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Shortly after they rescued Yukiko, when life in Inaba finally began to settle into something that could be described as normal, Souji decided to study for their upcoming midterms.
Coincidentally, this was the exact same time Yosuke decided to become a distraction.
They were in the middle of a lecture when Souji's seat began to vibrate, and a quick look down showed the tip of Yosuke's shoe knocking steadily against his chair leg. He must have been bored. Souji couldn't blame him; after spending the last few days racing around in a TV to save Yukiko, hearing about their teacher's financial problems hardly counted as thrilling. As much as he sympathized, though, Souji had promised his parents he'd keep his grades up, and he could hardly do that while distracted, so when there was a chance, he twisted around in his seat.
Yosuke stared back at him guiltily, his foot going still. "What?"
Feeling rather silly about pointing out the obvious, Souji said, "You're kicking my seat."
"Right." Yosuke rubbed the back of his neck. "Sorry."
Souji nodded and turned back around. Their teacher had just gotten back on topic when his chair vibrated again. Annoyed - it was one thing for Yosuke to be bored but another thing entirely for him to interrupt Souji's focus - he glanced over his shoulder. Yosuke caught his eye, and there was a funny, embarrassed look on his face that killed Souji's irritation. In fact, it made him feel a little funny and embarrassed himself, and he turned away without saying anything, his concentration on the lecture broken.
Over the next several days, a routine formed. Outside of class, Souji got to know people around the neighborhood, considered getting a part-time job, and adjusted to life with his new family, which involved watching lots of TV with Nanako and initiating awkward conversations with Dojima. Inside class, he struggled to take notes while simultaneously dealing with Yosuke's apparent inability to keep his hands to himself. Not content with simply tapping his foot against Souji's chair, Yosuke soon escalated to poking him in the back, stealing his pencils, and tossing things at him. On one occasion when Souji tried to ignore him, thinking that acknowledging his behavior only encouraged it, he even pulled Souji's hair.
Souji's yelp nearly landed both of them in detention.
This new behavior was confusing, especially because nothing else had changed between them. Yosuke didn't act like he hated him; he still wanted to hang out after school, and when they did he was his usual friendly self, making jokes and showing him around town. Still, Souji had to admit they'd only known each other a couple weeks, and they'd spent most of that time focusing on the investigation. Maybe now that things were slowing down, other aspects of Yosuke's personality were coming out, bad habits that had kept him from making too many friends.
"Are you and Yosuke fighting?" Chie asked one day during break. Yosuke had gone to the bathroom and Souji had endured the majority of their last lesson having paper flicked at the back of his head.
"No," he said, fishing a particularly large piece from the back of his shirt. He unfolded it and swallowed a surprised noise when he saw his name written, and then hastily crossed out, in Yosuke's handwriting.
"Really? Because it seems like he's been messing with you a lot lately."
"Oh, you've noticed?" He shouldn't have been surprised, not when Chie sat next to him, but he'd never given much thought to anyone else noticing what they were doing. Not that they were doing anything they shouldn't be, of course, no matter what kind of expression Yosuke made when Souji looked at him.
For no particular reason, his face started to go warm.
"Are you alright?" Yukiko asked, sitting sideways in her chair. The boy next to her brightened and then sagged in disappointment when he realized she wasn't talking to him. Souji might have felt sorry for him if he hadn't caught him constantly staring at her legs. "You don't look well."
"I'm fine," he said, readjusting his collar. Unsure of what to do with the paper, he folded it back up and slipped it into his pocket.
"If Yosuke's being a jerk, you need to tell him outright," Chie said. Souji got the impression she spoke from experience. "He won't get it if you're subtle."
"He's not," Souji said. "We're getting along great, he's a nice guy. On an unrelated note, does he have a history of behavioral problems?"
Chie and Yukiko exchanged glances. "Not that I know about," Chie said.
"Hmm, okay." That eliminated one possibility.
Yukiko frowned. "If he's really bothering you--"
"No, it's fine. I think we're reaching an understanding." With this new information, Souji felt fairly close to a breakthrough on Yosuke's behavior. Or maybe a mental breakdown. Constantly being poked and prodded at was surprisingly hard on his nerves.
Yukiko didn't look convinced. "Is that gum in your hair?"
"Maybe."
"Jeez." Chie helped him remove what turned out to be an eraser. "Why don't you just tell him to stop? Doesn't it bother you?"
That was the most obvious solution, of course, and one Souji had considered, especially after the hair-pulling incident, but the possibility of Yosuke simply stopping was strangely unappealing. "I'd like him to stop poking me with his pencil," he said, "or at least use the other end. It hurts."
Chie made a face. "You're too nice. That's probably why he's doing this to you. Let me, then, I'll tell him--"
"No, it's okay." It was probably for the best that Yosuke didn't know he'd been talking about this with other people. "I'll take care of it."
"If you're sure," Chie said doubtfully. "Who knows, maybe he'll get bored and stop soon."
Oddly, that didn't comfort Souji at all.
With everything that was going on, Souji wasn't getting much studying done. In a last ditch effort to get a good score, he and Yosuke spent one of the last afternoons before the exams in the school's library. The silence and near solitude should have made studying easy, but Souji couldn't focus on the books, not with Yosuke sneaking glances at him and trying to pretend that he wasn't pressing their feet together under the table.
Finally, Souji couldn't take it anymore. "I'm going to fail the exams," he said, staring blankly at his notes.
"Don't say that. If you can't pass them then I'm doomed for sure." Yosuke pushed his books away, slumping in his seat. "I might as well give up now and figure out how I'm going to explain it to my parents."
"I am," Souji said firmly, "because I can't stop thinking about you."
Yosuke made a funny noise like he couldn't breathe properly. It was hard to be sure, but Souji thought he might have been happy. "W-what?"
"I think about you all the time." Yosuke glanced away suspiciously, and Souji narrowed his eyes. "I'm pretty sure that was your plan all along."
Yosuke didn't meet his eyes. "Is thinking about me a bad thing?"
"No," Souji admitted, his frustration draining away under the realization that Yosuke might have been thinking about him just as much. Buoyed by this idea, he continued, "I just wish that once you had my attention, you'd...do something with it. Maybe something nice."
Yosuke's face went red. Souji was pretty sure his did, too.
"What do you mean by that?" Souji shrugged, and Yosuke looked around anxiously, lowering his voice. "So, what, if I asked you to get something eat after this, would that be...?"
Souji tried not to sound too eager. "Fine."
"Yeah?" Yosuke's hesitant relief was endearing. "You don't think it's weird or...?"
"I'd like it," Souji said, adding as an afterthought, "As long as you don't plan to throw water on me or pull my chair away."
Yosuke laughed, embarrassed. "Nah, that's--I won't do that."
"Great." Souji glanced at their textbooks but any desire he'd had to study had disappeared. Feeling daring, he touched his foot against Yosuke's and was rewarded with another funny noise. Souji decided he liked it. "Actually, why don't we go right now?"
"Good idea," Yosuke said, and while Souji knew they were absolutely going to fail the exams, it suddenly didn't seem so bad.