Let's go, partner

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Let´s go, partner!”

Yosuke’s voice was full of enthusiasm and energy as the last Daring Gigas fell prey to his Garu attack. Without much thought, Souji gave the order and the party initiated an All Out Attack, effectively destroying all the enemies on the field.

“Hmph, I broke a sweat” said Yukiko in a tired voice.

“I’d be amazed if you hadn’t” said Chie still trying to catch her breath “this place is friggin’ hot!”

The group was inside Kanji’s Bad, Bad Bathouse show. The air was saturated with both fog and steam which caused both terrible heat and poor visibility. They had only explored a couple of floors and yet everyone was starting to feel exhausted.

“This is too much. Couldn’t we go back for today?” continued Chie.

“We haven’t even got to the fifth floor” said Souji “Let’s keep going just a bit longer”

Everyone groaned at that answer, but noone said anything. After all Souji was their leader and he had the final word.

The party kept moving forward for a while, until they suddenly came to a fork in the road. There were two possible paths, and none of them felt like taking the time to explore both.

“How about we split up for once?” suggested Chie “Two people should be enough to defeat the Shadows around here”

“Ooo I like the sound of that” Yosuke’s voice couldn’t hide his excitement at the idea “Wanna be my partner Yuki-chan?”

“I think I’d rather go with Chie…” said Yukiko in a low voice.

“Tough luck, Yosuke” Chie and Yukiko started walking away down one of the corridors, leaving Teddie, Youke and Souji alone “Good luck and be careful!”

“I’ll stay here and try my best to give support to both groups” said Teddie in his usual cheerful voice “But hurry up! This heat is nearly un-bearable!”

Souji and Yosuke ignored Teddie’s terrible pun and started down their path. “Talk about bad luck…” muttered Yosuke to himself and then turned to Souji “Well I guess you´re stuck with me, partner”.

Souji gave him a half-smile “Yeah, really bad luck”


_________

As they walked together in the steamy hallways, Souji couldn’t help but look at his partner from time to time. He often found himself thinking that, for some reason, those glasses made him look better than usual. And even though the heat was already making him sweat, he still seemed incredibly handsome in his eyes. In fact, seeing him all hot and sweaty in a place like this was provoking thoughts that made Souji turn the other way to hide his red face.

He still remembered the first time he saw Yosuke. On the way to his first day at Yasogami High, a boy with reddish-brown hair riding a bycicle had passed him, only to crash a moment later. “That looked painful” was his fist thought “but he is kinda cute”. Discarding the thought immediately, he continued towards school. He was later surprised to find out that he was one of his new classmates.

The next day the scene repeated itself, with a more embarassing outcome. The same boy passed next to him only to crash again and fall head first into a trash can, getting stuck in the process.

“S-Someone…” was the single plea that came out of it.

Incapable of leaving him in such a pitiful state, Souji helped the boy out of his predicament.

“Whew, you saved me. Thanks!” said the boy “Oh yeah, that's right. You're that transfer student, Souji Seta. I'm Yosuke Hanamura. Nice to meet ya.”

When Yousuke gave him his trademark playful wink for the first time, Souji felt as if a small shock of electricity had ran through his body. “Don’t be stupid” he thought to himself “Not again. I won´t let it happen again”.

But despite his best efforts to prevent it, Souji couldn’t help feeling attracted. He couldn’t help feeling that little shock whenever Yosuke looked straight into his eyes. He couldn’t help feeling a bit jealous when he noticed how obviosly attracted Yosuke was to Saki Konishi. And he couldn’t help feeling a bit angry when he heard her disembodied voice say that Yosuke was a pain in the ass. “Stupid bitch” was the first thing that had popped into his mind.

He still remembered how, after facing his other self and awakening to his Persona, Yosuke had turned to him with that tired, but fulfilled look on his face and said “If you weren’t here, I don´t know what would have happened…Thanks, Souji”. It was in that exact moment that Souji had to face himself too and reluctanctly accept that he was falling for Yosuke Hanamura.

_______


A month had passed since that day, and the feeling had only gotten stronger. Seeing him everyday at school, fighting alongside him in the strange TV world, it was a bittersweet experience for Souji: being beside the object of his affection, but knowing that he could never really be WITH him. Yosuke had made clear many times that he liked girls. He didn’t have a chance.

“I have to get over this soon” he thought “I don’t want to lose him…”

“Souji!!!”

The voice brought him back to reality just in time to see a shadow charging straight at him. With no time to react, he could only brace himself. Next thing he knew, he was lying against the wall with a sharp pain on his chest.

“Jiraiya!” After a couple of hits the shadow was gone. Yosuke ran to Souji’s side.

“Are you okay, partner?” he asked, visibly concerned.

“I’m fine” answered Souji, but whithout really meaning it. It was probably nothing serious, yet still hurt like hell.

“Here, let me heal you” Yosuke’s proposal was followed by a quick Dia spell “Any better?”

“Yeah, thanks” but Souji’s voice and expression were a clear giveaway that he was still in pain.

“No, you´re not” said Yosuke, who was getting used to Souji’s grin and bear it attitude “Here, let me see”

Without warning, he took of Souji’s jacket and opened his shirt.

“Oh, shit…” Souji was trying desperately to keep his thougts and emotions n check, which got extremely difficult when Yosuke started running his hand across his bare chest “Control yourself, Seta. Don’t do anything you’ll regret”

“It doesn’t seem serious. Just a little bruise” said Yosuke, visibly relieved “It seems you’re going to survive”.

Yosuke lifted his head and dedicated him a warm smile. Souji’s heart began to race. Their faces were close and the hot air around them was making things worse.

“Don’t do It” Souji pleaded with himself “Don’t do it. Don’t do it. Don’t do it”

But even as this thoughts ran through his head, he found himself leaning forward, pressing his lips against Yosuke’s and giving him the kiss he had been dreaming of for the last month.

“You idiot!” he thought “You screwed it again! I’m going to lose him and the rest of my friends. I’ll probably have to leave Inaba too. I’ll…”
He kept screaming things like this in his head, until he realized something. Something that he had never thought possible.

Yosuke was kissing him back.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Well, that's the first chapter! This is the first story I write, so please review if you want it to continue.