Chapter Text
The ride back to Inaba was going a lot easier than Kanji had anticipated. The nervous tension he’d always had around Naoto melted into nonexistence after the events in the dressing room, and he sat comfortably at her side with a crochet project as she glanced through some case files she’d retrieved from her briefcase. This wasn’t terribly out of the ordinary for them, but what was different was the fact that Naoto had chosen his arm as her backrest rather than that of the chair in which she sat, one leg tucked underneath her to create a larger space to lay out her documents as she reviewed them. It was strange, how easily they fell into this more intimate rhythm, especially in public, but all their friends had been incredibly supportive after finding out.
Which, for the record, had not been Yosuke’s fault, but Teddie’s. Chie had managed to keep the Junes heir’s wagging tongue at bay by… convincing him to buy her steak once a day for a year if he slipped up, but while she was preoccupied with him and still flustered after walking in on Kanji and Naoto, she had completely neglected arguably the least discreet of their number – who had gleefully shuffled off in search of everyone else to relay the good news. Not long after Chie had realized he was gone, Rise had barreled down the hall, weaving past the two standing watch and crashing into the room. She, for lack of a more appropriate term, glomped her two friends full-force (who, fortunately, had not been actively making out at the time), crying tears of joy. The others had filed into the room in her wake, each offering congratulations and basking in the relief that Kanji had finally, finally confessed. On that note... Kanji couldn’t be entirely sure, but he could’ve sworn he saw Yu slip Yukiko some money after Naoto had confirmed it was him who’d taken the initiative.
Rise’s agency had allowed the group to use a sprawling apartment kept specifically for talent from out of town, since none of them were heading back to Inaba until late the following afternoon. Kanji found himself unable to sleep in the middle of the night, despite how exhausted he was, and after tossing and turning on his futon fruitlessly for a while, he left the room he was sharing with the other guys to avoid waking them with a well-worn notebook, skein of yarn, and needles in hand. He had decided the best way to thank Rise was to make something for her, and too many ideas were tossing around in his head to be able to pass out. Plopping down on the couch in the common room after turning one of the smaller lamps on, Kanji opened the notebook and began hashing out some designs - a habit he’d developed after an offhanded complaint about how frequently he forgot concepts dreamed up at random prompted an unexpected gift from Naoto not long after. (He’d opened his shoe locker a couple mornings later to find a mid-sized Moleskine notebook inside with a note in her slightly messy handwriting saying, “I hope this helps resolve your issue regarding forgotten ideas.”)
He wasn’t sure how long he had been drafting before he felt a familiar presence behind him, and he didn't need to see or hear who it was before he knew. “Can’t sleep either?” he asked quietly, not looking up from the half-finished charm pattern taking shape on the page. The night vigil’s newcomer circled around the back of the couch and settled down on the cushion next to his yarn.
“I had an epiphany of sorts regarding the case I’m working,” Naoto explained, picking up one of the knitting needles and twirling it around inattentively as she spoke. “After I wrote it down, I couldn’t get back to sleep and wished not to disturb anyone with my restlessness.” Kanji hummed sympathetically and continued sketching, his heart leaping into his throat when he noticed her lean towards him out of the corner of his eye. “What are you working on?” she inquired with genuine interest.
“Figured I’d do a little somethin’ for Rise,” he told her, tilting the book to offer her a better view even though she had already moved his yarn and needles to the coffee table in order to move closer. “Y’know, t-ta thank her for askin’ us to come, and as a sorta comeback present, I guess.” Kanji gave a half-shrug, uncomfortable as he always was when discussing anything remotely sentimental. “I dunno if ‘comeback presents’ are even a thing, but it's whatever, y'know?” His embarrassment drowned beneath a wave of affection as a small hand came to rest on top of his, stilling his pencil.
“You never cease to impress me, Kanji,” Naoto whispered fondly. She caught herself a moment later and coughed awkwardly before her eyes flicked back to the sketchbook pages, and she gestured towards the book with a deliberate tilt of her chin. “I’m glad the Moleskine has been put to good use.”
“You kidding? I never go anywhere without it,” he declared with pride. Kanji tucked his pencil inside the book along the page in use and set it on the table next to the yarn, taking Naoto’s cool hands between both of his. “I can’t tell you how much that thing helps me sleep at night.”
“I have one as well that I keep next to my bed, for when my thoughts keep me awake,” she said, the way Kanji’s thumbs glided along the tops of her hands causing blood to rush to her face. “That’s where the idea came from to give you the spare I owned.”
Kanji gaped at her. “Y’mean... that was yours?”
“It was. And now it’s yours.” She met his gaze with bright eyes, the blush on her cheeks intensifying. “Much like myself.”
Kanji’s chest flooded with so much emotion, he thought he might burst. In one swooping motion, he gathered the girl next to him into his arms and buried his nose in the top of her hair. He inhaled a mix of vanilla, mint, and something distinctly her, sighing blissfully as he exhaled. “Maybe I’ll make two things for Rise instead of one,” he thought aloud, and a burst of air brushed against his chest as he felt Naoto shake with mirth.
“I’m certain she would appreciate it either way.”
The two sat together that way for a while, talking about any old thing that came to mind or simply enjoying the comfortable silence occasionally punctuated by the sounds of the city drifting from the streets far below. Kanji idly played with the ends of Naoto’s hair while she contented herself with pressing her ear to his chest, matching her breathing to the gentle, deep rhythm of his heart.
(Some time later, when she awoke to use the restroom, Yukiko found them in much the same position, except that Kanji had slipped down into an awkward recline, taking Naoto with him in their sleep. She smiled as a mother would upon her children and, after retrieving an extra blanket from one of the closets, gingerly lifted Kanji’s legs onto the couch, arranged them into what she hoped was a comfortable tangle with Naoto’s, and draped the aforementioned blanket over them before returning to the girls’ room. She set her earliest alarm in order to wake them before everyone else, as she was certain neither of them would appreciate being caught sleeping together.)
~*~
Naoto's sudden movement against Kanji’s arm startled him from his thoughts of the night prior and back to the train so abruptly, he jumped enough to shock her in return and dropped his last three stitches.
“Oh! I apologize, Kanji-kun,” she yelped, slapping her hand down on top of her files to keep them from falling off her lap. “It wasn’t my intention to disturb you so. I needed to shift my weight to stave off the paresthesia in my lower leg.”
“Para… what?”
“My foot was falling asleep.”
“Oh.” Kanji shook his head self-consciously, picking up the stitches and temporarily casting off so he could put his work-in-progress away for the time being. “Don’ worry about it. ‘S’my own fault for spacin’ out like that.” He leaned down to pick up a couple of papers that had escaped Naoto’s rush to secure them, and after handing them back to her, he draped an arm languidly over the back of her chair to give her a larger space to lean against, should she desire it. “Still working on that epin… epho… eh, thing from last night?”
Naoto inclined her head in confirmation as she straightened her documents, tapping the bottom of the stack lightly against the aisle-side armrest before placing it into a manila folder and back into her briefcase. “If I’m right on this, I’ll only need to be in Tokyo for a few days. I can come home sooner.”
“That’s awesome!” Kanji cheered, pumping his fist in the air. “It’s been months since ya been back for good!”
She found his enthusiasm infectious and beamed along with him. “It’ll be nice to take things easy for a while, yes.” Naoto reached above her to pull Kanji’s arm down over her shoulder, positioning herself such that her back pressed against his side. Kanji had to admit he was shocked by how comfortable she seemed with being this openly affectionate with him, even if no one was really paying them any mind. Or, so he thought.
“Oooooooh, gettin’ fresh up here, are we?” a voice leered from the booth behind them. Kanji recoiled and whipped his head around in anger, but before he could retaliate verbally, he heard the unmistakable sound of a fist hitting flesh, followed immediately by a grunt of pain.
“Yosuke-Senpai, this hardly qualifies as inappropriate when one is sitting next to a romantic partner in a semi-public space,” Naoto sighed, her tone long-suffering.
“Ooh-HOO, romantic, you say?”
“Oh, for the love of- stuff it, Hanamura,” Chie groaned from her seat at his side, swatting at him with the back of her hand. “What are you, five?” She then turned to the side so her voice would carry better over her shoulder. “Ignore him, you guys. He’s just jealous he didn’t walk away from the festival with a girlfriend like Kanji-kun did.” Her ability to sound supportive while mercilessly roasting someone else was something to be admired, if not feared.
“Wha- I am not!” Yosuke sputtered. Kanji could hear Yukiko going into a laughing fit across from Chie and sighed submissively.
“He’s just happy for you two and doesn’t know how else to show it,” Yu asserted over the ensuing argument from his seat next to Teddie, who was sandwiched in between him and Yukiko if not for returning from yet another trip to the dining car with a stack of boxes.
“Another way he wanted to show it was by generously paying for everybody’s on-board meal today!” Teddie gushed as he handed two of the small snack boxes up through the gap between Kanji and Naoto’s headrests, completely ignoring complaints from the group's unwilling benefactor about both invasion of personal space and taking his wallet without permission, again.
“’Ey Ted, y’know we have more room up here where you could sit so you’re not squishin’ Senpai,’ Kanji suggested as he took the boxes from the Shadow boy and handed one to Naoto, who inclined her head in thanks.
“But I like squishing with Sensei,” Teddie replied innocently, unaware of Yu shaking his head in amused resignation.
“That aside,” Naoto chimed in, “in the event your discomfort outweighs your desire to remain at Yu-Senpai’s side, please don’t hesitate to sit up here with us.”
One could almost hear the sparkles.
“Nao-chan, are you saying you want me to join in on your train ride of looove with Kanji-chan?” Teddie asked dreamily.
“Hey! All she said was you could sit in the same booth, not cuddle with us, y’dumb bear,” Kanji shot back, leaning so his head blocked the gap Teddie was currently trying to squeeze his face through. “And don’t freakin' call me that!”
“Aw, Kanji, don't deny our love! You were my first kiss, and you know what they say about-”
“Don't worry about it, Kanji,” Yosuke interrupted as he struggled to pull Teddie away from the seatback, pushing him back across the common space of their booth once he'd managed it. “Nobody except this idiot wants to intrude on your cuddling, especially after how long you waited to do it.”
As Kanji seethed in his embarrassment, Naoto could only sigh in exasperation. “P-perhaps we should have kept this to ourselves for a while.”
"Too late now," he muttered, turning his focus solely upon annihilating the snack box's contents in an effort to distract himself until he found his calm.
"It will pass," Naoto consoled, sounding as if she was trying to convince herself as much as Kanji. Louder so her voice would be heard behind them, she added, "Perhaps, if and when Yosuke-Senpai gets the courage to confess his feelings for Chie-Senpai, he'll be too preoccupied to give us any more grief." Kanji howled with laughter as Yosuke nearly choked on his food.