This is a kinkmeme fill based on a prompt asking for Souji and Yosuke as "heterosexual life partners". Essentially, friendship fic. However, there will be an alternate ending to this series of vignettes which will cast it all in a decidedly new light. I'll make sure to mark that chapter, so that those of you who prefer them as friends can avoid it. As for now, enjoy!

April 12, 2011

Yosuke didn't really do the whole friend thing.

Or rather, that's what he would tell himself, smiling smugly at how cool and aloof he sounded while he walked his bike down the flood plain on his way to school; alone. Again. Still, once he passed the Yasogami High gates and overheard the chatting of eager girls or the echoing slap of a high five, the mask would slip slightly and the longing would set in.

It had been half a year. Six months. One hundred sixty-three days. Yosuke knew; he kept count. Each day brought another tally mark to his old and over-loved Risette calendar; like a prisoner marking off how much time he'd served. Yosuke would have liked to carve those lines into the wall (for the poetic symbolism of it all, of course), but he doubted his mother would appreciate a dedication to authenticity in this case. In truth, Yosuke was thankful. He could tuck the calendar away if he wanted; he didn't have to face the fact that while the number of days stuck in this town steadily increased, his number of friends stayed at zero.

That wasn't to say he didn't get attention; Junes made sure of that. When Yosuke first arrived in Inaba that had almost been a good thing. Junes was new and exciting, just like him, and everyone seemed eager to be the first to show the transfer student around or the first to take the transfer student out for some grilled steak. There were a lot of firsts in that month, culminating with the first family-run store closing its doors. No one seemed to find his clumsiness or jokes quite as charming after that.

Yosuke chained up his bike, fumbling with the lock longer than necessary as he psyched himself up for another school year of huge, plastic grins and putting himself in harm's way for the amusement of his classmates. Sure, it may be that his classmates were laughing at him not with him…but a laugh was a laugh, right? Turning away from the bicycle rack, Yosuke caught a flash of gray hair moving in his peripheral vision. Turning, his eyes widened to see that it was the boy from earlier. And not only that, he was moving towards him, wearing an expression of polite hope. Maybe he was going to ask him how he was after the fall--

"Excuse me? Do you know where the faculty office is?"

Guess not.

"Uh, yeah," Yosuke nodded, twining and untwining his headphone cord around his fingers, "Just take a right at the shoe lockers, they have a sign posted above the door. Can't miss it."

"Thanks," Gray replied with a grateful smile. Yosuke returned it. Then Gray left.

"…Goodbye to you, too," Yosuke supplied with a sigh, shoving his headphones over his ears and turning the volume dial to max. He may be whittling away at his hearing, but at least the pounding bass that hung around him audibly gave Yosuke an excuse for why no one but confused new kids wanted to talk to him.