A/N: I wrote this fic because I ABOSLUTELY adore YosukeXSouji and vice-versa. This is going to contain a lot of cotton-candy fluff parts especially later on, but as you'll see, it follows a solid storyline as well. There will be lots of action too, so buckle up and enjoy!

Genre: Romance/Comedy/Action

Pairing: SoujixYosuke/ YosukexSouji. That basically tells you what to expect. Slight SoujixYukiko/YukikoxSouji at the start.

Rating: R13 (T) for language, violence, suggestive themes and sliiightly graphic scenes. If you played the game, then this will be no different. I might create separately published M rated chapters later on if I feel like it, or if anyone requests.

Summary: How can something so right, feel so wrong? Running away never solves anything, so instead, Souji decides to make a stand and do the right thing. What he doesn't realize is that what seems "right" may not always be what's best.

~x~o~x~o~x~o~

June 27, 2011.

Yasogami High Rooftop.

It was the perfect day to eat out—the sky was partly cloudy, and a slight breeze made it cool enough to negate the heat from the noonday sun. Every day was getting hotter than the last, since summer was just around the corner.

"Wow, this is incredible, Souji!" Yosuke exclaimed, after taking a bite out of the fried unagi bento he was offered. "Your cooking sure beats the hell out of the girls' Mystery Food X everytime." He then continued to gobble up the contents of the lunchbox like there was no tomorrow, sauce and rice flying everywhere. "Vhow thdid vyou vhlearn thdo cwook-"

"H-hey slow down, you might choke!" Souji watched as his friend ravaged the meal he had prepared. "Swallow your food first, I don't want to be responsible for a case of homicide, you know!"

Yosuke seemed so happy eating that he didn't bother telling him that he hadn't gotten his half yet. He always looked forward to cooking for him, anyways. It amused Souji how something he had made can make someone so happy. The smile on Yosuke's face was priceless.

For some reason, he had rarely asked anyone else but Yosuke to eat alone with him whenever he cooked, though. At first it was because he hardly knew anyone, but in the three months he's spent at Inaba, he's gained quite a lot of friends. There was just really something about Yosuke's company that he craved more than anyone else's.

"Maaaan, that was really good." Yosuke wiped his mouth with his sleeve and put down the box with the utensils when he finished. "I promise, I'll repay the favor next time. Steak skewers, my treat at Junes?"

"Sure..." Souji said, packing up the bento. "But hey, I've never even tried your cooking yet. Why not bring some next time instead, Super-Chef Hanamura?"

"Huh? You know I can't cook, Souji. I mean, sure I'm never going to cook up something as bad as Mystery Food X," Yosuke said, cringing as he said it, "but-"

"Oh really?" Souji said, interrupting. "I'm sure the girls will be more than willing to challenge what you just said."

"What are you talking about? Nothing can possibly be worse than that- that thing they made. It wasn't even edible!"

"Hmm... I don't know. You've been dissing their food all this time and you're not any better? Tsk tsk tsk."

"But I never even- oh fine." Yosuke said, giving up. "I'll accept that challenge. Don't blame me if we go hungry though. Pack some lunch too, just in case."

Souji laughed, and Yosuke laughed as well.

"Hey," Yosuke said, as his laughter began to die down. "So anyways… today's the day, huh?"

Souji's smile suddenly dropped. He felt his stomach turn inside him.

Spending time with Yosuke had made him forget all about that. What was he going to do? Was he really going to go through with it? Did he even want to? He suddenly regretted telling Yosuke, since it's only put all the more pressure on him. It was all he thought about the previous night, and all throughout morning class. Forgetting about it for a while was a welcome break.

"I guess there was bound to be a day that someone won the Amagi challenge anyways. I'm glad it's you though, since you'll take care of our Yuki-chan, wont'cha?" Yosuke teased, and suddenly choke-held him and rubbed his head, messing his hair up. "Souji's getting a girlfriend...!"

"S-stop that! I-I'm not even sure she likes me back." Souji said, struggling against Yosuke's grip.

What he said wasn't exactly true though. Souji already had an idea that Yukiko liked him, based on the observations he'd made on her. He'd always catch her looking back in class to look at him, then quickly turn away blushing. Plus, Chie wasn't exactly discreet about the whole matter.

He was planning to confess that day, and if anything, it was his feelings he was unsure about.

"You can't be serious, right? The girl's practically nuts over you. That's what Chie says at least. She calls me up every night ranting that she couldn't stand talking to Yukiko anymore, who only seems to be interested in talking about YOU lately. Aside from stuff about the cases, of course. D-don't tell her that I told you that, though." Yosuke let go of his choke, and put his arm around Souji instead, pulling him close. "But hey, I'm rooting for you, pal."

Souji suddenly felt blood rush up to his cheeks, his heart pounding in his chest. The emptiness in his stomach was replaced with butterflies. It was an all-too familiar feeling that he could never seem to explain rationally.

Yosuke's face was so close to his, that he could practically feel his breath.

Souji realized that he was blushing and tried to shake the feeling off. "I'm just nervous. That's all." He thought, as he looked down at his feet. He couldn't get himself to meet Yosuke's stare.

Souji gained back his composture and took Yosuke's arm off him. "Maybe I should just do this when we've rescued Rise. I don't feel like I'm doing a good job as a leader if I put my personal matters ahead of everything else."

"Come on, we've been at it for days now. We've cleared about... a third of a dungeon, and the weather report promises no rain all week. You deserve a break."

"That doesn't sound very convincing..."

"But... Oh shit!" Yosuke quickly stood up, looking down at his wrist. "We're late! King Moron's gonna kill us!"

Souji looked down at his watch and true enough, eight minutes had already passed since the start of their next class. "There goes my perfect attendance." he thought. But somehow, the attendance didn't matter so much. What he was really concerned about was what King Moron was going to say. He then quickly packed his things up, and rushed to the door with Yosuke.

The two boys ran as fast as they could to their classroom on the second floor. When they arrived, they heard Morooka's voice coming out of the classroom. He was already in the middle of a lecture.

"Crap..." Yosuke said, as he panted in front of the back door. "Do we just go in? Knowing King Moron, he's going to make a biiig fuss about this."

"We can't really do anything else. Let's just sneak in quietly, huh?" Souji said, trying to sound confident. "Imagine we're in a dungeon trying to sneak past a powerful shadow."

"Whatever you say, leader." Yosuke replied with a wink, and a pat on his back.

With that, they tried their best to enter as sneakily as they could, opening the door as quietly as they can. However, even their stealth wasn't enough to match the senses of Mr. Morooka.

"Well well, what do we have here." Morooka said, the moment Souji and Yosuke entered the room. "You two boys were out on a rendezvous? Seeing as one of you is Hanamura, who I doubt even knows what rendezvous means..."

The whole class looked back, staring at them.

"O-of course I know what-" Yosuke started. "B-but it's not like that! We were-"

"Siddown and shut up! I don't want to know about the immoral and vile things you bastards did. Kids today... Don't your parents teach you what's right anymore?" Morooka resumed to write on the board as the two went to their seats.

"Can you believe him?" Yosuke whispered once they've sat down. "We've barely been late ten minutes!"

"Where have you guys been?" Chie whispered to Yosuke. "I was beginning to think on the same lines as Morooka for a while there."

"S-shut up!" Yosuke muttered under is breath.

"Why don't YOU shut up, mister Hanamura?" Morooka was furious, flinging the chalk he was holding to the ground. The students in front were unfortunate enough to be rained on by the spit spraying out of his mouth. "If you think you're so smart as to be late and not listen in my class, why don't you tell me what the word ressentiment means?"

Yosuke stood up, clenching his fist. "Hmm... r-ressentiment huh? Uhh... it means... oh shit..."

As his friend struggled to think of the answer, Souji had already written the answer on a piece of paper in big and bold letters.

HATRED AND JEALOUSY

He put it on the edge of his table to give Yosuke a clear view. Whenever any of his friends needed help, this was his fool-proof way of feeding them the answer.

"Hatred and... Jealou...sy? Yeah, it's hatred and jealousy." Yosuke said, confident as if it were his own answer.

"Hmph. I'm surprised a cretin like you can answer that! Better remember it, I might put it on the test."

Yosuke grumbled as he slumped back on his seat.

As everything happened though, Souji's mind had already drifted. He set his gaze to the girl a row in front of him, and began contemplating. Yukiko Amagi. She really did seem like the perfect girl-beautiful, smart, and popular; with a great personality to boot. She had a great sense of humor too, and was always fun to talk to. They had so much in common. She possessed everything he was looking for in a girl and if what Yosuke said was right, she had feelings for him.

But despite all that, he was hesitating.

Souji chewed on his lip as he thought of what to do. How was he even going to go about it, anyway? It wasn't like he was a stranger to confessing his feelings; back in his old school, he never had a problem asking girls out. Then again, he had never taken any of them seriously enough to have an actual relationship. He was always just doing it for the kicks. This time was different.

"This is a bad idea." he thought. "Maybe I should'nt-"

He suddenly felt a light jab to this left shoulder, disrupting his thought. Yosuke handed him a piece of paper. On it was a crudely drawn caricature of Morooka wearing a crown, and the both of them-Souji and Yosuke, holding their weapons as if they were going to beat him up. Morooka was a shadow! Souji struggled as he tried not to laugh; he couldn't even decide what he found funnier- the premise of the drawing, or that the drawing was so horribly drawn. Below the drawing was a single line.

I don't know what I'd do without you, partner.

Souji felt his cheeks burn as he read it. Usually Yosuke would just reply with a "Thanks." or an "I owe you one.", never something like this. He re-read the line until the words didn't make any sense anymore. Once he snapped out of it, he folded the paper and put it in his pocket. He felt pathetic and ashamed of himself, thinking that it could mean anything besides what is said. Why was he making a big deal about it, anyways? It was just normal for best friends to express their gratitude, right?

With that, Souji went back to looking at the girl in front.

"No. I should definitely do it today."

~x~o~x~o~x~o~

A/N: That's all for now! Please leave a review if you have the time so that I have an idea how you liked this. It's going to make me update a lot faster. Any kind of comments are welcome. You can even message me if you want. I always enjoy having a chat with fellow P4 fans :D

P.S.: I've edited a bit due to some typos I spotted :-j