Chapter Text
Location; Tatsumi Household, Living Room
Time; way past his bedtime
“Man, the rain sure isn’t letting up.” He said to no one in particular, since there was no one else there.
His mother had gone to bed hours ago, but Kanji was a dedicated worker. Once he’d start on something, he had a hard time putting it down until it was finished.
Usually, that is. Tonight, he was feeling pretty out of it.
His eyes were fixated on the window, currently under siege by a mighty army of rain droplets, instead of focusing on the knitwork stagnating within his hands.
“Ah well, at least I don’t have to go outside for nothin’.”
A sudden knock on his door begged to differ.
Now, after everything that’s happened in these past few months, most things now fall within Kanji’s expectations.
What he didn’t expect, though, was to see one of his senpais soaked to the bone on his front porch.
Especially not on a Tuesday.
Though technically speaking, it was already Wednesday, since the clock had passed its apex about thirty minutes ago.
“Yosuke senpai? The hell happened to you??”
“Don’t ask.” He croaks back.
That came out much worse than Kanji had expected. He sounds absolutely haggard, more so than usual after a night shift.
Prying further wouldn’t prove to be very fruitful, considering the state his senpai is in.
For now, Kanji’ll leave it be.
He’ll definitely grill him over this later, though.
“Fine, I won’t. Just get your ass in here already.” Kanji holds out his arm as if to entice him further. Yosuke takes the bait, and Kanji catches hold of him as they walk through the doorway together. He feels his senpai’s wet clothes stick to his skin, Yosuke’s leaning into his embrace ever so slightly.
Yup, something’s definitely wrong.
Resting a hand on his back, Kanji leads his soggy senpai towards the bathroom.
He rummages through a cabinet and pulls out the biggest towel he can find.
“Let’s get you dried up first.” As he hands it to him, he lets his eyes glide over Yosuke in order to assess the damage.
The Junes uniform he’s currently sporting looks drenched beyond belief. But since he just got out of work-
“Got any spare clothes on you, or…?”
His fingers dig into the soft fabric of the towel. It wrinkles up just as much as his face does.
“Nah, those are all soaked too.”
Kanji stares at him as if he’s waiting for an explanation.
Yosuke looks away in an attempt to hide his embarrassment, but it only serves to make it more apparent.
“I left my bag open… ‘cause I was in a hurry, y’know?”
A scene unfolds before Kanji’s eyes.
A night shift running much too late, a tired worker much too eager to go home, and a zipper left much too unzipped.
A slip and a crash.
Yosuke’s wardrobe sprawled across the wet asphalt.
Yeah, of course that had to happen as well. As if taking a nosedive during a rainstorm wasn’t enough to ruin the poor guy’s night.
Kanji pauses for a second. Here comes a loaded question.
“You mind wearing somethin’ of mine, then?”
“Uh…”
Hesitation. As expected.
“It’ll only be for now, I’ll put your stuff up to dry.”
“Put up? You mean you don’t have a dryer?”
“You’re sayin’ you do?”
All Kanji gets in return is a look that could rival Dolly’s.
It seems that they’ve arrived at a stalemate.
From the few times Kanji had walked past Yosuke’s place, he took note of how westernised everything looked. It appears as though that extends to their cleaning methods as well.
Kanji rolls the conversation along with his eyes.
“It’s really not as common as you think, city boy.”
City boy huffs and crosses his arms indignantly.
“Oh, so now I’m back to being the city boy? Remind me, how long have I been living here again?”
“Not long enough, apparently.”
He’d love to keep bickering, but this is going nowhere, other than his senpai potentially catching a cold.
So, Kanji decides to get up and grab a fresh set of clothes. Nothing too provocative though, which is proving to be quite a challenge, since most of the stuff he owns are considered what you’d call ‘statement pieces’.
He eventually emerges victorious with a plain navy-blue tee and a pair of black sweatpants, found somewhere deep within the crevices of his closet.
When Kanji re-enters the bathroom, Yosuke’s tousled hair seems to imply that he has thoroughly dried himself off.
Not only that, but he appears to have heeded Kanji’s words, seeing as he’s taken off his soaked t-shirt, ready to have it temporarily replaced by one of his kouhai’s.
A strange sensation washes over Kanji, there’s a warmth forming in the pit of his stomach. The fire is smothered before it can spread any further, though.
He looks away bashfully as he hands his senpai something to cover up with, which he hopes the other boy does soon.
For no other reason than him potentially catching a cold, of course.
“Here’re some clothes… hope they’re not too big.”
Yosuke pulls the t-shirt over his head, the neck hole pushing his unruly hair back into place ever so slightly.
Not that Kanji would notice, though, since he’s too busy inspecting the Very Interesting Imperfections located on his bathroom wall.
“Actually, it’s a little small…”
Oh, right.
“Yeah, I uh… think that stuff might be from junior high? It was pretty far down in my closet. I could try to find you something else, but most of it isn’t really your style-”
“Nah, it’s fine. It’s just until my own stuff’s dry, anyway.”
Now that Yosuke’s decent, Kanji can halt his Very Interesting Inspection of the wall. He takes a good look at his senpai in the harsh bathroom lighting and finally notices just how dire of a state he’s in. There’s already fresh blood seeping into the fabric of his newly acquired shirt.
To hell with grillin’ him later…
“Dude… what happened?”
Yosuke sighs deeply as he plops down on a rickety stool (that's really only meant to hold the weight of a set of clothes). He waves his hands around half-heartedly as he explains.
“Ugh, it’s nothing, man. Just… typical Yosuke stupidity, I guess! It’s raining absolute cats and kittens outside. So, I wanted to be home as fast as I could, and then I fell on my ass. Hard. Simple as that.”
That does sound very Yosuke-like.
“But why’d you come to me, then?”
“Uh… because I fell a little further from here. Y’know, where the hill curves?”
He points in the direction of the hill and bends his hands in the same manner that the road does.
“Yeah- I know what our street looks like. I just meant… Rise’s close too. Wouldn’t you rather have a cute idol patch you up?”
Rather than some rugged delinquent…
Yosuke looks almost offended by the suggestion.
“Dude, I’m not gonna bother Rise this late! Besides, I don’t exactly have a good track record when it comes to visiting girls at night…”
You don’t exactly have a good track record with girls during the day either.
“And lord knows what weird creeps she’s had to deal with! I’m not gonna scare her by pounding on her door in the middle of the night, especially not looking like this!”
He frantically gestures towards all of himself.
Right, Rise’s famous after all… it’s not exactly a stretch to say that she’s gotten some unwanted attention before.
“Besides, Rise chan’s staying at her grandma’s, and I definitely don’t wanna be a bother to an old lady. What if she has a heart attack, seeing her sweet granddaughter with an injured boy in the middle of the night? I’ll look like a damn punk!”
Huh, seems like he’s really thought this through. He’s surprisingly thoughtful.
Well… not that surprisingly, now that I think about it.
He may brush it off with hyperbole and jokes, but this wouldn’t be the first time that Yosuke had put other people’s needs above his own, and it certainly wouldn’t be the last.
Only one space was left unanswered on Kanji’s Bike Accident Questionnaire.
“But, you did wanna bother me? Why?”
“Well… you seemed-”
He pauses to look for the right words.
“Uh... experienced, with this sorta stuff… ‘cause of all the fights you get into, y’know?”
Ah.
So it’s like that, huh?
Seems like Yosuke found the wrong words.
First, he’s afraid of being seen as one, but then he basically calls me a punk not even a minute later!
Slowly, Kanji’s anger dissipates and makes way for another emotion-
When’s the last time I even got in a fight? I don’t think he knows. I sure as hell don’t remember, that’s how long it’s been.
-disappointment.
Guess I haven’t changed at all in his eyes.
…
Fine, let’s see how he likes it, then.
“Actually, senpai, those injuries look pretty bad… Did you really only fall off your bike? Or, did you get in a fight this time?”
“What? No! That’s not-
I just told you-
I slipped and fell because of the rain!”
Yosuke is putting everything he has into his defence, arms flailing along with his increasingly flippant tone.
Man, sometimes it’s just too easy.
Yosuke regains his cool and gets back to the point he was trying to get across.
“I just meant that, since you used to get in so many fights, you must have at least some experience with patching up wounds and stuff.”
“Nope, ’cause no one has ever landed a hit on me.”
“Woah, seriously…?”
He looks at Kanji as if he’s the human reincarnation of Hachiman.
Too easy!
“Nope, but it sure made me sound cool, huh?” realising that his boast more than fooled his senpai, Kanji’s lips curled into a particularly pleased-looking smile.
Yosuke’s reverent expression quickly turns to embarrassment, perhaps for believing him so easily, or perhaps because he actually thought it did make him sound cool.
“Psh, in your dreams.”
Kanji just snickers in response. Enough messing with the poor guy, time to get to work. He gets down on one knee and examines the scratches on Yosuke’s face.
Hands-free, of course.
“So, where does it hurt?”
Yosuke avoids making eye contact.
“You sound like a doctor or something.”
Okay, maybe just a little more messing with the poor guy. It’s almost like he’s asking for it.
“I thought you were into nurses?”
His eyes quickly shoot back into Kanji’s direction.
“Wha-!”
For this next bit, he’ll reach into the deepest parts of his psyche to channel Take-Mikazuchi as best as he can. What comes out is nothing short of impressive, it’s nearly indistinguishable from the real deal.
“Don’t worry sweetie, you’re in good hands.”
As the cherry on top, he gently tilts up Yosuke’s face with his hand and adds a little wink. The other boy immediately turns beet red from the gesture.
“NEVERMIND I’M GOING HOME-”
Kanji can’t help but break out into laughter, nearly hard enough to move him to tears.
“Relax, I’m just messin’ with ya. You know I’d never lay a finger on you.”
Yosuke shoots him a huffy look.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Oh?
Did he strike a nerve perhaps?
As much as Yosuke freaks out about any sort of intimacy involving other guys, his overwhelming need to be liked is stronger.
“What, you want me to?”
“N-no! Of course not! You just- you made it sound like I’m not even on your radar or something.”
He’s saying it with the same cadence a cute girl from a romance drama would use when talking to her (not so) secret crush.
Okay. Now it’s getting weird.
It feels like a fuse has been lit inside of him. A warm, tingling sensation spreads throughout Kanji’s guts, almost as if there’s sparklers under his skin.
Though, mentally, he still isn’t ready nor willing to deal with it.
“Dude.”
“I don’t mean anything weird by that! I just- you like guys ‘n all and, well, I was just thinking ‘What’s wrong with me then?’ with the way you said that!”
Man, this guy sure does love to go on and on about a whole lotta nothin’.
Kanji sighs deeply. How is he even supposed to respond to this? If he says he does find him attractive, Yosuke’ll freak out. On the other hand, if he says the opposite, then he’ll be offended. The sensitive straight guy’s conundrum.
And what of the truth? What does he actually think of his senpai?
Wait, hold on- I don’t even like guys to begin with! Why’s he still going on about that??
He shakes off these questions -along with the strange atmosphere- by standing up and walking into the opposite direction.
“Wait, Kanji, I didn’t- a-are you leaving me here…?”
Well that came out pathetic.
“Dude, I’m grabbin’ the first aid kit. So I can patch you up, remember? That’s what we were actually doing.”
“Oh, right.”
He looks a little embarrassed by that whole display. Kanji pays it no mind, he’s almost used to it by now. Almost. His senpai’s always been overly sensitive when it comes to being rejected.
Even when he isn’t actually being rejected.
The next couple of minutes are awkward, painfully so.
Yosuke is mostly quiet, save for a few directions on where he’s in need of medical attention, and the occasional wince of pain when his rugged nurse gently dabs him with disinfectant.
Kanji has to get ‘up close and personal’ to make sure he’s treated every last spot with the Tender Loving Care that it needs. The navy-blue shirt, already stained black from the blood that came from the untreated wounds, has been relegated to the bathroom floor.
Kanji makes a mental note to put that in the wash later, before the carnage leaves a permanent stain. Not that it really matters though, since he’s pretty sure it doesn’t even fit him anymore.
It looked nice on Yosuke senpai though.
The strange heat has made its way back to Kanji. It’s churning in his stomach and making his whole body break out into a sweat.
But he’s too focused to pay it any mind, he’s really come into his role as a nurse. If running the family business doesn't work out, he could always-
Nah.
I could never be in a hospital for that long. Not after everything that’s happened… too much baggage.
Sewing up plushies suits me better than sewing up people, anyways.
“That should be everything.”
“Ahh, finally.”
You can practically hear the tension oozing off of him. Seems like Kanji wasn’t the only one feeling weird about this whole situation.
The overworked nurse leans his hands on his knee and pushes himself up from the floor, his other leg feeling numb from sitting on it for so long.
His patient seemed to have been in an uncomfortable position as well, seeing as he’s currently attempting to crack his back in search of some relief.
“I’ll go get you a new shirt, and, uh… you can change into those sweatpants while I’m out.”
Kanji directs his patient’s gaze towards the neatly folded merchandise, one that hasn’t seen the light of day in years.
“Sounds like a plan.”
And so, Kanji is back to rummaging through his closet. There are a few contenders, but he ultimately settles on a black graphic tee with a flaming skull on it, failing to notice how similar it looks to the tank top he’s currently sporting himself.
“Got you a shirt.”
He stands in the doorway and holds it up like a prized goose before chucking it over towards his senpai.
Yosuke snaps out of his daze and barely manages to catch it, he seemed to have been busy inspecting Kanji’s patch job in the bathroom mirror.
“Cool, thanks. It was starting to get a little chilly without one…”
He holds it up by the shoulders and the shirt unfolds before his eyes. Kanji can’t catch his expression -because said shirt is blocking the view- but his senpai seems hesitant, despite just complaining about the cold.
“It’s the same…”
“Nah, don’t worry, this one’s definitely bigger.”
His next words came out so hushed that Kanji barely registered them.
“I meant it’s the same as your shirt…”
Yosuke finally lowers the t-shirt enough to expose his face. There’s an ambiguous expression adorning it, one which Kanji can’t get a read on at all.
“Uhh… is that bad?”
“No, no, it’s cool. It’s a cool shirt. I get that you’d wanna own it… twice.”
He rubs his index finger under his nose and directs his gaze to the bathroom wall. Kanji’s not the only Imperfection Inspector today, it seems.
After that strange interaction Yosuke quickly pulls the shirt over his head, patting down his hair once more. This time, Kanji does catch a glimpse of it, but only because he failed to look away in time.
No other reason, none whatsoever.
“Man, that’s way better.”
Yosuke immediately starts pulling at the tag of his newly acquired shirt.
Kanji prefers to keep them on there, in case he can’t recall if it’s washing machine safe or hand wash only.
And to check which temperature to put the water on, of course. Can’t risk ruining a good shirt. After all, you never know when it might come in handy…
The tee’s already a pretty loose fit on Kanji himself, but his senpai appears to be drowning in it. The brilliant thought crosses his mind that Yosuke could definitely model for FRUiTS magazine like this, especially since he dyes his hair as well.
A question from said model awakens the newly budding manager from his thoughts.
“Hey, uh... since you don’t have a dryer, it’s gonna take a while before I can wear my own stuff again. And, to be frank, I’m not super stoked about seeing my parents’ reaction to me coming home in the middle of the night wearing some other guy’s clothes. They’ll definitely notice…”
Yeah, that makes sense. This isn’t exactly what he’d usually wear…
From the little information that Kanji could gather about Yosuke’s parents, they appeared to be leaning more towards the conservative side. Not only that, but according to Yosuke they were very easy to agitate.
Which might explain some of their son’s behaviour. But only some of it.
Yosuke stops fidgeting for a second. Now it’s his turn to ask the loaded question.
“Sooo… d’you think I could stay over? I mean, would your mom be okay with that?”
It’s sweet that he’s thinking of how she’ll feel about this. I mean, heck, any mom would be happy to have a son-in-law like that.
…
Not that I’m considering Yosuke senpai as a contender for that…
“My ma’s cool with most things, as long as you don’t break anything.”
Without missing a beat, Yosuke replies with the most baffling, yet in-character retort Kanji could’ve possibly gotten.
“Does my ass count? ‘Cause I’m pretty sure I heard it snap in half when I fell back there. Got myself a whole new second butt crack.”
Kanji lets out a guttural noise, a laugh that welled up so deep within that he couldn’t hold it back.
It wasn’t even that funny, just unexpected. Maybe it’s all the nerves from before finally making their way upward and out of his system.
This guy!
“Dude! D’you ever even think before you speak?” he manages to get out in between his laughing fit.
“I prefer not to.”
He adds a little wink accompanied by a pair of finger guns to show that he really means business. The funny kind, that is.
Sparks light up in Kanji’s cheeks. He can’t help but laugh, even if it was pretty stupid.
“Let’s just get you a futon so we can go to bed already.”
“You’re the boss.”
Yosuke salutes him and marches out of the bathroom, following closely behind ‘the boss’. He’s been hanging around Teddie too much lately, this level of bit committing is more his style.
-
Location; Tatsumi Household, Kanji Tatsumi’s Bedroom
Time; even more past his bedtime
Kanji suddenly stops in his tracks.
At last, after a long and arduous journey across the hallway, they’ve finally arrived.
He points towards the door on his right.
“This room's mine, you can wait in there while I go get you something to sleep on. Also, gimme your bag, I’m putting the rest of your stuff up to dry too.”
“Aye-aye, captain!”
I thought I was ‘the boss’…? Ah well, potato, tomato.
Kanji ignores his first mate’s antics and sets out on a journey to find the fated ‘Spare Futon’ of legends.
Yosuke’s got the room all to himself now. A diabolical thought creeps into his mind.
He remembers a conversation he and Kanji had before in the tv world.
“You hidin’ something in your room? The best place is under the tatami.”
“Huh. Okay, next time I’m over at your place, I’m flipping over all the tatami.”
Time to put those words into action.
Where is it?? Where is the damned thing?
Kanji abruptly stops his frantic search. He’s just remembered a crucial detail about the location of the Fated Futon.
Shit.
…
Well, there’s no way around it… better go tell Yosuke senpai.
-
Location; Tatsumi Household, Kanji Tatsumi’s Bedroom
Time; not even 5 minutes after he’s been left alone
“Senpai, bad news-”
Kanji is once again stopped in his tracks, Yosuke’s been caught red handed.
“What the hell are you doing?”
The tatami in the room have very obviously been searched, and the perpetrator has done a poor job of hiding all the evidence.
“Uhh… redecorating?”
Kanji decides to let it go… for now, at least. He’s got much bigger worries on his mind.
“I’ve got bad news.”
“Your mom woke up and told me to get the hell out of her house?”
“Worse.”
Much worse.
His senpai’s playful expression makes way for a questioning one.
A sudden moment of realisation makes his eyes nearly pop out of his skull.
“No.”
“Oh yes, it’s exactly what you think it is.”
“Don’t say it! Don’t you dare say it!”
He can beg and he can plead, but it won’t change their cold, harsh reality. So, Kanji decides to drop the bomb while it’s hot.
“The spare futon is in my ma’s room.”
Yosuke throws his arms up in utter defeat.
“Agh, you just had to go and say it, huh?!”
Kanji’s beginning to get a little sick of his senpai’s dramatical theatrics.
“Hey, if you hate me so much then why don’t you just go home then?”
“I don’t hate you! I’m just not into that kinda stuff! And besides, I already told you why I can’t go home- can’t I just sleep on the couch?” Yosuke clasps his hands together as if he’s pleading for mercy.
But his host is cold and uncaring.
“We don’t got one.” he announces without a hint of sympathy.
“What do you mean you don’t have a-!”
“First with the dryer and now with the couch-!”
“Ugh, why’d all this have to happen to me…” as Yosuke finishes up going through the stages of grief, he ends with his face buried in his hands.
Maybe Queen of Drama would be a more fitting title for him than Prince of Disappointment.
“Dude. It’s not that big a deal.”
“Maybe to you it isn’t, but it is to me! Just let me sleep on a pile of clothes or something-” He scans the room for an alternative sleeping option. The gears in his brain begin to turn.
“Actually, there’s more than enough fabric here to make a futon out of.” Yosuke starts picking at the random scraps of fabric scattered across the floor.
Now he’s truly lost it.
Kanji is willing to do a lot for the guy, but he is not about to spend the early hours of the morning making him a new futon from scratch.
“Fine! You can sleep on the futon.”
“Nuh-uh, I’m the senpai here, I’m supposed to be the one to make sacrifices.”
“Yeah, but you’re my guest.”
It seems that they’ve arrived at yet another stalemate.
Kanji’s grown quite tired of this endless back and forth.
Usually it amuses him, but being in such close quarters with a distressed Yosuke has given him more than enough of his manzai fill for the rest of the week, perhaps for even longer than that.
Even if he’s only been here for, what, two hours or so?
“Whatever man, I’m going to bed. I don’t care if you join me, sleep on the floor for all I care.” He pulls the cord on his ceiling lamp, instantly enveloping the room in a thick blanket of darkness.
Kanji drops his head down onto his pillow, he’s so exhausted from all the commotion today that he falls asleep nearly instantly. He barely even registers it when someone does decide to join him after all. Well, he notices it just enough to scoot over and make room for his surprise guest.
Not that he’ll remember any of it in the morning, though.
The room was a lot chillier than Yosuke had anticipated, and if there’s one thing he hates more than falling on his ass, it’s being cold.
-
Location; Tatsumi Household, Kanji Tatsumi’s Bedroom
Time; perfect for a late night (or early morning) bathroom break
Having had a delinquent son for so long, most things now fall within Mrs Tatsumi’s expectations.
What she didn’t expect though, was to see her son and one of his male friends sleeping like a rock on the same futon, limbs thrown around one another haphazardly.
And is that boy wearing… one of her son’s shirts?
She’ll let them sleep for now, considering the state they’re in. But rest assured, Mrs Tatsumi’ll definitely grill her son over this once they wake up.