A Matter of Time

From the start they had been great friends.

Yosuke loved how Souji would always take time out of his day to spend with just him. They would hangout around town or back at the house. They could be doing the lamest thing and it would never matter to either of them because they both just enjoyed the other's company that much.

When they laughed it was real and wasn't forced. The smiles were almost always there, and if there was ever anything else other than happiness, it was the most real set of emotions that either had ever felt before. To say things were intensified would be an understatement since it seemed like every day the feelings became more significant and held more weight than the day before.

Well…that's how it was starting to be for Yosuke at least.

He'd noticed it becoming a pattern lately. The more time he spent away from Souji, the more he wanted his presence again. It was hard to tell if Souji felt the same way in that sense though, so it made Yosuke become almost worried that he was being too clingy, and the last thing he wanted to be was a clingy bro, that just wasn't cool.

But it was hard not to be. Especially whenever girls started coming into the picture. He knew how much most of the girls in their grade, hell even in the school wanted a shot at Souji. Not to mention Rise was always trying to go in for the kill with her outfits that were always so cute when they had group meetings or outings.

That was another thing; the group outings were killing him. Everyone wanted to have their moments with Souji, but lately it seemed like Yosuke was getting pushed out of the picture so much that he was lucky to even see him for lunch. It wasn't a nice feeling.

Laying up on the rooftop, hand held up to the sky, he could see traces of the clouds above shifting between his fingertips. His thoughts kept drifting in and out of memories.

About a month ago they had been granted the lucky privilege of having some drinks since Dojima was just that proud of his nephew for scoring the highest on his exams. Up in Souji's room they had been sitting on the futon, the TV showing some random horror movie or another, neither of them really paying attention so it was serving as background noise if anything.

"I told you not to attack so quickly."

"Shut up, it didn't look like it was going to move that fast." Yosuke sighed while drowning his sorrows of having embarrassed himself yet again with a slip up during an attack that had taken place in their last training session.

"Is your back sore?" Souji was attempting to show concern but the laugh he was holding back was quickly voiding that fact.

"Paaaartneeeer stop!" Yosuke practically whined as he moved his hand to push against the other's shoulder. They were already sitting in front of one another, and even as his hand pressed against the soft fabric of Souji's shirt, he could feel that chest move, the sound of laughter being heard and he couldn't help but laugh a little too. Souji's laughs were contagious.

"No but…really, is it sore?" Souji was calming down some as he saw Yosuke stop in mid-drink to look at him with a blink.

After swallowing some more of the liquid, he set the can down and shrugged only to wince somewhat. "Uh…not a lot?"

Souji gave him a look before setting his own beer down to run his hand around Yosuke's body, letting it reach over onto his back.

The feeling made Yosuke breathe in suddenly, the fingertips tracing over his back at first only to press down and make that soreness be felt with a radiating pain.

"Ow…okay OW!" Almost like he was trying to escape the touches that were making him hurt more, he went to shift forward, only to end up bumping against Souji's shoulder. Swallowing dryly, he could feel the hand had settled along his lower back. The soft sound of the other's breathing was felt slightly above him; Yosuke didn't move his head from being tilted against that shoulder for fear of his face showing how red it probably was.

"You need to be more careful."

Yosuke closed his eyes, barely managing a nod, not trusting his voice. As he felt the hand on his back lingering still, it made him almost shiver with goosebumps as he felt it slide down somewhat, almost hesitating before it pushed underneath of his shirt and touched on his skin.

"Because if you're hurt then I can't take you with me like I always do." Souji muttered as he let his fingertips glide up more over the contours of Yosuke's back.

Feeling how those fingers were moving almost in a soothing way, Yosuke almost fell asleep despite being so embarrassed and feeling far too weird to even begin to describe.

"I-I gotcha partner."

The response made Souji smile somewhat before withdrawing his hand away, shifting back on the futon to allow Yosuke enough personal space to lift his head up again.

"Good. Now we still have two more beers to drink."

With a sigh, Yosuke let his hand fall from where it had been held up.

That entire night had been difficult enough as it was with feeling more relaxed than he already did with Souji. But ever since he had just touched him like that, it was too hard to feel super comfortable with him anymore. Yosuke always wondered if the touches meant something, well because, they would always find small ways of doing that. Most of it was just playful or to demonstrate something in conversation, but Yosuke found himself wanting to touch too much to the point of it almost becoming an obsession.

Souji was already an obsession as it was. Was it weird to be having Souji withdrawals too? Yeah that probably was really fucking weird.

Yosuke sighed again as he sat up, grabbed his bag, and decided to head home to find some random thing to occupy his time. He knew today that Souji had some sort of practice or another, so there went that slim to none chance of them possibly hanging out. As he rounded the corner of the stairwell to head to the first floor, he pulled out his cellphone to see he had a new message and nearly ran into someone in the process.

"Ah woah sorry-"

"Yosuke?"

The voice made him blink up from the message he had barely skimmed over. Seeing grey eyes made his heart suddenly lurch a bit. "Souji, uh, hey I just saw your message."

"Heh, I see that."

There was an odd silence as Yosuke slipped his phone back in his pocket in order to break his staring.

"So practice was canceled?"

"Yeah half the band is sick."

"Better wash your hands."

"I did right after I left the room."

They started heading for the front door, Yosuke shifted his bag on his shoulder more as he felt the other's eyes on him.

"So did you want to hang out?"

The question made Yosuke's head snap up so fast it. "Yeah sure, why not?" He tried to play off his response as casual but his excitement was surely still seen in his eyes.

The entire walk home was pretty normal. They'd talk about the day, random things they've heard in terms of rumors around town, and sometimes would jump back to things involving the investigation. It was nice just to talk; it was nicer to do it when it was just the two of them.

Back at the Dojima residence, Souji had put together a quick snack and they had taken to sitting in the living room. Nanako would be home soon and she always seemed to like when they were there to greet her when she arrived.

Yosuke had taken to eating a bit of a rice ball and went to grab one of the mini octopus-shaped meats when he noticed Souji was quieter than before.

"Something wrong partner?"

"I'm thinking of dating someone."

Any appetite that Yosuke had suddenly disappeared. Setting down whatever food he had back onto the plate in front of him, he wiped his hands on a napkin before setting his hands in his lap and feeling too awkward to even look at Souji.

"Oh…who?"

"Well it's just a thought right now; I wanted to see what you would think of the idea first. Do you think it would be too much with school and the investigation?"

And us. Yosuke felt the words trail off in his mind. If Souji got a girlfriend, all their hang out times would be the first thing to go, not to mention all the perks that came along with it. All the little things they would do for each other, especially the little things that Souji would do for him.

But this was Souji. He found it meaningful enough to ask his best friend (well Yosuke assumed they were best friends) if it was a good idea. It must be important, or at least, whoever Souji was thinking of dating must have been important enough for him to set aside time and effort for. Yosuke couldn't be selfish like that, not when it came to his best friend's happiness.

As much as he wanted to make himself believe that, his words still came out all wrong.

"Probably. I mean you're already so busy, but if you changed a few things then I guess you could make it work."

"Changed what exactly?"

Souji gave Yosuke a weird look as the brunette had taken to looking at anything but Souji.

"I dunno, I guess we could always not hang out as much. We already see each other at group meetings and when we train."

"I guess-" Yosuke cut Souji off with his rampant thoughts that were the only thing keeping him from freaking out.

"Or you could get them to join our team too unless they're already on our team. Then that's great, you can see them all the time."

"That's true too. So you think-"

Souji was cut off once more as Yosuke stared down at the table, his hands clutching at his legs that were hidden beneath the table as he spoke more.

"In fact, I could leave now just so you can call whoever it is over here. Wanna do that?"

"That won't be necessary."

Yosuke felt the tension was high in the air. It was mostly from his end, but it was enough to make him feel pressured, and it pressured him enough to start saying what he really wanted to say.

"Why? Already planning on having them come over tonight?" The words came out lowly, almost harshly, only growing slightly uneasy with his sudden inhale. "Going to live up to that supposed reputation of yours since every fucking girl wants you?"

Souji was sitting in silence as he heard the way the other spoke. He watched as Yosuke stood up, shielding his face by walking away quickly, grabbing his bag off the chair nearby and heading to the door as if to leave.

The feelings were too much. Yosuke couldn't control what he was even saying; he didn't trust himself to stay any longer. It would get too out of hand, he might say something even worse than he had already had and lose whatever their friendship might turn into now that Souji was looking for a girlfriend.

Just remembering the word in his mind, he hated the idea, making him reach to grab his shoes only to have the motion stopped as he was forced back against the closet nearby. The push making him feel a lapse of pain in his back, the rush of it making him stop thinking as he felt lips press onto his own that had been parted from the sudden change in his position.

The realization that Souji was kissing him made him drop his school bag, his eyes sliding shut as he moved his hands to grasp at any part of Souji that he could. Their bodies pressed closer, almost forcing themselves together on their own as they became more caught up in kissing one another. Souji slid his tongue into the other's mouth, hearing the subtle moan in response which only urged him to trace throughout every crevice of Yosuke's mouth.

Souji moved his hands, already deftly pressing underneath the white button-up to touch the skin on Yosuke's stomach and chest. As he forced his hips forward in a rubbing motion, Yosuke eagerly responded, pushing his hips back in return as he licked back into Souji's mouth. The intensity was too much, too great, had it always been there?

Yosuke felt the kiss being broken, opening his eyes to see grey ones already set on him.

"Since you wouldn't let me get a word in before…" Souji breathed in slowly as if to steady his breathing as he moved a hand to grasp at Yosuke's side. "I want to date you."

"I…I guessed that now." Yosuke mumbled as his blush was anything but hidden.

"Well, will you go out with me then Yosuke?"

"I think you already have your answer." Yosuke moved his head forward and up slightly in order to kiss his lips, that red still staining his cheeks as he did so. A hint of a whisper with a single word being heard just before another kiss was initiated.

"Yes."

~ fin.