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"Hey, partner, I brought your--whoa!"
Souji touched the corner of his mouth carefully, feeling it throb beneath his fingertips. "Is it really that bad?"
"Dude," Yosuke asked, "what happened to your face?"
"That's a little rude." Souji stepped out of the doorway and motioned for Yosuke to enter. "Come on in."
Yosuke continued to stare as he took off his shoes and set them aside. "Seriously, what happened?"
"It was an accident," Souji said, and he'd repeated it to himself so much that it came out sounding stiff and practiced, more like an excuse than an explanation. Aware of Nanako in the next room, he continued, "I tripped and hit my face on my table."
Yosuke frowned. "How--?"
"I know," Souji cut in, leading him deeper into the house. He kept his voice soft, trying not to move his mouth too much because talking hurt. "I can't believe I was that clumsy, either, I have to pay more attention to what I'm doing. Nanako, look who's here."
Seated at her usual spot in front of the TV, occupied with the snacks Souji had prepared for her, Nanako brightened at the sight of Yosuke. "Oh, you're big bro's friend, the one from Junes! Did you come to play?"
"Not today, sorry." Attention diverted, Yosuke waved the stack of papers Souji only now noticed he was carrying. "I came to give your brother his homework."
Souji turned his head aside. "I don't want it."
"Too bad," Yosuke said, pushing them at him. "If I have to do it, so do you. Missing class doesn't get you a pass."
Grudgingly, Souji took them. "Fine, let's deal with it upstairs."
In his room, Yosuke tossed his schoolbag aside carelessly and loosened his jacket. Souji watched him, torn between the desire to keep his room neat and the pleasure that came from seeing Yosuke so comfortable around him. He settled for discreetly nudging Yosuke's bag out of the way, and then sat in front of his worktable. Yosuke mirrored him on the other side, leaning back on his hands.
Souji spread the papers out but before he could say anything about them, Yosuke asked, "So what's the real reason you've got that bruise? It looks pretty nasty."
"It was an accident," Souji said again.
That didn't satisfy Yosuke. "From the table?"
Not wanting to lie to him, Souji considered the way best to answer that. "Dojima-san and I had a--a run-in, I guess you could call it."
Yosuke's voice rose sharply in disbelief. "Your uncle did it?"
Souji held a finger in front of his mouth for silence, pointing at the door with his other hand. He knew Nanako wouldn't eavesdrop but Yosuke's voice had a tendency to carry, and he wasn't going to let her hear anymore of this than he could avoid. As far as she was concerned, he'd tripped. "It wasn't on purpose," he said when Yosuke nodded his understanding. "We were talking and I hit a sore point, I guess, and he threw his arm out..."
He gestured with his own to demonstrate, remembering how quickly it'd happened. "I moved forward at the same time, and we collided."
Yosuke didn't show any signs of being convinced. He'd stopped leaning back and instead sat straight and tense. "That hard?"
"Dojima-san's got a surprisingly good arm," Souji said, keeping his tone light. Yosuke didn't smile. "It's not like he did it because he was angry, you should have seen how upset he was afterwards. I think I just annoyed him."
"What the hell were you guys talking about?"
"Nanako, a bit, and the case. Family stuff." He'd finally mustered up enough courage to ask about Nanako's mother, and it hadn't gone over well. Maybe it was too soon; living with Dojima was still new, and Souji hadn't learned his limits, hadn't even gotten used to living with other people, really, especially not a guardian. He'd gotten too used to being on his own in the city. "Sometimes it's hard to figure out what I should avoid mentioning."
"You asked about the case?" By Yosuke's tone, he didn't consider that a good idea.
"He's always telling me to stay out of it, but I thought I might be able to find out something useful if I caught him off guard." At this point, Souji was inclined to think he and his friends knew more about what was really going on than anyone else but he was sure there were details about the killer that only the police force would know. Not that Dojima had shared them. "It didn't work."
"Maybe you shouldn't bring it up anymore," Yosuke suggested.
"Maybe not," Souji agreed. He pushed his homework around aimlessly, mindful of the way Yosuke kept staring at him. Gradually, his face heated up. "It must be disappointing seeing this."
"Seeing what?"
"This." Souji gestured to his face. He'd had a bandage on it earlier for Nanako's sake but it'd been uncomfortable and only made it look worse. He wasn't sure what he'd do when Dojima got home; covered or not, it was going to be impossible for either of them to ignore. "Seeing the guy you made leader bruised up over something stupid. It doesn't exactly inspire confidence."
"Seriously?" Yosuke asked, offended. "I'm not thinking anything like that."
"Well, I am," Souji muttered. He'd thought it'd been bad last night, sitting in his room and trying to get over the shock of what happened, but the shame and embarrassment of Yosuke seeing him like this, of admitting his mistake, was worse. In front of Yosuke he always wanted to come off well, and with that taken from him, his stomach twisted, a sour taste filling his mouth. "I should have been able to avoid him, I've done it with Shadows, or I should realized I was pushing him too far--"
"It wasn't your fault," Yosuke said, leaning forward. "He's your uncle; it's not like you could have expected him to do that, no one would have. And you can't compare Shadows to people, they're two completely different things."
Souji didn't say that Shadows were easier in some ways. At least with those, there were no tense, awkward dinners.
"You're a great leader," Yosuke insisted, so earnestly that Souji smiled, even though it pulled the corner of his mouth up painfully. "You're a great guy period. Don't be so hard on yourself."
"Thanks." Feeling awkward at how much that reassurance meant to him, Souji searched for a distraction and ended up turning back to his homework. "So why'd you bring this over?"
From a moment, Souji didn't think Yosuke was going to go along with the change of topic but to his relief he said, "So you wouldn't fall behind, of course."
"Really?" Souji asked, eyeing him suspiciously. "You weren't hoping to get some help with your own homework?"
Yosuke shrugged with exaggerated nonchalance. "Well, if you're offering..."
While Yosuke got his work out, Souji asked, "What did Morooka have to say about me not being there? I'm sure he didn't just let it pass."
"He called you a no good slacker from the city who was probably skipping class to hit on girls." Souji laughed. "Yeah, it was funny until he started ragging on me, too. Guilty by association or something."
"Sorry," Souji said. "I'll make it up to you and let you copy one of my answers."
"Just one?" Despite his complaint, Yosuke perked up.
"You'll never learn anything if you cheat off of me all the time," Souji said. "It doesn't look hard, anymore, just like review."
"You picked a good day to miss school. Every time I do it, they teach something new and never go over it again." Unsure, Yosuke asked, "You're coming tomorrow, right?"
"Yes. I just didn't want to go in looking like this. If anyone asks later, I hit the table, okay?" He waited until he had Yosuke's reluctant agreement before picking up his pencil. "Alright, let's get this over this."
He'd been right about it being review work, and it was history at that, one of his best subjects. Yosuke used his cheat answer early, forcing Souji to rack his brain for a way to reword the answer so they wouldn't get into trouble. Yosuke, waiting for him to finish, filled the silence by letting him know what everyone else had been up to in class.
While he listened, Souji ran the eraser of his pencil across the corner of his mouth absently. Even that small movement hurt; the whole right side of his face was sore, though that hadn't kept him from poking at it throughout the day, still unable to accept it was there.
Abruptly, he realized that Yosuke had stopped talking and was watching him, eyes serious. "Does it hurt?"
"It's not so bad," Souji said, stumbling only slightly over the lie. He didn't want to give Yosuke any more reason to worry.
Hesitantly, Yosuke raised a hand. "Can I...?"
It took Souji a second to realize what he was asking, and then he nodded, sitting very still as Yosuke reached across the table and touched his face. Pain flared up under his touch, and Souji winced.
"Sorry." Immediately, Yosuke made to draw back, but Souji grabbed his wrist and kept him in place.
"It's fine," he said. He had to narrow his eyes to endure it, but he didn't want Yosuke to stop. "Go ahead."
Yosuke traced his fingers over the bruise, mapping it out, being careful to keep his touch light. It felt bigger under his scrutiny, and although Souji had avoided the mirror for most of the day, he knew how bad it looked. He hadn't been lying when he said Dojima had a good arm.
"Jeez, partner," Yosuke said, soft and worried. Souji didn't know what to say to that so he kept quiet, resisting the urge to turn into the touch when Yosuke's fingers came close to his mouth. "You know, if you ever need somewhere to stay, you can come to my house, you and Nanako-chan. My parents wouldn't care."
"He didn't--"
"It was an accident," Yosuke said, holding his gaze. "I get it. I'm just throwing it out there in case you need to get away for a while. Because you're tired or whatever, it doesn't matter. You can sleep in my room, I don't mind."
A strong wave of affection left Souji briefly unable to respond. Not for the first time, he wondered if Yosuke was really oblivious to the affect he had on him, and had to hold himself back from saying more than he should. "Thanks," he managed, the word sitting thickly in his throat.
Yosuke dropped his hand. "It's nothing." He laughed, short and frustrated. "The least I can do, honestly."
"You brought my homework, didn't you? That's more than enough," Souji said. He wanted to wipe the gloomy expression from Yosuke's face; it didn't suit him. "And you know what? I changed my mind. You can copy a whole page."
Yosuke blinked in surprise. "Seriously?"
"Just one," Souji warned, sliding it towards him, "or we'll get caught."
Yosuke took it with a grin. "Man, you're great. I owe you."
Souji thought of showing up at Yosuke's house and being let in, no questions asked. He'd never need to take him up on that, he assured himself; it was enough to have the option. Yosuke wouldn't appreciate him being sappy, though. "Of course you do," he agreed, rapping Yosuke's knuckles with his pencil. "Now hurry up and finish, I don't want to leave Nanako alone for too long."