Please bear in mind that this writer does not care about real life chronological events, especially when referencing things.
Minor & Major
The words, "It's your fault we're in this mess" spring to mind, but you don't open your mouth out of respect. Otherwise, Souji gets irritated easily, but damn him to hell if he'll let it show.
Two: Intense Noise
The Night of the School Camping Trip – Pre-Dawn Morning
The sounds of rustling filled the tent as one of the bodies within it shifted. He knew it was some time in the early morning by now, even if dawn was some way off. As an only child, he was far beyond being used to sleeping alone, and was slightly uncomfortable with the idea of sleeping in the same room as someone else. Yeah, sure it was a tent, but the same principle applies. Once he realised that there would only be his best friend being in the same tent, however, that certainly did a lot to calm his nerves. He could totally live with that. Even when Kanji came and decided to bunk down in the same tent, okay, fair enough, he could live with it.
But then, Yosuke just had to make that comment about Kanji, which set off the nerves in the first place, lest he inadvertently bring down the wrath (pronounced Wroth, by the way) of Morooka. But, no, instead he had to cause the oncoming of Chie and Yukiko, and boy if he didn't feel uncomfortable now. The sounds of breathing were an alien thing, and it was impossible to get used to. And he still wasn't really used to Chie's… tendencies, like her flair for the dramatic.
He rolled back around in an attempt to get to sleep, already feeling the ratty feeling of sleep deprivation coming on. The breathing, however, was still doing a good job of keeping him awake. The continuous, dysrhythmic cycling, looping quietly in the background, like two distant speakers interfering, making a piece of music you already don't like worse.
Hang on… distant? Souji focused a little more, and realised there were only two distinct sounds of breathing. Sleep-ridden breathing anyway. Which meant Yosuke was either really quiet – yeah, right – or…
"…Yosuke?"
"…Huh…?"
Souji allowed himself to laugh, quietly. "Thought so. Can't sleep?" Yosuke merely responded with a nervous, affirmative grunt. "… Er… Is something…" There was no way that sentence was going to sound anything but wooden and dorky, so he tried another tack. "*Ahem*… You alright?"
"…I feel so goddamn awkward, dude."
"Why? If anyone's made this awkward now, it's the girls."
"No… I mean… with Kanji."
"Well, you could have tried being reasonable, sure."
A glare. "I just… don't know how to act around him, yaknow? I mean, it's…"
"Yosuke." The other male in the tent turned around to look at him, eyes wide open, confusion etched upon his face. Souji thought for a moment about best to put it before he realised that, as is often with him, blunt is the thing he's best. "Okay. Put it this way. Are either of us making moves on the girls right now?"
"T-That's…"
"Exactly the same as what you said, and you know it."
"I-I guess… It's just… I've never thought about it before, and then we had… well, Kanji's shadow."
"And then you had to think about it."
Yosuke closed his eyes. "Yeah. I mean… I don't know how… well people… that way act."
"People that way?"
"You know… people who are… well…"
"Gay?" Souji, blunt as always.
After a few seconds internal deliberation, Yosuke just nodded, almost imperceptibly.
Souji held his breath for a few seconds, then started chuckling quietly to himself.
"P-Partner? Why are you… laughing?"
"Nothing, Partner, just…" Another chuckle. "You people and your… categories!"
"Huh? What's that supposed to mean?"
"What do you think about it? Gay people, I mean?"
"Well, I know it's not wrong…"
"But…"
"Well… I was taught that it wasn't really right, either."
Souji lay there for a few seconds, thinking.
"Partner?"
"Okay, Yosuke, hear me out here, okay?"
Yosuke shifted to a listening position, intrigued at what his partner had to say.
"You remember how, when I came to Inaba, I was… you know… really awkward?"
A considerate nod. Surprising, from Yosuke, but Souji took it.
"Well… that wasn't just nerves. I've… kind of always been an awkward case. Like that girl the other day. One thing I heard from people talking about me once was… ah… 'he's as cute has hell, but just about more awkward.' To be perfectly honest, it was a bad insult, but…"
"Wait. Souji… are you saying… you never had friends at where you used to be?"
"Yosuke, I've never had friends, period."
"So… wait… I was…"
"Obviously. You were the first person to call me a friend, idiot."
"… I'm… sorry."
"Don't be. But, anyway… when you're alone, you get to see how… the world works. And… I saw some strange things. There were boys who insisted they swung towards themselves, so to speak, only to end up announcing their undying love for these really cute girls. And there were boys who insisted, insisted they were straight… and I'm sure a few of them were… but they ended up dating other men because… they clicked, they resounded with each other. I'm not saying that sexuality makes no difference, because it does – heck, it's part of your identity – but… well, sexual preference is just that… a preference."
"…Wow, dude… that's just… I never thought of it that way."
"… Annoyingly, some girls took that as me being openly bisexual. Which makes you more 'exotic', apparently."
Yosuke couldn't help it. He laughed – mostly at the thought of Souji screwing up his face in disgust, but partly because of the odd timing of the statement. Before he knew it, Souji was quietly laughing with him. "Souji?"
"Yeah?"
"No matter what, you'll be my friend, okay?"
"And no matter what, you'll be mine, Yosuke."
Yosuke laughed, and relaxed back into the ground. Or, rather, he tried to, before he had Souji bearing down on him in a warm embrace. "P-Partner?!"
Souji laughed to himself. "Yeah, say my name, Yosuke…"
Slowly, yet slightly awkwardly, Yosuke returned the hug, still laughing.
After a while just gently hugging each other, they settled back into the ground, both more than ready to go to sleep, Souji spoke quietly.
"Heteronormativity."
"Huh?"
"It's the belief that men and woman have their roles in society, and that they shouldn't be deviated from. I… never agreed with it. The idea always… annoyed me.
"Oh… So that's why…"
"Why I feel so strongly about it. So… Yosuke? Can you do one thing for me?"
"…Depends."
"Can you go and apologise to Kanji? I'd hate to see you two act awkward around each other because of some dumb argument…"
"Oh… Well…" Yosuke looked defeated. "I… can't see why not."
"I'll go with you."
Yosuke smiled fully. "Thanks, Partner."
And the laughing died down, and the warmth of happiness managed to block out the draft.
And they slept, the low deep sounds of their breathing overriding the background clamour.
The following… Wait, Later The Same Day
Before anyone else could react to the sounds of vomiting coming from upstream, Souji dove behind the two other boys, locked himself beneath the other boys' shoulders, and started to kick furiously, sending the trio downstream, the flow helping him along once the others feet lifted from the ground. However, before the other two could figure out what the silverette was doing, Kanji suddenly shifted his weight over in some sort of shock, flipping out of the way. Not that Souji was complaining – it freed up his right arm so that he could do some arm work – not to mention allow him to raise his head much more easily. "Damnit-" His head descended… "Yosuke…" … "Swim!"…
Shortly after him saying this, he felt an arm wrapping over his shoulder, and the legs beside him starting to kick.
Before either of them had noticed, they had managed to scramble onto the bank. Naturally, when they looked back, there was one very exhausted and annoyed looking Kanji. The two of them just smirked at him as he scrambled on to the bank.
He panted for a few seconds "You could have told me you were going to do that, Senpai…"
"Ah… Yeah, I could've."
Yosuke, having caught his breath… "Where the hell did you learn to swim like that?"
"Swimming lessons, where else? I didn't have much to do…" Souji screwed his face up in pain slightly, before brightening up a little. "Anyway, don't you have something to say to Kanji?"
Yosuke's face grew weary for a moment, before he hardened his expression to face Kanji. "Ah… Kanji… Souji and I were talking about what I said last night… and I'm…" Realising he didn't sound very sincere, he closed his eyes and concentrated on his posture…
"…I shouldn't have said what I said."
"…Damn straight."
"I'm… sorry." Somehow, the pause made it seem more sincere.
"…Thanks, Senpai."
Leaving a few seconds for the moment to linger, Souji started to mentally think of how he wanted to spend the evening. "Right, now that we've done that… do you two mind not having a shower for a little longer?"
The two boys looked at their leader questioningly.
"Well, I was thinking of hitting Aiya. I'll pay?"
Kanji was clearly carefully considering the offer, especially given his tofu preference. Yosuke, on the other hand, was already running in the distance to get changed.
