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Chapter 3: Good End

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(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

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Yosuke stumbled to a halt in front of Souji, getting the gag off of him as fast as his shaking hands would allow and tossing it aside just in time for Souji’s Shadow to rise back to his feet, looking both hurt and irate.

You--

“I never wanted to have to acknowledge the thoughts that have been going through my head, especially as of late,” Souji cut his Shadow off, speaking clearly despite his body’s slight trembling. “I should have known better than to push them aside, especially given how many of my friends did the same, but… I guess part of me thought that because I already had a Persona, that meant it wasn’t possible for me to develop a Shadow no matter how many thoughts and feelings I buried.” He let out a small, humorless laugh. “Apparently it was possible, though, and now everyone is paying the price for my arrogance--or my cowardice, I guess.”

Souji briefly turned his attention away from his Shadow as he felt the restraints around his wrists falling away, flushing lightly as Yosuke met his gaze and gave him a supportive smile before moving with his dagger in hand to cut through the restraints around Souji’s ankles.

As soon as Souji was able, he pushed himself up to his feet, giving Yosuke a grateful look as his partner helped him up.

“I was scared,” Souji admitted as he turned his attention back over to his Shadow, who was watching both him and Yosuke quietly. “Scared of losing my friends like I almost lost Nanako; scared of being left behind and forgotten after the year is up and I go back home; scared of… of losing my best friend by admitting that I saw him as more than just a friend, especially knowing how he felt about guys being like that ….”

Souji saw Yosuke wince out of the corner of his eye, and was grateful that he kept quiet, allowing Souji to say his piece as he took a step towards his Shadow.

“Your actions might have been a bit… extreme , but I can acknowledge that at their very base, your feelings are the same as mine: the fear, the desperation, the desire to keep everyone safe and by your side at all costs… those all came from me, just as you did--because you’re me, and I’m you.”

Souji’s Shadow gave both Souji and Yosuke a soft smile--resigned yet content--as he began to fade away, Izanagi briefly taking his place before disappearing entirely.

Souji hardly had a second to let out a relieved sigh before there was the sound of a crash and six voices shouting over one another, and Souji and Yosuke both jumped and turned towards the source of the noise in alarm to find their friends on the ground in a heap, looking disgruntled but otherwise unharmed.

“Ow!! Get off me, Kanji!”

“Tell Rise ‘n’ Teddie to get off’a me first!!”

“Y-your faces-- snrk -- hahah--”

“Y-- Yukiko-senpai, I don’t think this is an appropriate time for laughter! If you could please move--”

Will you all get off of me?!

Souji and Yosuke shared a glance, feeling a cross between amused and relieved as they rushed over to help out their friends.


“Wait, so Souji’s Shadow is gone? And we missed it?!”

Chie let out a disappointed groan, while Yukiko patted her arm comfortingly.

“I guess Yosuke must have been the only one of us to make it through Souji’s Shadow’s puzzle, then,” Yukiko said thoughtfully.

“Wait-- what?” Yosuke blinked, bewildered.

Rise pouted. “I wanted to be the one to help Senpai… but, well,” she gave Souji a smile as she continued, “as long as Senpai’s okay now, I guess that’s what matters.”

“Wait, wait, hold on, back up a sec,” Yosuke said, glancing around at everyone in confusion. “This is gonna sound really weird, but like… what happened to you guys after you went through those doors?”

“Huh? Well, uh… we just kinda blacked out, I guess,” Kanji replied hesitantly, rubbing the back of his head as he looked around for support. “Right? I mean, that’s what happened to me, before we ended up back here.”

Everyone nodded and gave murmurs of agreement, much to Souji and Yosuke’s mutual bewilderment.

“So… you don’t remember anything at all?” Souji checked warily, unable to help but feel the slightest bit relieved when everyone nodded once more.

He felt bad to keep what his Shadow had said and done from them, especially since he’d seen each of their Shadows, but….

“You don’t have to tell us what happened if you don’t want to, Senpai,” Naoto said, catching Souji off-guard and giving him a small, amused smile as she saw the surprise in his expression. “I understand that confronting your Shadow can be very… personal , and you don’t have to feel obligated to tell us anything just because you saw ours.”

Souji could have taken the out that Naoto had so graciously given him--and part of him genuinely wanted to--but he knew that he wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he did.

“The whole reason I had a Shadow in the first place was because I’d been forcing myself to hide my thoughts and my feelings,” Souji replied with a rueful smile. “I think I owe it to you all, and to myself, to be honest.”

And so Souji began to recount everything: how few friends he’d had before moving to Inaba; how much he treasured the friends that he’d made here; his fear for their safety that slowly began to grow and fester over time, made worse by the incident with Nanako and Namatame; his worries that once they caught the true murderer and once he left Inaba, everyone would move on with their lives without him, and would eventually replace him and forget about him entirely--

As everyone hugged him and reassured him that that would never happen, Souji couldn’t help his eyes from clouding over with tears of relief, even as he registered in the back of his mind that Yosuke was the only one not joining in on the hug and the words of reassurance.

He’d purposely avoided mentioning anything that had happened between his Shadow and Yosuke, mainly because he didn’t want to fluster Yosuke or put him on the spot--but also because he was terrified to bring the subject up, unsure of what would happen now that everything was over and everyone was safe.

Yosuke had told him that nothing would change and that they were still partners, but… what if he’d just been saying that because he was being put on the spot? What if everything had been a lie, just to try and talk Souji’s Shadow down? What if Yosuke resented him for his Shadow forcefully kissing him and dumping unwanted feelings on him? What if--

Souji swayed in place after everyone pulled back from the hug, suddenly feeling faint from exhaustion, only for someone to reach out and steady him.

“Easy, partner. C’mon, let’s get you out of this place and back home.”

Souji’s breath caught in his throat as Yosuke gave him an understanding smile, and it took all of his willpower to keep his relief from flooding his expression even as he gave Yosuke a small, grateful smile of his own.

It was only months’ worth of suppressing his feelings that helped keep his face from heating up as Yosuke moved Souji’s arm around his shoulders and kept his own arm around Souji’s waist, supporting him as they began making their way towards the entrance of the TV world.

“Oh yeah!” Rise turned to face Souji suddenly as they walked, catching everyone’s attention. “Senpai, did you see who pushed you into the TV? It couldn’t have been Namatame, so that must mean--”

Souji shook his head, cutting her off with a frown. “Unfortunately, my case was… a bit different. The murderer wasn’t involved at all.”

“But then how did you end up in the TV?” Yukiko asked.

“I wasn’t pushed in… I was pulled.”

Yosuke’s eyes widened in realization. “Wait, are you saying your Shadow pulled you in?!”

Souji sighed and nodded. “I was surprised too. It wasn’t even raining that night.”

“Can you tell us what happened from the beginning?” Naoto asked, her brows furrowed in thought.

“Unfortunately, there isn’t much to tell,” Souji replied regretfully. “I got home late from one of my part-time jobs, and by the time I cooked and sat down to eat, it was already close to midnight. Once midnight struck, the living room TV suddenly turned on, and my Shadow appeared.” Hesitantly, he asked, “Did the Midnight Channel play for any of you?”

“Sorry Senpai, I wasn’t even watching for it,” Kanji admitted sheepishly.

“Yosuke and I were both asleep!” Teddie declared.

Yosuke frowned. “The noise from the TV would’ve woken at least one of us, though… so maybe it just played for you?”

“It’s possible,” Souji agreed. “My Shadow was speaking directly to me, after all. He taunted me for a bit before reaching out, and before I knew it a hand had grabbed my arm and was pulling me through the TV.”

“That sounds like it would make a great ghost story,” Yukiko mused with a smile.

Chie shivered. “Don’t say that! Now I’m gonna have nightmares….”

Souji chuckled. “In any case, I was pulled into the TV and lost consciousness, and when I woke up I was exactly how you found me.”

“Your Shadow seemed to exhibit a number of peculiar behaviors uncommon to other Shadows that we’ve seen, at least to my knowing,” Naoto said, her arms crossed and a small, pensive frown on her face. “I wonder if that was a byproduct of your unique abilities, possessing multiple Personas and being the first of us all to be able to travel between Inaba and the TV world.”

“Maybe….”

Souji would have contributed more, but he cut off with a quiet groan as his head began to spin, as if protesting forcing himself to think on top of forcing himself to move.

“Why don’t we try and figure it out tomorrow, after partner gets some rest?” Yosuke suggested.

“Ah, I apologize,” Naoto said sheepishly, lowering her hat as she dropped her gaze in guilt. “You’re right, Senpai’s health comes first.”

Souji wanted to protest that he was fine, but one glance from Yosuke had him shutting his mouth with a resigned sigh--yet he found himself repressing a smile as well, his heart swelling in response to Yosuke’s concern.

He let himself be guided back to the entrance of the TV world, looking forward to going home and getting some sleep after a long, stressful night (or was it a day? Maybe longer? He had no idea how long he’d been in the TV world for, now that he thought about it). Upon going through the TV stack and landing back in Junes, Souji expected everyone to part ways--which they did, all except the one person Souji had thought would be the first person to run off.

Yosuke must have sensed Souji’s confusion, because he let out a quiet laugh and gave Souji a smile when their gazes met. “Don’t give me that look. What kind of partner would I be if I didn’t make sure you got home safely?”

Souji glanced away in embarrassment, though he couldn’t stop a smile from tugging at the corners of his lips as he murmured a quiet “thank you”, before letting Yosuke escort him all the way back home.


Apparently, Yosuke was set on surprising him to the very end: not only did he walk Souji home, but he invited himself inside as well, insisting on making Souji something to eat and shooing him off to go rest in the living room until the food was done.

Souji tried to snuff out the spark of hope that kept flickering to life in his chest, but it was getting harder and harder to convince himself that Yosuke had been lying about still wanting to be his partner, even after discovering how Souji felt about him.

Honestly, that was all Souji could ever--or would ever--ask for, at this point. As long as he still had his best friend, that was all that he needed.

“Sorry for the wait!”

Yosuke’s voice pulled Souji from his thoughts, and he looked up from where he’d been zoning out in time to see Yosuke enter the living room with two plates in hand.

Souji wanted to get up and help Yosuke set the table, but exhaustion was beginning to hit him hard, and he could barely even manage to make it over to the table before needing to sit down again so he wouldn’t pass out.

“Are you alright?”

Souji’s face began to heat up as he felt Yosuke’s concerned gaze on him, but he was too tired to try and stop it--and besides, there wasn’t much point in trying to hide anything this late in the game.

“I’m… I’m fine. Just tired, and a bit dizzy.”

Yosuke hummed thoughtfully, continuing to observe Souji for a moment longer before picking up his chopsticks and gesturing towards the plate of food that he’d set in front of Souji. “Try and eat a bit, and then I’ll help you upstairs. Getting some food in your stomach might help with the dizziness, at least.”

Souji nodded and picked up his own chopsticks, a small smile working its way onto his face as soon as he tasted the food.

It wasn’t exactly the best meal he’d ever eaten--though it did taste surprisingly good; apparently Yosuke was a better cook than the girls, at least--but the fact that Yosuke had made it specifically for him was enough to make him want to clean the whole plate, his heart swelling with appreciation and love for his best friend.

“Guess you must’ve been hungrier than you realized, huh,” Yosuke teased with a quiet laugh as he watched Souji practically inhale his food.

“It was delicious,” Souji replied as he set his chopsticks down. “Thank you for the meal.”

“Anytime, partner,” Yosuke replied with a grin, shooting Souji a wink as he added, “With all the times you’ve cooked for me, I figured it was about time I returned the favor.”

Souji tried his best to keep his blush from darkening, but apparently it was a lost cause judging by the intrigue on Yosuke’s face combined with his own light blush--though that was certainly a lot better than the disgusted, hateful reactions that Souji had feared he would be on the receiving end of if Yosuke ever caught wind of his feelings.

Yosuke finished his own plate of food before standing up, shooting Souji a look when he tried to get up and help Yosuke clean up.

“Don’t even think about it, partner. You’re off duty for tonight--and I’m not budging on that.”

Souji deflated in resignation, though he was inwardly grateful that he could continue to rest instead of pushing himself to move around more than necessary.

When Yosuke finished cleaning up, he rejoined Souji in the living room and helped him back up onto the couch--before shocking Souji by sitting right next to him instead of on the cushions on the floor, or even on the opposite end of the couch.

“Partner, I think… I think we need to talk about-- well, about a lot of stuff, really. What happened with your Shadow, and, um… your feelings, and stuff.”

Souji tensed and dropped his gaze as he nodded. Part of him had hoped that maybe they would go through the night without any mention of everything that happened, but he knew that it wouldn’t be fair to Yosuke for them to just sweep everything under the rug and pretend it never happened.

“I’m sorry,” Souji began, keeping his gaze on the floor. “My Shadow never should have… I would never do something like that to you. That was just-- I mean, I’ve… thought about, um. Kissing you, before, but never like that. Never against your will or without your consent, I swear.”

Yosuke sighed, though his cheeks were bright red in embarrassment from the memory. “I know you wouldn’t, partner; I trust you. Just… the things that your Shadow said, about how you feel… were they…?”

“Everything was true,” Souji replied. “I… for months now, I’ve had feelings for you, and I’ve done my best to repress them so we could still be friends, but--”

“Partner,” Yosuke cut Souji off, causing him to warily glance up at Yosuke in confusion, “I get why you thought you had to do that, and I’m sorry--I’ve said a lot of shit and acted like an asshole, and I probably really hurt you without even realizing, but… that doesn’t mean I’m going to stop being your friend. Even if your Shadow hadn’t shown up and I’d found out about your feelings, I’d still be your partner--I told you that nothing will ever change that, and I meant it.”

Souji’s breath hitched, his heart swelling in relief at the clear reaffirmation of his earlier declaration. “Yosuke….”

“If we’re apologizing, though, then I need to say I’m sorry too,” Yosuke added, causing Souji’s expression to shift to confusion. “I… I shouldn’t have taken advantage of your Shadow’s--or, well, your --feelings and… kissed him, to distract him. I don’t want you to think that I’d ever mess with your feelings or do something like that to you--”

“I know you wouldn’t,” Souji reassured him, smiling as Yosuke visibly relaxed in relief. “It was a desperate situation, and you did what you had to do to make sure everyone got out of there safely. Honestly, I’m more grateful to you than anything that you were able to bring yourself to do that.”

Yosuke blushed as he murmured. “I wasn’t exactly… um. Well, it’s not like I was really… forcing myself.”

“What…?”

Yosuke rubbed the back of his neck. “I mean, I didn’t want to do it, but… because of the circumstances, not because I, uh. Was opposed to….”

“Kissing me?” Souji finished when Yosuke trailed off into flustered silence, his heart swelling in hope as Yosuke nodded. “Were you not opposed to it because you were doing it to help me, or…?”

Yosuke groaned, covering his flushed face with his hands. “Are you really going to make me say it?”

“Yosuke, please .”

He tentatively glanced up at Souji, his expression softening as he saw the nervousness in his partner’s gaze. “I wasn’t opposed to it because it was you , partner,” he confessed, unable to help the smile that tugged at the corners of his lips as he heard Souji’s breath hitch in response. “No one’s ever made me feel that way before--like I was… like I was important and someone actually worth loving, and… honestly, I was kind of… um. W-well, I know your Shadow is technically you, but he also wasn’t you, and-- ugh, forget it, I’m being weird.”

“You’re not being weird,” Souji reassured him, trying and failing to not seem too eager as he asked, “What were you going to say?”

Yosuke eyed Souji for a moment in embarrassment before saying, “I kind of wished it was… you and not your Shadow, when he k-- kissed me. Or at least, the second time he kissed me--the first time I was too busy freaking out to really think about anything,” he added wryly.

“Do you still feel that way?” At Yosuke’s confused look, Souji shifted a bit closer and asked, “Do you still wish it was me kissing you?”

Yosuke made a choked noise, his face flooding with heat, but with how Souji was looking at him--so filled with hope, along with the tiniest hints of desire that he was obviously trying so hard to hide--he couldn’t possibly deny his partner (or himself) any longer.

In lieu of a response, Yosuke leaned forward, clearing the distance between the two of them and pulling Souji into a kiss before he could start overthinking things and second-guessing himself.

The pleased noise that Souji let out as he eagerly reciprocated the kiss made all of Yosuke’s embarrassment well worth it.

It was with great reluctance that Yosuke pulled back to catch his breath, laughing quietly as he saw the dazed look on Souji’s face. “You good, partner?”

“Better than good,” Souji replied, moving to rest his head against Yosuke’s shoulder. “I almost can’t even believe this is real.”

Yosuke chuckled weakly. “I know what you mean. You having feelings for me, us kissing… it’s surreal.”

“Good surreal?” Souji checked nervously.

“Good surreal,” Yosuke confirmed, smiling as Souji relaxed against him in response. “What are we going to do now, though?”

“Hm?”

Yosuke glanced away in embarrassment as he forced himself to continue. “I mean… are we, um. Together , now?”

“Do you want to be?” Souji asked.

“I…,” Yosuke trailed off, biting his lip as he fell into thought.

He wanted to kiss Souji, that much was clear--and he was surprisingly alright with the idea of Souji having feelings for him, too. At the same time, though, he was still trying to wrap his mind around the idea of being attracted to a guy when he’d spent as long as he could remember convinced that he was completely straight.

“It’s alright if you need time to think about it,” Souji said, pulling back enough to give Yosuke a reassuring smile. “Honestly, I wasn’t even expecting you to accept my feelings, let alone for you to even consider wanting to be more than friends with me.”

Yosuke blushed lightly. “You already said you’ve been hiding your feelings for months now; it’s not fair of me to--”

“Yosuke,” Souji cut him off gently, pressing a finger to Yosuke’s lips to silence him, “I would gladly wait the rest of my life for you.”

“Goddammit partner, you… you can’t just say things like that with a straight face,” Yosuke complained weakly, his face burning as he took in Souji’s sincere, affectionate expression. “You’re seriously going to make me fall for you if you keep that up.”

Souji chuckled as he moved to take Yosuke’s hand, lifting it to press a kiss to Yosuke’s knuckles before replying, “Do you really think saying that is going to make me want to stop?”

Yosuke groaned and leaned forward to hide his face against Souji’s shoulder. “Not fair,” he grumbled. “Seriously, how do you do all of that embarrassing stuff so easily?”

Souji shrugged his free shoulder, moving a hand up to run through Yosuke’s hair and smiling as Yosuke gradually relaxed against him in response. “I’m just being honest, that’s all. I’m not ashamed of my feelings for you, so why should I feel embarrassed?”

“Partner….”

Yosuke hesitated before shifting enough to wrap his arms around Souji, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips as he felt rather than saw Souji’s heavy blush. He turned his head enough for his lips to brush against Souji’s neck, surprised by just how much he enjoyed the feeling of Souji shivering in response.

“Thank you,” Yosuke murmured, before reluctantly pulling back to give Souji a teasing smile. “Alright, I think that’s enough sappiness for one night--let’s get you upstairs so you can go to sleep, otherwise you’re really gonna be feeling it tomorrow.”

Souji chuckled weakly--he’d honestly forgotten about his exhaustion with how focused he was on Yosuke and his willingness to be physically affectionate with him, but now that Yosuke brought it up, it was suddenly beginning to hit him how much trouble he was having keeping his eyes open.

“Yeah, that sounds like a good idea,” Souji agreed, letting Yosuke help him up and leaning against him gratefully as he slowly and patiently walked him upstairs.

It was only when they entered Souji’s bedroom that he realized that Yosuke had made no mention of leaving.

Yosuke must have noticed the look on Souji’s face, because he rolled his eyes and said, “Did you really think I was just going to dump you off here and go?” He gave Souji a smile and a wink as he added, “C’mon, you know I wouldn’t do that to my partner.”

“Thank you,” Souji replied with a small smile, before moving to leave the room as he said, “Let me just go get the spare futon--”

“Souji, go to bed ,” Yosuke said with fond exasperation. “Don’t worry about the spare futon. Just get changed and go to sleep; I’m going to borrow your shower and some pajamas, and I’ll be back in a bit.”

Souji yawned and nodded, making his way over to his drawers and rummaging through them to take out pajamas to change into. “Mmkay. Take whatever you need.”

He moved over to his futon with his change of clothes in hand so that Yosuke could freely go through his dresser and find something to wear, too tired to do much more than crack a small, amused smile as he heard Yosuke make a choked noise of embarrassment when Souji pulled off his shirt without preamble.

“I-I’ll be back in a bit!” Yosuke exclaimed before rushing out of the room, pausing for just long enough to add, “Don’t wait up for me, alright?”

Souji made a vague noise of acknowledgment as he continued changing, before sitting down on his futon with an exhausted sigh.

Despite what Yosuke said, Souji wanted to at least try and stay up until Yosuke returned--but it was an uphill battle that he was quickly losing as his eyelids kept drooping and his head kept bobbing.

It wouldn’t hurt to just… lay down for a bit, would it?

He would just close his eyes for a minute, and get back up to help Yosuke with the guest futon once he finished taking his shower.

Just one minute, that was all….


Yosuke quietly reentered the bedroom, frowning as he saw the light still on before shaking his head in fond exasperation as he saw Souji passed out on top of his futon.

He’d probably tried to stay up and wait for Yosuke, even after Yosuke told him not to.

“You’re so stubborn, partner, I swear,” Yosuke muttered under his breath, shutting the light off before carefully making his way over to Souji.

It took some careful maneuvering, but he managed to get the blankets out from under Souji without waking him up, and he gently pulled them over his sleeping partner’s body before eyeing the small bit of empty space left in the futon with a flushed face.

He hadn’t been able to find the spare futon, and he didn’t want to sleep on the couch without any blankets or pillows to use, and… well, it wasn’t like Souji would object to Yosuke sharing a futon with him, right?

Plus, Souji was surprisingly comfortable and warm, judging from the few times he’d been held in his arms.

Yosuke took a breath, letting it out slowly as he pushed aside his embarrassment and slowly crawled into the futon until he was pressed up against his partner under the covers.

This… wasn’t so bad, he realized as he gradually began to relax. It would take some getting used to, for sure, but if he was being honest with himself (which wasn’t always easy), he really didn’t think he would be able to turn down the opportunity to be with Souji as more than just friends--not when he’d gotten a taste of being able to be physically affectionate with someone, of someone being physically affectionate with him in return, and most importantly, of someone having genuine feelings for him.

Especially not when the person in question was Souji Seta , the most amazing guy he knew.

That was a conversation for tomorrow, though--for now, Yosuke was content to put the matter aside in favor of getting some well-earned rest, a peaceful sleep easily claiming him with the knowledge that his partner was safe and sound back home where he belonged.

Notes:

And that's a wrap for my Souyo Halloween Event contribution! Hopefully it was a decent enough read lmao;;