Chapter Text
Minato had decided pretty early on that he wouldn’t let a voice in his head tell him who to hang out with. Whether the bond was strong as it could be, or if it didn’t grant him persona powers in the first place, it didn’t matter.
Once he realised life was worth living, he decided to live it how he wanted to.
That's how he found himself at the arcade with Kenji and Junpei after school. Well, they had planned to go to the arcade. Instead they were watching Junpei try and fail at the crane game over and over.
“C’mon! I swear this thing knows I’ve got people watchin’!” Junpei complained as the claw failed to bring anything up. At this point Kenji was bent over laughing while Minato smirked a bit, which were basically the same things. Junpei had thrown a truly ridiculous amount of yen into it.
Finally Junpei gave up, turning around with a frustrated sigh. “Well, that’s the last of my money… Dude, it’s not that funny!” He said, turning to Kenji.
“I-I think it is. It's not that hard, man!” Kenji managed to get out before bursting into laughter again. Minato wanted to enjoy it, but felt a deep sense of foreboding that would soon be proven correct.
“Fine. If it’s so easy, show me!” Junpei responded before throwing an arm over Kenji’s shoulder and basically forcing him in front of the machine. Minato swore he heard a squeak leave Kenji’s mouth as he wordlessly inserted more yen in from his pocket while Junpei continued to lean into him.
Junpei never had a sense of personal space to begin with, but something about Kenji made him more clingy than usual. He never hesitated to get closer to the other boy whenever he could. Initially Minato thought it was because they had similar personalities and got along well, but he was starting to suspect something else.
Silently, Kenji moved the claw into position and then watched as it picked up the Jack Frost Doll, and casually dropped it out of the machine. The tips of his ears were turning red.
Kenji’s feelings were as clear as day. He had admitted to Minato over a bowl of ramen that his whole thing for “older women” was just him trying to overcompensate for his sexual confusion. He hadn’t admitted he was gay, but the implications were clear. It was also clear it terrified him so Minato hadn’t pushed it. He’d figure it out eventually. Unfortunately it would seem he’d gotten a crush on Junpei, the living definition of overcompensating for something.
“You can uh, have it if you want.” Kenji said with none of his usual confidence, while an annoyed looking Junpei took it out of his hands.
“I can’t believe- I just warmed it up for you!” He blustered for a moment, jumping away from Kenji like he’d been shocked. Then he got a look in his eyes that spelled disaster. “You know what, I’ll prove to you that you can’t beat me in something that really matters. Pick up as many dolls from the machine as you want, I’m gonna pick myself up some chicks.” Minato could only groan internally as Kenji quickly accepted the challenge. Because of course he did. He didn’t want anyone to think he was different.
“Are you coming, Minato?” Kenji looked at him with a desperate look in his eyes. One that screamed I fucked up. Unfortunately for him, Minato was really, really tired of these particular antics. Anytime they got too close, too vaguely romantic, too not extremely straight, Junpei would make a point of doing something around girls. Kenji would accept before realising he really shouldn’t have and try to get Minato to bail him out.
“I’m going to Chagall.” Was his response. Unfortunately Junpei didn’t understand what he was saying. “Oh yeah dude! That’d be the perfect place to find some ladies-” The stare Minato gave Junpei would put Mitsuru to shame. “I mean uhh, we’ll see you in a bit?” Minato merely nodded before heading over to the cafe and leaving them to whatever disaster they were about to create.
Later the two slunk over to the Cafe defeated. Junpei managed to get a black eye from a girl. Kenji fell into a fountain and was dripping on the seats. But they’d both come over since they knew Minato would pick them up their favourite order while he was waiting. They were his friends after all.
But Minato had been doing more than just listening to music and sipping coffee while he waited. He had been thinking of a solution to his two friends and their idiocy. If they were together, they might be less of a mess.
He would just have to prove to Kenji that Junpei’s closet was made of glass, a feat that would be easier said than done. But when had a little something like internalised homophobia ever stopped him?
“No luck?” Minato asked like he wasn’t enjoying their suffering just a little.
“What do you think dude?” Junpei replied sadly, holding up an ice pack from the pharmacy to his eye while sipping on whatever horribly sweet concoction Minato had ordered for him. Minato refused to admit that the order came from his own mouth.
“I think it’s safe to say that was my second worst experience with girls.” Kenji replied with more humour, happy that the whole thing was over. “Man, what was the worst experience then?”
“Enh, let's talk about it when we’re not suffering already.” Junpei merely shrugged at that and tried to act like he wasn’t in too much pain. He was lucky they weren’t going to Tartarus tonight. Mitsuru would probably chew him out over getting injured for no good reason anyways.
They slowly finished their drinks and chatted about everything and nothing. Upcoming tests, rumours, crane machine conspiracy theories, whatever they thought about. All good things had to come to an end though. Minato shot down Junpei’s proposal of trying to form a study group, knowing very well that he and Kenji would get absolutely nothing done. They already tried. It was a disaster and Minato nearly failed a test because of it.
They parted ways at the station, waving goodbye as they went in different directions. As they headed back to the dorms, Minato noticed that Junpei spent most of the trip staring at the Jack Frost doll Kenji had given him.
Maybe this would be easier than he thought.