went long enough to make Yosuke lose what little was left of his sanity, "I just want to finish this chapter."
"Rocks fall, everyone dies. The end. Go to sleep." Yosuke once again turned violently in his small bed, jerking the sheets so hard they lifted from the cheap mattress and wound themselves around his person. Souji snickered.
"Sorry," he smiled, closing his book and flicking off the small lamp he'd been reading with. Yosuke made a noise of over exaggerated relief and triumph while Souji rolled his eyes into the darkness, positioning his pillow comfortably beneath his head. Within seconds, the two boys were surrounded by the silence of their small, unimpressive dorm.
As usual, however, that silence was fleeting.
"Fuck," Yosuke groaned, drawing out the word until it became a barely decipherable trail of high pitched whining, "Now I can't sleep."
"Count sheep," Souji suggested unhelpfully, earning a frustrated sigh from his friend, "What?"
"This is your fault."
"Right."
"I mean it, Souji! First I find you digging weird crap out of the fridge, now you're reading trashy self-help books in the middle of the night, who the hell knows what you'll do while I'm asleep!" Yosuke propped himself up against the stark white walls of their dorm, "You're giving me a complex, Souji, I'm serious."
"Mm. I wonder what might happen if you put as much time into classes as you do to study my habits," Souji drawled, leaning heavily on his elbow as he picked at a small wrinkle on the sheets, "Maybe your Dad would send money instead of angry letters."
"I'd have to change my major before that would happen," the brunette grumbled, forgetting his anger for a moment in light of an opportunity to pick at his favorite topic. Namely, Why His Father Was Such An Enormous Jerk. "I got another email from him today. I swear, this thing would win awards for most prevalent usage of the caps lock key."
"Still on you about becoming a businessman?"
"Like you wouldn't believe," Yosuke grumbled, earning a knowing nod from his best friend, "I think he might pull my tuition soon, but whatever." An awkward laugh penetrated the darkness, hitching slightly like it often did when Yosuke put on his Customer Service Face. He'd never lost it, even after leaving Junes. It made Souji just as uncomfortable now as it did then, even when only the barest outline of white teeth were visible in the shadowed room. "College life never suited me, anyway. And you can find a new roommate to annoy the shit out of!"
"You're not going anywhere," Souji stated simply, voice taking on neither hesitant reassurance nor gripping conviction. He said it in the same, matter-of fact voice he used when relaying the weather report or commenting on the state of the shower on their floor. Assured, unflustered, and confident.
It was comforting, and before too long Yosuke was smiling faintly into the dark room.
"Yeah, I know, I'm just kidding," he relented, "Like you'd find someone else to put up with you!"
"Mhm," Souji nodded, a slight smile playing across his lips. If Yosuke could see it, he'd probably be blushing and blustering about how he really didn't need to be looked after, Souji, he's not one of his daycare kids! But the lamp was off, and he was spared the defiant rant for now. Besides, Yosuke's protests were always inconsequential in the end. Both of them knew Yosuke did need looking after. Souji needed it too, albeit in a different way.
They kept each other sane, filling the gaps in each others personalities with their starkly different habits. Outwardly, many people on campus wondered why on earth cool, charming Seta-kun was joined at the hip with a dorky country boy. When asked this question directly, Souji always gave the same answer.
"He's my best friend," he would force past a tight, controlled smile, "Any other reasons are none of your business."
The rumors of them being partners in a deeper sense started fairly soon after their fourth month at school. Souji could understand the impulse to assign a name to he and Yosuke's admittedly bizarre relationship. Calling them 'best friends', as the two of them so often did, seemed inadequate even to them. Watching the two of them bustle around their dorm painted a convincing picture of marriage. Yosuke was a nag, through and through, complaining petulantly about anything and everything. Souji was known to shut him up with a joking kiss to the forehead, which left the brunette flailing and sputtering for a good fifteen minutes. When they relaxed together, played video games, napped, they would occasionally share the same bed. Once, Souji had even been seen winding his fingers through Yosuke's hair as he slept.
It was very easy to see why one might draw the conclusion that they had something more.
But for all the unique aspects of their friendship, the rumors were unfounded. As Yosuke would often spit angrily after another hopeful group of girls milked him for details or jealously opined that he was soooo lucky, they just didn't 'get it'.
"Chie's coming up in a few days," Yosuke mentioned abruptly, once again filling the dark room with his voice, "You know, so we can spend Christmas together and stuff."
"Ah," Souji nodded, biting back the urge to ask why they had both waited until now to tell him this, "That'll be nice."
"Yeah," Yosuke nodded in return, trying to stymie the awkwardness that had suddenly cropped up between them, "So, uh, the reason I mention it is…well, y'know, Christmas Eve and everything. Kinda a couples thing, so…" There was the audible sound of fingers drumming on their shared bedside table, "Could I take the room, man? I don't want to kick you out or anything, but…"
But you do want to kick me out, Souji internally supplied, "It's alright, Yosuke, I don't care. Far be it from me to get in the way of you getting laid."
"Thanks," his friend gushed, sounding genuinely appreciative and making Souji feel like more of an asshole for feeling bitter, "I owe you, partner. I would take her to a hotel, but money's tight and all-"
"Seriously," Souji interrupted, "It's cool. I'll go down to Inaba for a few days. I want to catch Nanako before she starts thinking magic tricks are lame."
"Yeah," Yosuke laughed, suddenly sounding a little odd, "Lemme guess, that's not the only reason."
"Huh?"
"Well," he continued, a devilish edge to his voice, "I hear Rise is going to be back home for Christmas~. You know how the song goes, don't you?" Souji winced, covering his ears with his pillow while Yosuke burst into a very broken English version of I'll Be Home For Christmas.
"I get it," Souji told him, trying to speak over the din, "Now shut up before we get another noise complaint." Yosuke did as he was told, although not without a few lewd snickers, once again bringing back the sweet quiet from before, "And I didn't even know Rise was going to be in Inaba."
"Sure~."
"I didn't," Souji repeated, voice edged with frustration, "We realized it wasn't going to work out a while ago. She's just a friend."
"Ah," Yosuke grinned, waggling his eyebrows needlessly, "So Yukiko, then."
"I wish you'd stop," Souji sighed, rolling onto his back, staring up at the thin crack that ran along the ceiling. It had gotten worse since they moved in. Absently, he mused on just how much time he had left before the bed in the room above them broke through and crushed him in his sleep. It would beat having this conversation again.
"Stop what?" Yosuke asked, sounding genuinely clueless as he propped himself up on his elbow, "Stop trying to figure out who has captured the elusive but no less sought after Seta Heart?" A pause, followed by a wrinkling of the nose. "It's not Naoto, is it? Kanji'll have your ass."
"I'll make it easy for you, Teddie," Souji shot back, earning a small cry of protest from his friend, "No one. Not yet, anyway."
"Whatever," Yosuke laughed, finally accepting defeat as he brought his thin blanket up around his shoulders, "But when you find her, tell me, because I fucking hate guessing games."
"Sure thing, Yosuke," he nodded, letting his lips curve upward slightly, "Go to bed."
"Way ahead of you," his friend replied, accompanied by the barely visible flitting of a hand making an exaggerated salute. After a few minutes of silence and the occasional shifting of sheets, a high, thin snore filled the room. Souji's smile grew slightly, only to fall promptly when he realized that sleep was not coming to him as easily.
Instead, he stared up at the crack in the ceiling, mentally gauging how much plaster he would need to buy. He could probably stretch one of those little one pound bags a long way, if he had to. Yosuke wasn't the only one money was tight for, after all.
Souji sighed, letting his mind drift back to their conversation. It wasn't as if there weren't girls he had his eye on. There were, and Yosuke knew about most of them. They would talk about it over dinner, making jokes while Yosuke crafted mathematically incorrect odds on the likelihood of Souji actually hooking them. Realistically, Souji knew he probably wouldn't have to try very hard to get a date. Not as hard as some, anyway, he noted with a discreet look to the snoring lump in the other bed. But he found that, in the end, the will wasn't there.
When it came right down to it, Souji was happy with the way things were. After a life of constant flux, he had found a setup he enjoyed. He could look at all the girls he wanted and then come home to hang out with his best friend, who knew what he liked and how to cheer him up and when to shut his mouth (at least most of the time). It would be so much easier if he was gay. At least then he could figure out why the hell he got so jealous whenever Chie came around and he, once again, found himself being passed over.
When it came right down to it, Souji was a lot like the curious onlookers that lived on their floor. He wanted to put a name to what he and Yosuke had too.
As if on cue, Yosuke shifted in his sleep, muttering something about his music theory professor chasing him. Souji smiled, if only a little.
At least things hadn't changed just yet.
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