11:42 P.M. Junes Main Entrance

"Please, tell me again why you're standing out in the cold." Yosuke sighed. He leaned against the side of Junes and glanced at the girl shivering behind him.

Chie crossed her arms over her chest and jumped in place. "I've told you a thousand times, Yosuke. The midnight release!" her tone was somewhat annoyed, and her teeth chattered as she spoke.

"Oh. Yeah, forgot about that." He craned his neck and tried to look past her. Aside from himself, no one else was near the doors. Heck, no one was near period. "Sure you have the right night?"

"Sh-shut up!" Chie snapped. "You're the one who told me about this in the first place! If I w-waited out here for nothing, I'll be t-ticked!"

"Hey, relax! Of course it's tonight!" Yosuke laughed. "How long have you been out here?"

"Couple hours. Why did you come here?" Chie questioned.

"I'm here to let people in as they show up." Yosuke grabbed at the keys on his belt.

"Wait... as they s-show up? Yosuke-"

"Well, no sense in waiting in the cold anymore!" Yosuke pushed open the doors and narrowly escaped Chie's attempt to kick him.

11: 50 P.M. Junes Electronics Department

Chie clutched the DVD to her chest as she hurried over to the checkout counters. Yosuke followed, hot on her heels.

"Hold on to that thing any harder and you'll shatter it."

"Shut up, Yosuke!" Chie grumbled. She wasn't going to let Yosuke's teasing ruin this night for her. She had been waiting for Trial of the Dragon 2 ever since... well, ever since she finished the first one. Now, it was finally hers. When she finally reached the registers, she tossed the DVD down and threw some cash on top of it. However, no one was around to ring her up. Not at the counter, not at the other counters, not anywhere else in the store.

"What gives?" Chie whined. "Where is everyone?"

"Guess people in this town aren't into this crap the way you are."

"Yosuke!"

"Geez, calm down!" Yosuke jumped behind a counter and ducked.

"Seriously though, where is everyone? This place is starting to give me the creeps." Chie asked. After a close investigation of the store, she noticed that it was a lot darker than normal, along with the missing people. The silence could have driven her crazy if she was alone. Standing here was almost creepier than the Midnight Channel.

"Yosuke, is Junes even supposed to be open now?" Chie had never been to a midnight release before, but she doubted they were anything close to this.

"Positive. Here, I'll ring you up." Yosuke punched in his information at the cash register and scanned the DVD for her.

"If you're setting me up for a prank or something, I swear I'll-"

"For the last time, Chie! Chill out!" Yosuke threw the DVD back at her, along with her receipt and change. "Now, let's get outta here before-"

"Before what?" Chie demanded.

"Before uh... um.." Instead of finishing his sentence, Yosuke grabbed Chie by the arm and lead her out of Junes.

"Hey! I want answers!"

"Of course you do..."

12:36 A.M. Central Shopping District

"...and that's where the last movie left off. You should have known that, but I guess you were too busy breaking my DVD..."

The pair had started their journey home, and Chie had forgotten all about Yosuke's suspicious behavior when he had asked her about the movie. She went on and on, and Yosuke had found her summary more interesting than the actual movie. They were all the way in the old shopping district by now, and Yosuke knew Chie's house was close.

"So, you watchin' that when you get home?" Yosuke asked.

Chie nodded. "Duh! You think it would be possible for me to sleep when I have this in my hands?" she waved the DVD case around for emphasis. She then looked around, and she almost seemed surprised when she realized how far they had walked. "Hey, Yosuke, didn't we pass by your house already?"

Yosuke shrugged and shoved his hands into his pockets. "Oh, I guess we did. Huh. That's a shame." his voice dripped with mock disappointment.

"Dude, it's kinda late to just wander around out here!" Chie scolded him. "Something could get you!"

"If that's true, then there's no way I'm letting you walk alone." Yosuke said.

"I can look after myself!" Chie insisted. She crossed her arms and scoffed. "You're the one who would need an escort."

"So if someone jumps us, I'll just sic my guard-Chie on them and we'll be good, right? ...ouch!"

Chie punched his shoulder. "Not funny, jerk!"

"Sorry, sorry!" Yosuke pleaded. "See, just do that to an attacker. Or you could kick him and – o-okay, I'll stop."

As they fought, neither of them noticed that snow had started to fall. It was steadily picking up, along with the wind blowing on their backs.

"Geez, why's it have to be so cold out?" Chie pulled her scarf over her mouth.

"Well, y-your place is c-close, right?" Yosuke's teeth were chattering, and his arms were wrapped tightly around his body.

"Yeah... c-couple more houses."

They picked up their pace, and by the time they reached Chie's block they were practically sprinting. Chie and Yosuke stumbled through the piled-up snow, and soon her house was in sight. When they approached Chie's door, she fumbled around for her key and tried to unlock the door. Her gloved hands shook, making the task way more time consuming than it had to be.

"H-hurry!"

"Shh! My parents are sleeping!" Chie hissed. She successfully unlocked the door and tumbled inside. Yosuke followed close behind.

1:12 A.M. Satonaka Residence

The two of them stood in the doorway for a long time, trying to warm up and catch their breath.

"That came out of nowhere," Yosuke panted. "Uh, sorry. I kinda just invited myself in."

"As much as I would have loved ditching you on the doorstep, I thought I'd be polite." Chie said.

"You're so sweet." Yosuke teased.

Chie kicked off her boots and removed her coat. She glanced out the window and frowned. "It's looking pretty nasty out there."

"Oh, great. I gotta walk home in this crap?" Yosuke groaned.

"There's no way you're going back outside now." Chie said. She hung up her coat and offered her hand to Yosuke. "Here, gimme yours. I guess you're just going to have to wait this one out here."

Yosuke tossed his coat to Chie and slipped his shoes off as well. "Hey, if you insist. Sure your parents won't mind?"

"Nah. Yukiko stays over all the time. They don't mind if people come over."

"Yeah, but she's not a dude."

"It's not like you're sleeping over or anything! You're just taking refuge. That's kinda different. Don't get any dumb ideas or anything." Chie opened up the DVD case and smiled. "Oh man. I'm so excited for this! Let's go upstairs and watch it!"

She dismissed Yosuke's worries rather quickly and grabbed his hand. She nearly dragged him up the stairs to her room, and when they got there Chie bolted over to her TV and popped the disk into the DVD player.

Yosuke awkwardly hung out in her door frame. He had been over to her house a few times before, but she hadn't let him into her room before now. He wasn't too sure what to do with himself at this point. He just sort of looked around, taking in the sights. There was a bunch of exercise crap littered about, no surprise there, but there was a shocking amount of stuffed animals and other girly stuff to balance it out. It suited her well, he thought.

Soon Chie had the movie all set up, and she pulled a blanket off her bed and wrapped it around her shoulders. She sat on the floor, her back against a table, and she motioned for Yosuke to join by patting the empty space next to her.

"What are you being so shy for? You're gonna miss it!"

"Oops, I forgot how thrilling and exciting the opening credits were." he walked over and flopped down next to Chie, whose eyes were already glued to the TV.

"Shh!" she hissed. She brought her knees up to her chin and huddled up under her blanket.

Yosuke couldn't have cared less about the movie. He hadn't even finished watching the first one before he went and broke it. Seeing Chie get all worked up over it was pretty funny, though. She acted like a small kid, with her hands balled into fists and her mouth slightly parted. Yosuke thought it was pretty cute. He was glad the storm had him caught up here, and he certainly didn't mind the alone time with Chie.

2:00 A.M. Chie's Room

The movie must have had to be at least half over by now. Yosuke was fighting to keep his eyes open. Chie made no conversation during the movie. In fact, she was almost silent aside from a few gasps and cheers when a scene got intense.

Yosuke felt his eyelids grow heavy, but Chie got his attention when she reached for the remote and paused the movie.

"Ugh, why do I have to pee at a time like this?" she got to her feet and hurried out the door.

"Hey, that's my line." Yosuke yawned. He flopped on to his side and cuddled up with the blanket Chie left behind.

When she returned, Chie kicked Yosuke lightly to wake him up.

"What was that for?" Yosuke complained. He propped himself up and rubbed his eyes.

"For drooling all over my blanket!" Chie said. She snatched her blanket and returned to her seat. "So, back at Junes, you said something kind of weird."

"Huh?" Aw, crap. She was bringing it up again. He guessed it was inevitable, but he thought he'd at least have until tomorrow at school or something before she pressed the topic. "It couldn't have been any weirder than usual."

"Actually, the entire time we were at Junes was weird." Chie went on. "Like, there were no people there, it was dark... What the heck was up with that?"

Yosuke was far too tired to argue with her. Or to make up a believable excuse, for that matter. It probably wouldn't be that bad to come clean. Besides, if she knew why he did it, maybe she'd...

"There wasn't actually a midnight release." Yosuke admitted.

"Aha! Called it!" Chie said. "Why'd you do it then?"

"Do what?"

"You basically broke into Junes tonight."

"It's not breaking in if you have the keys," Yosuke pointed out.

"Dude, seriously! You could've gotten in a ton of trouble for that!"

"I know, I know. I let you in because I knew how much this movie meant to you." Yosuke took a breath. "I thought I'd be nice and get it for you early. And I still feel kinda shitty for breaking your DVD too, so..." his voice trailed off. He hoped he didn't weird her out with his little criminal stunt.

"Aw, Yosuke, you serious?" Chie's voice grew soft.

"Yeah. You should have seen the look on your face when I let you in! You looked like you were gonna pee your pants or something."

"Shut up!" Chie smacked his shoulder with much less force than her previous attacks. "But... that was pretty sweet of you. Thanks." Chie smiled.

Yosuke returned her smile, looking at the ground as a sheepish grin spread across his face. "Hey, don't mention it. Seriously, if my dad finds out, he'll kill me."

Chie laughed and reached for the remote again. "Hey, get under here. This blanket's not doing a very good job of keeping me warm." She tossed one corner of the blanket over Yosuke's head.

"Woah there, what's with you?" Yosuke's face poked free from the blanket. "Are you gonna suggest we cuddle too or what? I'm sure we'd get pretty warm that way." A little wave of confidence came over him, and it probably earned him a critical hit somewhere.

"Yosuke, if you say one more word about this, I'll kick your ass." Chie scooted closer to Yosuke's side.

Soon cheesy kung-fu sound effects filled the room, and Chie was once again sucked into her movie. Yosuke briefly contemplated putting his arum around her shoulder, and he quickly decided against it. He got lucky with just a warning literally ten seconds ago, and while he was feeling pretty confident, he wasn't a complete moron. He got lucky with quite a few things that night, actually. No need to push that luck, right?

To his surprise, Yosuke felt Chie grab for his hand. She was still absorbed in the film, but she laced her fingers between his and held tight.

Yosuke thanked the god or persona or whatever it was watching over him. It was almost all too good to be true.

2:27 A.M. Chie's Floor

All too soon, Trail of the Dragon 2 had come to an end. To be perfectly honest, it was absolutely everything Chie had hoped for and more. Her viewing experience had been enhanced by a certain someone, so that may have had something to do with it.

Chie looked over at Yosuke, who was resting his head against her shoulder. He had passed out soon after she resumed the movie. She didn't blame him. After all, he had been through a lot that night. Plus he had the nerve to destroy the first movie, so he obviously didn't appreciate the movie they way it deserved.

But breaking into Junes for her movie? Chie thought that she was being all brave and cool by making moves on him throughout the night, but it was all just child's play compared to what he did. Honestly, it was one of the nicest and probably stupidest things anyone had ever done for her. She wondered how he had the balls to go through with it, but she was glad he did.

She wanted to shrug him off so she could go and sleep in her bed, but she wasn't sure that she could do that without waking him. She wanted him to rest. Plus, having him close felt absolutely wonderful.

Chie rested her head against his and tried to get comfortable. Despite her efforts to move as little as possible, Yosuke ended up stirring around.

"Chie? What time is it?"

"Sh, go back to sleep."

"Oh, okay." Yosuke yawned and pulled the blanket closer. His head returned to her shoulder, and Chie wondered if he'd get mad if she tired to play with his hair. He'd tease her for it, that's for sure. Lately, though, his teasing was seldom a bad thing in her eyes.

"Hey, Yosuke. Thank you again." her voice was barely above a whisper.

"Sure, no problem. Anythin' for you." Yosuke mumbled.

"Night, Yosuke."

"Mm, night."

Yosuke nuzzled closer to Chie and drifted off once again.

Chie yawned and closed her eyes as well. So much for him not sleeping over. She was sure her parents would find them before they woke up, and they'd probably go ballistic. They'd dish up a whole lot of trouble for her, and she didn't want to think about what her father would do to Yosuke.

The sound of the wind outside and the sound of their breathing occupied Chie's mind instead. The thought of what trouble she'd be in was long gone, and instead she enjoyed the presence of Yosuke next to her, cuddling with her, making her the happiest girl in all of Inaba.

Whatever punishment she'd face in the morning was well worth it.

-.-.-

AN

I continue to contaminate p4 with more chie/yosuke. I hope you enjoyed it! feedback is always greatly appreciated!

Icee Suicune