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The Investigation Team knew to brace themselves for the unexpected every time they stepped foot into the TV world, especially when entering a new dungeon.
Still, there was only so much they could be prepared for, and Naoto’s Shadow showing up and flinging attacks at them in a childish attempt to force them out was up there on the list of things that they hadn’t fully expected. Granted, it wasn’t at the top of the list (that spot was reserved for an incident that would never be spoken of again, involving some Shadows, a mass Panic ailment, a stripper pole, and a disco ball), but it was still enough to throw them off their game--especially coupled with how irritatingly fast the Shadow was, making it impossible to land a hit on him.
Rise shouted a warning that came a second too late, and before Souji could react, he felt one of Naoto’s Shadow’s attacks connect with his chest, the bright light forcing him to squeeze his eyes shut and the sounds of his friends’ shouts growing farther away as his mind went blank.
As soon as the light cleared, Yosuke was the first to rush towards his partner to check if he was alright.
Except Souji was gone.
In his place stood a small child, no older than four years old, glancing around with only the slightest hint of wary confusion on his otherwise impassive face.
Yosuke would recognize that face anywhere, younger or not. It helped that his hair was the same distinctive shade of gray that he was used to seeing almost every day in front of him, though on a much smaller head.
He didn’t even realize that he’d stumbled to a halt until he noticed the rest of the team approaching, all of them staring at Souji with matching looks of stunned disbelief.
“Senpai…?” Rise was the first to break the silence, her Persona disappearing as she slowly approached the smaller boy. She looked down at him for a moment before covering her mouth to muffle a squeal. “He’s so cute…!!”
It was as if everyone had been waiting for someone to say it aloud: as soon as the words left Rise’s lips, Chie and Yukiko crowded around Souji as well, the three girls cooing over how adorable he was while Kanji hovered nearby, nodding in agreement while trying not to be too obvious about it. Teddie had no such qualms, however, and was trying to worm his way past the girls so he could give his tiny Sensei a bear hug.
All in all, it was a different kind of chaos than what usually came about from a Shadow’s attack, but it was still chaos all the same, and Yosuke--while inwardly agreeing that his partner was a pretty cute kid--decided to step in and do his part as the leader’s right-hand man to get everything back under control.
“Guys, we need to focus. We’re still in Naoto’s dungeon, we’ve got no clue where Naoto’s Shadow ran off to or when he’ll be back, and we don’t actually know what was done to partner besides him getting turned into a kid.”
“Woah… since when was Yosuke the responsible one?” Chie asked, giving voice to the collective look of surprise that he received from the group.
Yosuke frowned in annoyance. “Since our leader got turned into a kid. Someone has to take charge until whatever this is wears off, and crowding around Souji talking about how cute he is isn’t going to accomplish anything. Rise, can you do a scan of him and see how we can fix this?”
“Oh, sure!” Rise summoned her Persona again, doing a quick scan of Souji. “Well, good news is that it doesn't look like it's permanent, bad news is that it also doesn't look like something we can just get rid of like a regular status effect, so we'll have to wait it out.”
“About how long?” Yosuke asked.
Rise dismissed her Persona before responding. “About an hour or two, not that long.”
“Still, that's way too long for us to just hang around in a dungeon for,” Yosuke replied with a pensive frown. “Guess that means we're done for today.”
There was a reluctant chorus of agreement, before Rise crouched down in front of Souji as a thought suddenly occurred to her. “Senpai, do you recognize us at all?”
Souji took a step backwards away from Rise in response, his gaze just as nervous as when everyone had been crowding around him, and a troubled silence fell over the group in response.
“That never even occurred to me…,” Yukiko murmured. “If he’s a child now, that must mean he has no memories of any of us, or where this is.”
“You don’t think anything else got affected, right?” Chie asked warily.
A troubled frown briefly flitted across Rise’s face before she covered it up with a smile as she turned her attention back to Souji. “Do you remember your name?”
Souji hesitated before giving a small nod, and the group let out a collective sigh in relief. At least whatever Naoto’s Shadow had done hadn’t messed with Souji’s head; it just turned his body and mind back to when he was a kid.
Rise gave Souji another smile and held out her hand to him. “Let’s get you out of this scary place, okay?”
To both her surprise and the surprise of the rest of the group, Souji shook his head and took another nervous step away from her, his hands clenching and unclenching the end of his shirt.
“Woah, can’t believe Senpai just rejected you.”
Rise shot a glare over at Kanji. “Shut up, Moronji! Don’t say it like that!” She pouted as she added, “He just doesn’t remember who I am, that’s all.”
“Hey, don’t take it out on me!” Kanji snapped with a frown. “ ‘s not my fault Senpai doesn’t wanna go with you.”
“Oh, like he wants to go with you either.” Rise gestured to Souji, who had immediately flinched backwards away from Kanji as soon as he’d opened his mouth. “See?”
“C’mon, this isn’t the time to be fighting!” Chie stepped in between the two of them before Kanji could respond.
Yukiko stepped in as well, worriedly glancing between the trembling boy and her irritated teammates. “That’s right. Our priority should be to take Souji-kun somewhere safe; it doesn’t matter which of us is the one to do it.”
“Don’t worry, Sensei! Teddie will carry you to safety!”
The mascot rushed towards Souji, intending on picking him up, only to skid to a halt as Souji recoiled away from him with his arms covering his head.
“O-oh no… Sensei’s afraid of Teddie like he’s afraid of Kanji!!” Teddie wailed.
“What the hell! Why the hell d’you gotta bring me into it?!”
As the group fell into chaos once more, Yosuke let out an irritated breath, and was about to get on their case again when he took a proper look at Souji.
Shit.
His heart dropped as he saw Souji’s chest rising and falling unevenly, his body shaking as he curled up on the floor with his knees to his chest and his hands covering his head--
No, not his head, his ears.
Realization hit Yosuke, and he scrambled to pull his headphones off from around his neck as he hissed at the team, “Shut up!!”
Though he hadn’t raised his voice above the noise they were causing, Yosuke’s sharp words cut through the bickering and instantly silenced everyone, allowing him to give Souji his full attention as he carefully knelt down in front of him.
Yosuke gently put his headphones on top of the small hands covering Souji’s ears, turning on one of his softer playlists and adjusting the headphones before carefully easing Souji’s hands down so the headphones could properly rest over his ears, blocking out any other noise. When Souji looked up at him in startled alarm, his uneven breathing growing even more panicked, Yosuke calmly held his gaze, moving one of Souji’s hands to press against Souji’s chest and the other to press against his own. He began to breathe slowly, his motions pointedly exaggerated, and he was relieved when Souji realized what he wanted him to do and shakily began following his lead until their breathing was in sync.
“There you go, that’s it…,” Yosuke murmured encouragingly as Souji’s trembling died down, letting go of his hands once he was sure Souji wasn’t going to lapse back into another panic attack.
Immediately, Souji’s hands went back to gripping and toying with the hem of his shirt, his head ducking down as his gaze fell to the ground.
“‘M… ‘msorry.”
The mumbled words barely managed to reach Yosuke’s ears, but once they did, he wasted no time in reaching out to give Souji a careful pat on the head over his headphones, smiling at him once Souji looked up in surprise.
“It’s alright, it wasn’t your fault.” Giving a light tap to the headphones, Yosuke asked, “Does this help?”
Souji tightened his grip on the edge of his shirt and nodded slowly.
“Then you can hold onto them. Here, might as well hold this too.” Yosuke pulled out the mp3 player the headphones were attached to and held it out to Souji, who took it with more care than Yosuke would have expected from a small child.
He gave Souji one last pat on the head before rising back up to his feet and turning back around to face his team, intending on telling them to get ready to head back to the TV world entrance--only for his face to heat up lightly in embarrassment as he found everyone staring at him with stunned expressions.
“Uh, what are you guys looking at?”
“Are you sure you’re really Yosuke?” Teddie questioned. “You smell like him, but Yosuke’s never this responsible!”
“Oh shut up, you dumb bear,” Yosuke huffed. “Is it really that weird for me to help my partner out?”
“We just never expected you to know how to handle that, that’s all,” Yukiko replied, playing peacemaker in Souji’s stead. “It was impressive to watch.”
Yosuke’s blush darkened as everyone murmured their agreement, and he turned away slightly, rubbing the back of his neck with a shrug and absentmindedly grabbing for headphones that weren’t there. “It’s… not really all that big of a deal. A-anyway, more importantly, we need to get out of here before any more Shadows show up.”
Rise nodded in agreement, summoning her Persona to double-check the area. “It looks like we’re still in the clear, but we shouldn’t take any chances. Teddie, you’ll have to Traestro us out of here, since Senpai had all of our items and stuff on him.”
“Um…,” Teddie poked his hands together sheepishly. “I kind of… used all of my energy in that fight before, and I didn’t have the chance to get any healing from Sensei before he became mini-Sensei.”
Chie groaned. “Great, so that means we’ve got to walk all the way back.”
“At least we’re not that far in,” Yukiko pointed out. “It shouldn’t take us long to reach the exit.”
“What about Senpai, though?” Kanji glanced over at Souji before quickly looking away, obviously still feeling guilty and the slightest bit hurt over having accidentally scared him.
“Don’t worry about Sensei! I can--” Teddie was cut off from approaching Souji by Yosuke, who shot him a look that had him quickly covering his mouth with his hands--but the damage was done, and Souji was back to trembling and hiding from the loud voice.
At least this time, though, he was hiding behind Yosuke’s leg instead of curling up away from everyone, one tiny hand gripping Yosuke’s pants while the other held on to the mp3 player like a lifeline.
(Yosuke tried not to feel too smug about the fact that Souji had shied away from everyone in the group save for him, he really did, but it was hard not to enjoy the feeling of his partner trusting him out of everyone else even without his memory.)
"I'm beary sorry," Teddie said as he shrunk back, and he looked so genuinely guilty that Yosuke didn't have it in him to reprimand him. "I just wanted to help… I even made mini-Sensei his own mini-glasses."
"Glasses-- oh shit, that's right!" Yosuke glanced down at Souji worriedly, having completely forgotten about the fog and how it might be affecting him, before looking back over at Teddie. "I'll help him put them on."
Part of him wanted to question when Teddie had even had the time to make the small glasses that he pulled out of his suit and handed over, but if there was anything Yosuke learned from dealing with Teddie, it was to just stop questioning things otherwise you would just end up with a migraine.
Yosuke crouched down in front of Souji, letting him see the glasses before carefully putting them onto the small child's face, unable to help the smile that tugged at the corners of his lips as he saw Souji's eyes light up in surprise as he looked around.
"Guess that means they work, huh," he said with a quiet chuckle, standing back up and turning his attention back over to the group, feeling embarrassed as he found them all watching him once more.
Was it really that weird that he was helping his partner out?
(Or maybe they were all just looking at Souji--he did look surprisingly cute with those glasses on, even Yosuke could admit that.)
“Well, I think it's safe to say that Senpai’s at least comfortable with Yosuke-senpai, so I guess that means he’ll look after him,” Rise said, though it was obvious that she was disappointed that she wouldn’t get to coddle Souji like she wanted to.
Yosuke ran a hand through his hair with a troubled frown. “I mean, that’s fine by me, but if we run into any Shadows I’m gonna have my hands full looking after him. Will you guys be alright?”
Chie snorted. “You really think we can’t pull our weight without you? We’ll be fine.”
“And it would help to have you in the back with Rise-chan too,” Yukiko added, trying again to pacify Yosuke before he could get irritated by Chie’s commentary. “We’re going to need someone to give orders in Souji-kun’s place in case we have to fight, and someone to cover Rise-chan while she uses her Persona.”
Yosuke let out a sigh, knowing that Yukiko was just placating him yet unable to find any actual fault with her logic. “Alright, alright, let’s just get--”
A light tug on his pants pulled Yosuke’s attention back down to Souji, only to find him looking up at Yosuke with his arms shyly stretched up towards him.
Cute….
Immediately, any annoyance and irritation he’d felt melted away along with his heart, and he couldn’t stop himself from grinning as he reached down to pick Souji up.
After everyone had fawned over Souji when he first got turned into a child, Yosuke figured no one would have a right to give him any shit for thinking that Souji was absolutely adorable as he lifted him up to sit on his shoulders, Souji’s tiny arms wrapping around his head and his face burying in Yosuke’s hair.
“You good up there?” Yosuke checked, his hands holding on to Souji’s legs to make sure he wouldn’t lose his balance and fall, and his grin widened as he felt Souji nod against his head. “Alright, then let’s go.”
The walk back down towards the exit was slow and careful, the entire team reluctant to risk picking up their pace and accidentally running into Shadows that could be avoided by careful outmaneuvering. Yosuke couldn’t help but feel proud of the child sitting on his shoulders, who had barely even flinched at the first sign of the amorphous creatures slowly moving around, and had stayed relatively calm even through the unavoidable battle that had followed--though he supposed it was in part from Souji figuring out how to raise the volume on the mp3 player gripped tightly in his tiny hand (apparently Souji was incredibly smart even as a little kid, though Yosuke couldn't say he was surprised), and in part from keeping his face buried in Yosuke’s hair the entire time, until Yosuke gave his leg a gentle squeeze and let him know that it was over.
While everyone continued to walk in front, Yosuke trailed a few steps behind, carefully listening in case the quiet child on his shoulders tried to get his attention.
Which, to Yosuke’s surprise, he actually did.
“Loud….” Souji hid his face in Yosuke’s hair, his words just barely reaching Yosuke’s ears. “Mad…?”
It took a second for Souji’s question to click, but once it did, Yosuke’s heart sunk as his mind started filling in the blanks and connecting the dots.
“There’s good kinds of loud too, even if it can be a bit much to handle,” Yosuke replied, carefully choosing his words. “Friends get loud sometimes when they’re having fun with each other. No one's mad, I promise.”
Yosuke watched Rise and Teddie poking fun at Kanji as the group walked, and while Kanji was doing an admirable job of trying to control his volume (seeing Souji get scared of him must have affected him more than Yosuke realized, if he was being that conscious of how loud he was), his voice still carried above a normal volume. Between that and his expression, it wasn’t too hard to see why Souji might have thought that Kanji was angry, though Yosuke also had a feeling that the assumption came from a more personal source.
Souji must have been watching them too, because he gave a small nod against Yosuke’s head but said nothing else, apparently taking Yosuke’s words to heart.
Deciding to try and steer the conversation a bit, Yosuke asked, “What about when you play with your friends? Do they get loud?”
Souji buried his face further in Yosuke’s hair, as much as he could with his glasses in the way, and shook his head. “Don’t have.”
Yosuke’s steps slowed, his heart clenching as he was hit both by Souji's words and the belated realization that while he had constantly bemoaned his old friends not contacting him ever since he moved, Souji had never once mentioned any friends from before he came to Inaba. “You mean you don’t… have friends?”
“Trouble… t-talking… they laugh,” Souji murmured. “‘Mweird. No one… likes me.”
Yosuke thought back to his own days as a kid, grimacing slightly as he recalled how cruel kids could be sometimes, before pulling himself back to the present as he gave Souji’s leg a light squeeze.
“Y’know, you’re going to grow up to be someone that everyone wants to be friends with.”
His voice was quiet, filled with the slightest traces of pride and affection as he spoke, thinking back to when he’d first met Souji and how much he’d changed over the past few months.
“You’ll get a lot better at speaking, and become more confident, but also more willing to let your guard down: you’ll smile more, laugh more, lean on us more instead of taking on the world alone…. You’re already amazing just the way you are, but you’re going to become so, so much more amazing, partner--and yeah, maybe you’ll still be a little weird, but honestly? We’re all a little weird in our own ways, and we all accept each other for who we really are. That’s what being friends is all about.”
Souji was quiet in response, though Yosuke expected as much--the feeling of Souji nodding against him was enough to tell him that he’d at least understood the gist of what Yosuke was telling him, if not everything.
“Want a… friend… like you.”
When Souji softly spoke up after a moment, Yosuke’s heart swelled to the point where he feared it might actually burst out of his chest, and he couldn’t help but grin even as he spoke around the lump in his throat.
“Well then, I’ve got great news for you, partner.” He gave Souji’s leg another light squeeze. “We’re already friends.”
“Part… ner?”
Yosuke didn’t even realize that he’d gone back to addressing Souji as partner until he heard the soft, confused lilt as Souji parroted the word.
“Oh, uh… it’s like a really important, one-of-a-kind friend,” Yosuke replied sheepishly, trying to keep his explanation as simple as possible.
Souji was quiet for a moment before nodding and hugging Yosuke’s head emphatically as he smiled and repeated, “Partner.”
Yosuke would swear up and down for the rest of his life that he did not let out a completely unmanly squeak, nor did his face flood with heat and his heart melt, and his mind definitely wasn’t running a loop of Oh my god that was the most adorable thing ever how is he so cute oh my god--
“I think Souji broke Yosuke,” Chie snickered, glancing back at Yosuke and finding him with an expression similar to Souji’s face whenever Nanako said or did something sweet to her Big Bro.
“I’m not letting you kill my mood, Chie,” Yosuke replied with a silly grin still on his face. “You guys are just jealous that partner likes me best.”
“Partner,” Souji echoed.
Yosuke was pretty sure he was going to be the first person to die from exposure to too much cuteness--but at least he knew his teammates would quickly follow, judging from the expressions on their faces and the sound of their quiet squeals and cooing.
“C’mon guys, we’ve got to stay sharp,” Rise reminded them, though her words were hard to take seriously when she was still smiling up at Souji. “Just a bit more to go and we’re out of here.”
There was a chorus of agreements and nods, and the group carefully continued on their way towards the exit.
It was only when they reached the TV stack that a problem occurred to Yosuke.
"We can't bring Souji out there like this."
Chie glanced over at him in confusion. "Why not? I'm sure everyone'll just think he's some random kid."
"Not with hair like that they won't," Rise pointed out with a troubled frown, quickly catching on to what Yosuke had just realized. "Senpai's the only person in town with hair that color, and seeing it on a little kid is going to catch a lot of attention."
"Damn, if I had my shi--uh, my stuff with me, I'd just knit him a hat or somethin' real quick." Everyone looked at Kanji in surprise, and he in turn looked around at them in confusion. "What? What'd I say?"
"Sometimes I can't tell if you're a moron or a genius," Rise replied with a laugh.
"Since the TV leads right into Junes, why don't we go and buy him a hat, and then bring it back here for him?" Yukiko suggested.
Yosuke sighed, already seeing where this was going as he reached into his pocket to pull out his wallet. "Just a hat, and nothing else--and just get something plain, nothing expensive!"
"Thanks Yosuke-senpai!"
Rise swiped his wallet right out of his hand before he could so much as open it to take out some money.
"Wh-- hey hold on, I didn't say you could--!!"
The girls completely ignored him as they talked amongst themselves about different outfits that Souji would look adorable in, with Kanji putting in his two cents even as he followed them through the TV.
Teddie followed after them talking about all the new clothes he wanted to get too, to match his mini-Sensei.
Yosuke preemptively mourned whatever money he'd had in his poor wallet.
"Gone?"
The soft voice pulled Yosuke from his thoughts, and he belatedly realized that yeah, seeing a bunch of people disappear through a TV would be pretty bewildering for anyone, even a kid like Souji who barely batted an eye at the sight of Shadows.
Yosuke carefully lifted Souji off of him and onto the ground, taking a few seconds to stretch and roll his sore shoulders before crouching down in front of Souji with a smile.
"See that TV there?" Yosuke gestured to the TV that everyone had disappeared through. "That's how we leave this place and go home."
To his surprise, Souji shook his head and reached out to cling to him. "No."
Yosuke's brows furrowed even as he put a gentle hand on Souji's head, trying to figure out what part of his statement Souji was protesting.
"You… don't want to go home?" Yosuke questioned tentatively, and apparently he hit the nail on the head as Souji shook his head and pressed himself closer to Yosuke. "Why not?"
Souji remained quiet, either lacking the proper words to explain or lacking the willpower to give voice to them, and Yosuke let out a quiet sigh before changing his question with a smile.
"Do you want to stay with us a bit longer?"
Souji nodded, and Yosuke couldn't help his smile widening as he added, "Then we can stay together for as long as you want. We won't make you go home, I promise."
Souji looked up at Yosuke in surprise. "Stay… with partner?" He asked with the slightest hint of hopefulness.
Yosuke's heart melted, a silly, ridiculously happy grin on his face as he swept Souji into a hug.
God, he had no right being this adorable as a kid. He was somehow even cuter than Nanako.
(Or maybe that was just Yosuke's personal bias talking.)
"Of course you can stay with me, partner."
By the time Rise returned with his thankfully-not-empty wallet and a hat for Souji (apparently, as he later found out, Yukiko had convinced everyone to stay focused and not get anything aside from the hat--Yosuke would have to thank her profusely for being the voice of reason), Yosuke had shifted to sit on the ground with Souji on his lap, talking to him about everything and anything that came to mind as Souji stared up at him as if absorbing every last word he was saying despite Yosuke's headphones still covering his ears.
Rise snapped a quick picture of the two of them before they could notice her. She had a feeling it would be useful once Souji returned to normal, plus it was just an adorable scene overall.
After reluctantly surrendering the hat--and the right to put it on Souji--to Yosuke, Rise watched him carefully ease the headphones off of Souji, talking to him the whole way through as he put the hat on him, made sure not a strand of hair could he seen, and helped put the headphones back on him.
As much as she wanted to be the one to coddle Souji and take care of him, she had to admit that Yosuke really knew what he was doing.
"Alright, I think that should be good. C'mon, let's go."
Yosuke eased Souji off of his lap so he could stand up before lifting Souji into his arms.
"I'll go on ahead," Rise said as she approached the TV. "You can pass Senpai through to us."
"Good idea."
Yosuke watched Rise disappear through the TV, waiting until he heard her voice saying they were good to go before turning his attention down to Souji.
"Alright, I'm going to help you through on this side, and all our friends are going to help you on the other side, okay?" Upon seeing Souji's slight wariness, he added, "I promise, I'll be right behind you."
Souji eyed him for a moment longer before nodding, and Yosuke took that as an okay to begin easing him through the TV, only removing his hands when he heard his friends' voices assuring him that they had Souji.
As soon as Souji was through, Yosuke wasted no time in stepping through the TV himself, and he couldn't help but smile as Souji immediately clung to his leg as soon as his feet touched ground.
"Alright, how about we head to the food court and grab a bite to eat?" Yosuke suggested. "We've still got some time to kill until partner turns back to normal, anyway."
"Sounds good to me!" Chie stretched, before glancing over at Yosuke with a grin. "You're paying, right?"
Yosuke huffed. "I'm paying for me and partner, and that's it. You can pay for your own food."
"Fiiiine."
Yosuke led the way up to the food court, Souji walking alongside him with his tiny hand grasped carefully in Yosuke's, and Yosuke couldn't help but smile at the child’s barely-repressed curiosity as he glanced around.
Figuring that Souji wouldn't want to be apart from him, Yosuke let the rest of the group go grab them a table as he went with Souji to order everyone's food for them--and despite his grousing, he ended up pulling out his wallet to pay for everything, inwardly swearing to make them pay him back.
(Except Souji, of course. Even if Souji wasn't stuck as a kid, he wouldn't mind paying for him with how much Souji always did for him.)
A few minutes later, Yosuke was balancing everyone's food and drinks on a tray as he made his way over to their table, Souji following close on his heels and holding on to Yosuke's shirt so as not to get separated from him.
"That should be everything," Yosuke said as he set the tray down on the table. "If I missed anything, you can go get it yourself."
There was a chorus of thanks as everyone grabbed for their food and drinks, and Yosuke plopped himself down into a free chair with an exhausted sigh before glancing down at Souji with a smile.
"C'mon, grab a seat."
Souji moved closer to Yosuke instead of over to the last free seat, shyly tugging on his pant leg. "Wanna sit… with partner."
Yosuke had no idea how he hadn't gone into cardiac arrest already with how many times Souji made his heart swell in under an hour.
"Of course you can sit with me," Yosuke replied with a grin, picking Souji up and setting him down on his lap.
"You've got that creepy grin on your face again," Chie teased.
Yosuke huffed as he wrapped his arms around Souji and hugged him back against his chest. "My grin isn't creepy. You're just jealous."
He shifted closer to the table when Souji reached out, moving an arm off of Souji in order to pass him his french fries and juice box, which Souji seemed content to quietly snack on as everyone else began striking up conversations in between eating their own food.
Yosuke was pleased to see that Souji was growing more comfortable in the presence of the large group, especially as he noticed that Souji had--at some point, without Yosuke’s realizing--stopped the music on the mp3 player entirely, and was most likely only still wearing the headphones as a comfort item rather than for their intended purpose.
He could definitely relate. There were plenty of times that Yosuke put on his headphones just to feel them covering his ears, giving him a small but necessary buffer between himself and the rest of the world.
Yosuke’s attention shifted away from Souji and over to Kanji when he noticed him nervously shifting, and it was only then that he realized that Kanji had moved his chair closer and was looking between Souji and the bag in his hands.
Kanji flinched and flushed lightly when he realized Yosuke had caught him, and before Yosuke could ask what his deal was, Kanji quickly spoke up.
“Sen-- uh, S… Souji,” Kanji began, being careful to keep his voice down even as he caught the child’s attention. “I, uh… I know I kinda scared ya earlier, so, uh-- here, I thought you might like this, to… t-to make up for before.”
Though the bag in Kanji’s hands was from Junes, Yosuke could say for sure that the small cat amigurumi that Kanji pulled out of the bag was not something that they carried at their store.
“Dude, did you make that? When’d you even find the time for that?” Yosuke couldn’t help but ask in bewilderment, unintentionally catching the attention of the rest of the group and making Kanji’s embarrassment worse.
Kanji looked like he was going to snap at Yosuke, but he quickly bit his tongue and instead focused on Souji, who was looking between Kanji and the small plush cat as if having a difficult time reconciling the image of the scary-looking boy offering him something so cute.
Finally, Souji tentatively spoke up as he pointed at the cat. “Mine…?”
“Yeah, ‘s for you.” Kanji held the cat out to Souji, immediately starting to second-guess himself as he added, “I mean, you don’t gotta take it or nothin’, but--”
Yosuke’s reflexes were the only thing that stopped Souji’s juice box from falling to the ground as Souji immediately dropped it in favor of taking the cat amigurumi and hugging it with a smile.
From the muffled squeals around the table, it was safe to say that everyone’s hearts had melted just as much as Yosuke’s did from the sight. Hell, Kanji looked like he was half ready to stick his head in the Junes bag and scream from the cute, and Yosuke couldn’t even blame the guy.
Souji’s smiles were rare and treasured on a normal day, let alone when he was an adorable little kid hugging a cat amigurumi.
As if suddenly remembering his manners, he looked up at Kanji with a smile still on his face. “Thank,” he murmured, before ducking his head shyly against the plush, apparently having reached his limit for directly interacting with anyone that wasn’t Yosuke.
Kanji blushed lightly and grinned, obviously pleased that his gift had been so well-received. “Heh, no problem.”
“Oh, oh!” Teddie jumped up from his seat. “I should do something to apologize to mini-Sensei too!”
Before Yosuke could open his mouth to stop him, Teddie had already rushed off, and Yosuke could only sigh and hope that whatever he came up with wouldn’t be too ridiculous.
“Ahh, Senpai is such a cute kid…,” Rise sighed with a smile, pulling out her phone and snapping a quick picture of Souji hugging his new plush.
“Very polite and well-behaved, too,” Yukiko commented. “Though I guess that isn’t too surprising, considering how Souji-kun is normally.”
“Think he’ll remember any of this when he goes back to normal?” Chie asked, before glancing at Yosuke with a teasing grin. “I’m sure he’ll love to know how much his partner was doting on him.”
Yosuke blushed and glared weakly. “Don’t make it weird! There’s nothing wrong with me looking after my partner.”
“Partner,” Souji echoed with a smile as he looked up at Yosuke, prompting another grin from Yosuke as he hugged Souji close in response.
“That’s right, you’re my partner--so don’t listen to anything mean ol’ Chie says, okay?”
“Hey, don’t say stuff like that to him!” Chie protested with a huff. “He might think you’re serious.”
Before Yosuke could teasingly respond that it wouldn’t be too big of a loss if Souji took him seriously and didn’t listen to Chie, Teddie suddenly rushed back over to the group with a grin, holding two familiar treats in his hands.
“Dude, seriously? You’re apologizing with a topsicle?”
“Everyone loves topsicles!” Teddie declared, holding one of the frozen treats out to Souji with a smile. “Here you go, mini-Sensei!”
Souji looked at Teddie and the topsicle in confusion, before turning his gaze up to Yosuke as if asking him what to do, prompting an amused smile from Yosuke as he took the topsicle from Teddie and eased one of Souji’s hands off of the amigurumi in order to press the stick into his hand.
“It’s a snack,” Yosuke explained, before quickly adding, “Oh, but don’t bite it.”
“Here, mini-Sensei! Watch me!”
Teddie took out his own topsicle and demonstrated the proper way to enjoy it, and soon Souji was leaning back against Yosuke once more, with one arm wrapped around his cat amigurumi and his other hand holding on to his topsicle stick as he licked the sweet treat.
“See? Mini-Sensei loves it!” Teddie grinned, crouching down to look at Souji. “Right?”
Souji nodded shyly and continued eating his topsicle, which was more than enough to satisfy Teddie as he straightened back up and plopped himself back down in his chair.
“Regular Sensei is nice, but I like mini-Sensei too!”
“When’s he supposed to turn back to normal again?” Kanji asked.
Rise hummed in thought. “It should be sometime soon, I think. Maybe another half hour or so at the most?”
“Oh, that’s not that bad!” Yukiko replied. “I guess we spent more time exiting Naoto’s dungeon than I realized.”
“Ugh, yeah, that was a pain.” Chie slumped forward against the table with a sigh. “Maybe next time we should like… I dunno, split the items or something? Or at least have each of us carry a Goho-M in case of anything.”
“Honestly, that’s not a bad idea.” Yosuke frowned in thought, before turning his attention down to Souji and quickly grabbing a few napkins. “Oh shoot, the topsicle’s dripping-- dammit Teddie, did you have to give him something that makes a mess? Hold still partner--”
Yosuke was oblivious to the amused looks shared by the rest of the team as he cleaned Souji’s hand and mouth, making sure that none of the sticky liquid had gotten on Souji’s plush or clothes (or on Yosuke’s pants, for that matter). By the time he looked away from Souji and back up at his friends, he only caught the tail end of their shared smiles and quiet laughter, which was still more than enough to make him flush in embarrassment. “What?”
“Oh nothing,” Chie replied with a teasing grin.
“We were just thinking you’ll make a great mom someday, Yosuke-senpai,” Rise added with a soft laugh.
Yosuke’s blush darkened heavily. “Wh-- a mom?? What the hell, I’m not even a girl!” His protests were met with more laughter from the group and a confused look from Souji, and he let out a groan as he leaned back in his chair. “Seriously, screw you guys,” he muttered obstinately.
“Aww c’mon Yosuke-senpai, we were just teasing you.” Rise gave him a smile. “Honestly, it’s sweet that you’re doing so much to look after him, and Senpai seems really happy to be with you.”
“Yeah, nothin’ wrong with lookin’ out for a pal!” Kanji added.
Yosuke sighed. “Fine, fine, just let it go already.” Eager to change the subject, he added, “Anyway, while we’re here, we should probably focus on trying to figure out what to do about Naoto’s Shadow….”
Though it was an obvious diversion, no one seemed too opposed to focusing on what was honestly an important matter, and so they decided to follow Yosuke’s change of subject if only to kill a bit more time until Souji returned to normal.
The group was so wrapped up in their discussion that they completely forgot that Souji was supposed to turn back to normal at some point--and so they were all caught off-guard when there was a sudden flash of light, moments before a fully-grown Souji was sitting on Yosuke’s lap, looking just as bewildered as the rest of the group.
There was a moment of silence, in which everyone processed what was happening, before Souji and Yosuke quickly blushed at the same time, Souji rising to his feet seconds before Yosuke could reflexively shove him off.
“I, uh….” For once, Souji seemed to be lost for words, though no one could fault him--he must have been completely disoriented, suddenly finding himself at Junes on Yosuke’s lap when they’d originally been in Naoto’s dungeon. “Sorry?” he finally managed to hesitantly get out.
“N-no, no it’s fine, it’s not your fault,” Yosuke hastily replied, shooting up to his feet and refusing to look at anyone in embarrassment. “So, uh, now that partner’s back to normal, guess we should get going, huh?”
“Senpai, should we go back in the TV so I can scan you and make sure you’re okay?” Rise asked worriedly, turning her gaze over to Souji.
Souji shrugged, absentmindedly lifting a hand up to run through his hair only to belatedly realize that there was both a beanie hat and Yosuke’s headphones on his head. He took them off, passing the headphones and the familiar mp3 player over to Yosuke (who was still refusing to look at him in obvious embarrassment) and pocketing the hat before turning his attention over to Rise with a smile.
“Don’t worry. I can’t really remember what happened between getting hit with that attack and now, but other than that, I feel perfectly fine.”
“Aww, you can’t?” Rise frowned, before quickly perking back up with a sly grin as she took out her phone. “I can show you--”
“Partner needs to get some rest, so let’s save that for another day, alright?” Yosuke suggested with a tinge of urgency, any heat that had left his face quickly returning full-force.
“That’s true. Even if Souji-kun says that he feels fine, it would be best for him to get some rest anyway--and we should all get some rest as well,” Yukiko added, and much to Yosuke’s relief, the rest of the group backed down with varied reluctance and began filtering out of the Junes food court.
Yosuke was about to follow everyone when he was stopped by a hand on his shoulder, and he turned slightly to find Souji watching him with an unreadable expression.
“Yosuke, would you mind….” Souji trailed off hesitantly, before continuing. “I want to talk to you about something. Is that alright?”
Yosuke immediately straightened up, turning to properly look at his partner with a concerned expression. “Of course. What’s up?”
“Not here. Can we go somewhere more private?”
Yosuke blushed lightly, but it wasn’t like he could ever say no to Souji.
“Sure. C’mon, let’s get going.”
Yosuke kept stealing glances at Souji as the two of them walked to the hill overlooking the town. It wasn’t anything new for Souji to remain quiet, but this was more of a heavy silence than he was used to from his partner, and he wasn’t sure how to lift it.
Yosuke also noticed that Souji kept toying with the cat amigurumi that Kanji had given him, and it was only once they reached the hill that he belatedly realized that Souji had never once asked why he was holding it, or why he’d been wearing Yosuke’s headphones or the hat for that matter.
As if confirming his suspicions, Souji turned to face Yosuke once they were comfortably leaning against the railing overlooking the town and said, “I lied before. About not remembering anything, I mean.”
Wincing slightly in embarrassment, Yosuke hastily glanced away and groaned. “I had a feeling that’s what this was about. Look, partner, I--”
“Don’t apologize. Please.”
Something in Souji’s voice made Yosuke look back over at his friend despite his embarrassment, his brows furrowing as he took in the odd expression on Souji’s face.
“Souji…?”
“Yosuke, I… I wanted to thank you.” Now it was Souji’s turn to glance away in embarrassment, much to Yosuke’s surprise. “I don’t even know where to start, honestly. Everything you did for me meant so much more than I could ever say.”
Yosuke was genuinely caught off-guard by the heartfelt thanks, but regardless of the heat flooding his face in response, he gave Souji a grin. “Dude, you don’t have to thank me. We’re partners, right? I’m sure you’d do the same for me.”
“Of course, but it’s more than just that.” Souji still refused to meet Yosuke’s gaze, and Yosuke couldn’t help but marvel at the sight--in all the months that he’d known him, Yosuke had never once seen Souji this flustered. “Right from when I had that first panic attack… Yosuke, I never had anyone to help me like that before. I used to just cover my ears and wait until it was over.”
“Souji….”
Yosuke stepped forward without thinking, putting his hand on Souji’s arm and finally pulling Souji’s gaze back up to him.
“When I said I wished I had a friend like you, I meant it,” Souji continued, putting his hand over Yosuke’s and giving it a light squeeze. “If I had someone like you in my life back then… I would have had a much happier childhood, I think.” With a small, wry smile, he added, “I’m pretty sure that I got more attention from you in the short time that I was turned into a child than I did from my family for my entire childhood.”
Yosuke’s brows furrowed, even as his heart lifted and his blush darkened from Souji’s sincere tone. “What exactly was your childhood like?”
“My parents… they really did their best to provide for me and give me a good life, but… they weren’t exactly the most affectionate people,” Souji began awkwardly. “They were away more often than they were home, and the times that they were home-- well, they were very stressed from work, and there’s a reason why loud voices set off my anxiety.”
Yosuke’s expression darkened slightly. “I had a feeling it was something like that…. God, partner, I’m so sorry you had to go through that.”
Souji shook his head. “It’s alright, there’s nothing to apologize for. I learned to deal with it in time--though honestly, I wish I’d had headphones and music like yours back then; that really helped a lot.”
“I’m glad it helped.” Yosuke’s expression softened slightly in a smile, unable to help feeling pleased by the reminder that he’d been able to help Souji, before a thought suddenly occurred to him. “Do loud noises still bother you?”
“Mm… sometimes, though not as badly as they used to. I found that the sound of running water helps calm me, and thankfully Inaba has a river that I can spend plenty of time at.”
“Well that explains why you love hanging around Samegawa.” Attempting to lighten the mood, Yosuke added, “And here I thought it was just because you’re part cat.”
Souji gave a small snort of laughter, much to Yosuke’s relief. “You caught me,” he replied dryly. “I’ve been keeping it secret from you this whole time.”
Yosuke chuckled. “Knowing how weird you are, I wouldn’t even be surprised.”
“And speaking of weird….” Souji’s small smile widened slightly, his expression soft yet the slightest bit teasing as he said, “I really appreciate what you said about me, even if you called me weird.” Upon seeing Yosuke’s confused expression, he continued. “How did it go? ‘You’re going to grow up to be someone that everyone wants to be friends with. You’ll get a lot better at speaking, and--’”
“Ahhh stopstopstop!!” Yosuke’s face turned bright red as he moved both hands to cover Souji’s mouth. “You don’t have to repeat it! I had no idea you’d end up remembering all of that!”
Souji chuckled behind Yosuke’s hands, pulling both hands off of his mouth and giving them a gentle squeeze as he smiled softly. “All teasing aside… that meant so much to me then, and it means a lot to me now. Honestly, I wish….” He paused, pushing past the lump in his throat to continue. “I wish someone had told me something like that when I was younger. At the very least, it would have saved me years of thinking that there was something wrong with me.”
“... Souji….”
Yosuke pulled his hands out of Souji’s hold in favor of reaching out and pulling his partner into a tight hug.
“I thought hugging was for girls?” Souji teased weakly.
“Shut up, this is different,” Yosuke replied, holding Souji close. His voice dropped to a quiet whisper as he said, “I wish we could have met earlier.”
“Me too, Yosuke. Me too.”
They remained quiet for a moment, both content to simply appreciate being in the presence of someone who valued and understood them better than anyone else, before Souji finally pulled back in order to give Yosuke a soft smile.
“I know I don’t say it enough, but you’re the best partner I could ever ask for.”
Yosuke’s face flooded with heat as he ducked his head in embarrassment, though Souji could still see the elated grin on his face.
“Alright, I think we’ve had enough sap for one night, don’t you?”
Souji chuckled. “Well, maybe I’m just in a sappy mood--and maybe I just want my best friend to know how amazing and irreplaceable he is to me, and how much I appreciate having him in my life.”
“C’mon, partner,” Yosuke whined, though it was obvious that his protests were just for show as his grin widened. “You don’t have to exaggerate just because I helped you out a bit, y’know.”
“You know I’m not exaggerating,” Souji replied softly, reaching out to gently tilt Yosuke’s head up.
Yosuke’s grin died down into an embarrassed, more uncertain smile. “Partner…?”
Souji searched Yosuke’s face before letting out a soft, fond sigh, moments before reaching up to ruffle Yosuke’s hair despite his protests. “It’s getting late. We should probably get going.”
“Oh, yeah, guess so.” Yosuke ran his hands through his hair to fix it after Souji messed it up, continuing to eye his partner curiously for a moment before huffing as Souji began walking off without him. “Hey, wait up!”
Souji smiled in amusement and slowed his steps, affectionately bumping his shoulder against Yosuke's when he caught up and feeling his smile widen as Yosuke returned the gesture.
“So, uh… you’re not gonna tell anyone that you remember all that stuff, are you?” Yosuke asked tentatively.
Souji shook his head. “I figured you would be embarrassed about it. That’s why I pretended not to remember anything around them.”
Yosuke let out a relieved sigh and smiled weakly. “Thanks, partner. You’re the best.”
“Same to you, partner.”
Yosuke’s heart swelled--for Souji to call him his partner once in a day was a rare treat, let alone twice. Honestly, the fact that Souji used the name less than Yosuke did just made it feel all the more special whenever he said it, and Yosuke couldn’t bring himself to care how weird it probably was that it made him so happy to hear a simple word.
“Y’know, you were pretty cute as a kid, calling me ‘partner’ and latching on to me,” Yosuke said with a grin, laughing as Souji’s face flushed in obvious embarrassment.
“That-- it was your fault,” Souji muttered obstinately. “You said a partner was ‘a really important, one-of-a-kind friend’, and that’s what I thought of you as after everything you did to help me--and what I still think of you as.”
Yosuke blushed, laughing weakly to try and cover up his own embarrassment. “C’mon partner, didn’t I say we had enough sap for one night?”
“You started it,” Souji replied, giving Yosuke an amused smile. “But my point was, I took everything you said to me to heart. Even without my memories, I knew that I could trust you--that’s why I latched on to you. I never met anyone like you as a kid, or ever for that matter.” Anticipating Yosuke’s self-deprecating humor, he added, “And I mean that in a good way.”
“Partner, you’re going to make me cry if you keep this up, you ass,” Yosuke joked with a light nudge to Souji’s side, though Souji could see that Yosuke’s eyes really were a bit misty and his voice sounded a bit choked.
“Sorry,” Souji said with a chuckle. “I was just being honest.”
“Thank you,” Yosuke murmured, walking a bit closer to Souji than he normally would allow himself and tentatively brushing the back of his hand against Souji’s as they made their way down the road towards Souji’s house. “That… all of that really does mean a lot to me. You’re my partner, of course I want to do whatever I can to help you.”
“The feeling’s mutual.” Souji stretched his fingers, brushing them against Yosuke’s hand before carefully sliding them into Yosuke’s hand to give it a light squeeze.
When he felt Yosuke return the gesture instead of shoving his hand away, Souji couldn’t help but smile.
“Shut up,” Yosuke muttered as he noticed Souji smiling out of the corner of his eye, lightly pushing Souji with his shoulder without letting go of his hand.
Souji chuckled, taking Yosuke’s embarrassment in stride. “I didn’t say anything.”
Yosuke shot him a look, yet he couldn’t keep the smile off of his face. “Weirdo.”
Souji smiled mischievously. “As a wise man once told me: ‘We’re all a little weird in our own ways, and we all accept each other for who we really are. That’s what being friends is all about.’”
“Shut upppp!!” Yosuke let go of Souji’s hand in order to cover his flushed face, especially as he heard Souji’s soft laughter. “Jerk. See if I ever say anything nice to you ever again.”
“Sorry, I couldn’t resist.” With a soft look, Souji added, “But doesn’t it just show how much your words meant to me, that I can remember them so clearly?”
Yosuke shot Souji a withering look. “Well… yeah, I know, but I swear if you keep throwing them in my face--”
“I won’t, I promise. I was just teasing you.” Souji put a hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you angry.”
“... I’m not,” Yosuke muttered. “I’m not angry, I’m embarrassed… and happy, I guess.”
“Good.” Souji gave Yosuke’s shoulder a light squeeze before letting his hand drop back to his side, content to walk the rest of the way to his house alongside his partner in comfortable silence.
“So, um,” Yosuke began hesitantly once they came to a stop in front of the Dojima household, “guess I’ll see you tomorrow?”
“Yeah. See you tomorrow, partner.”
Yosuke couldn’t help the silly grin that quickly spread across his face, even as he turned and began to walk away. He made it a few steps before turning back around.
“Souji,” Yosuke called out, watching as Souji paused outside the door to his house and waiting until he turned to look at him before continuing. “If you ever… if you ever need anything, you know you can always call me or text me, right?”
Souji’s expression softened. “I know, Yosuke. Thank you.”
“G-good. Just… wanted to make sure.” Yosuke quickly turned back around, his embarrassment reaching its peak as he hastily rushed off while calling over his shoulder, “Goodnight partner!”
Souji chuckled quietly, shaking his head in amusement as he opened the door.
“Goodnight, Yosuke,” he murmured in response, though he knew Yosuke was too far away to hear him.
Souji thought that he might have a difficult time falling asleep that night, after dredging up so many memories of his childhood that he would have preferred to forget--yet all it took was the memory of Yosuke’s kind words and gentle concern to ease the negative thoughts away.
The last thing that he found himself thinking, before drifting off to sleep, was that he’d finally found something that worked even better than the sound of running water--or even headphones--to ease his anxiety.
It was just another thing to add to the list of reasons why Souji was so deeply in love with his partner.