Author's Note: My first Persona fic :D I love this pairing, so when this little scenario popped into my head I just couldn't help myself ^_^ Title may or may not have been inspired by the song "A to Z" by ZZ. Feel free to let me know what you think!

-Silver

PS: Atlus owns everything and I'm absolutely certain no-one's paying me for this.

Fight it Out

"Wh-what!?"

He flinches, grimacing. "You heard. C'mon, Chie. Don't make this harder than it already is."

Face flushed, she's the very picture of over-exaggerated exasperation – huffing, running a hand through her short hair so it sticks out crazily, and looking away from him, skywards. "Geez, Yosuke, why the hell would would you spring something like that right now?!"

"Well, shit, I dunno … I thought that … well, isn't this usually what happens?" he splutters defensively, blustering over his embarrassment in just the same way she does when she's flustered. "I mean … no regrets, right? Gotta get it all out, in case we don't pull through…"

She folds her arms and looks right at him, eyes narrowing. "We'll pull through. Souji'll pull us all through, don't you dare-"

(don't you dare doubt him now it's only faith in him that's keeping us going so don't you dare)

"Yeah, and what if he doesn't? What if it's the other way around, and we're the ones pulling him through?"

"What are you even-!?" She throws up her hands. Back to exasperation, then.

"Look, it's personal for him now. I mean, it was personal for us from the start. It was our town. Our friends…" (there's a pause and he looks tortured and she just knows he's thinking about Saki Konishi, and it pisses her off for reasons she doesn't want to explore. She's just a little disgusted with herself) "But we had to reign it in. Souji made us reign it in, so we wouldn't do anything stupid. Charging off alone into Shadow-infested castles notwithstanding."

A ghost of a smile, twisting into something bitter.

"But now it's personal for him, and there's no telling if he's going to keep a level head or if he's going to go charging in like a lunatic-"

"Yosuke, stop it!"

"-and if he does go charging in like a friggin' idiot, we'll have to follow. That's the way it goes. We can try to – to talk sense in to him or friggin' whatever. We can try, but there's no guarantee he'll listen. And we'll have to follow. And if something happens, I don't wanna … I don't wanna die knowing that you never knew how much you mean to me."

The thought feels like ice in her chest. She does what she knows best and flips out. "Oh, for Christ's sake, you are not going to die! None of us are! Don't … don't say things like that so calmly, like you're ready for it. Like you're expecting it. It … it scares me, alright?"

He closes his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Alright. Alright, fine. But where does that leave us?"

"Ugh, geez, I dunno … now's not the time, Yosuke." She's looking at the ground, arms folded again. "We've got a killer to catch, and you can bet it'll be a hell of a fight, and with Nanako sick like this -"

"Well, when is the right time?" He knows he's acting like a brat. He just can't bring himself to care. "Who knows how long it'll take to bring in Adachi, or if we'll even bring him in at all? I don't wanna wait around for this. I don't wanna go in there, friggin' – friggin' hung up on this."

"Oh, and like I wasn't hung up while you were crying over Saki-sempai?"

There's a heavy silence. Chie stands, fists clenched, eyes shining. Yosuke goes slack, stricken.

"That's not fair, Chie," he says, oh so quietly, and his voice is steady. "That's different. Don't bring her into this…"

She wishes he'd go back to yelling. She wills herself to not want to take the words back. It takes some effort – the supreme expertise of one who's been stubborn her whole life.

"Oho, no, you do not get to do this to me, Yosuke Hanamura. No, I know how you felt about her, and I'm sorry she died, but earlier before you made it perfectly clear to me that you weren't interested because you weren't ready, and that's fine and I waited, because … hell, I don't know!" She doesn't seem to know how to say what she means. She's flailing around like someone drowning, casting about for the right words. Her speech is disjointed, one mess of feelings. She tries to make him understand. "But now you – you've just up and decided that you're all okay now and you never even considered how I might feel, even after everything … It's like you think you can just waltz in whenever you goddamn feel like it, now that you've finally figured out that Yukiko's not interested and Rise-chan's just gaga for Souji anyway, and you think, hey, that's fine, there's always Chie, it's not like she'll mind being my last fucking resort—"

"Whoa, hey!" He's indignant, holding up his hands like they might physically stem her diatribe "Why are you even bringing them into this? I mean, where is this even coming from? You don't … Oh, for fuck's sake, Chie…" But it's not frustration in his voice, and there's a tenderness in his eyes that Chie doesn't want to see, because she wants to stay mad because mad is much, much easier than anything else Yosuke's made her feel lately.

"What? Go on, try telling me I'm wrong. I fucking dare you." It should have been a threat, but there's no venom in it. Her voice trembles. She hates the way it sounds.

There's need there.

He sighs, softly, and swears under his breath. "You think I can talk to any other girl like I can talk to you? You're such a dumbass sometimes, Chie. Because when I was lying awake at night, feeling like the loneliest, most miserable fuck on the face on the earth, it wasn't Yukiko-san or Rise-chan I'd end up calling."

"Yeah, it was me. You'd wake me up at – at truly ungodly hours, Yosuke, just so you could tell me dirty jokes and talk trash at me. Really pissed me off."

"Yeah, well, you made no secret of that." Grinning again, like an idiot. An adorable goddamn idiot. "But you always answered. Always. And when you did, I didn't feel so friggin' lonely anymore. When I was talking to you, I was laughing. You – I can't believe you don't even know what gift that was." And he actually looks incredulous, eyebrows raised, mouth slackening, that lopsided grin. He's on the verge of laughing in sheer disbelief; at himself, at her thick-headedness, at the fact that he's actually having this conversation with her right now on the school roof, and he wonders, vaguely, if they're keeping the others waiting over at Junes.

She's chewing her bottom lip, trying to process … everything. The fact that Yosuke – who was usually so content to act like a jerk-off and did little to dissuade others of the notion that that was all there was to him - has suddenly decided to bare his soul, just right the fuck out of nowhere… "I'm scared now, Yosuke. You're scaring me. This isn't like you…"

"Yeah, well," He says sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck and looking all too relieved that she isn't yelling anymore, and damn if she wasn't super cute when she looked all vulnerable like this. "You can call it extenuating circumstances. Besides, after what you just unloaded, I figured I owed you some kind of explanation." A thoughtful pause. "And now I think I owe you an apology. I'm sorry for springing this on you. You're right. It's just not the right time, and it's not fair. But I'm still glad I said it. I was being honest when I said I didn't want to go in to what may be our last fight without you knowing."

"Okay, now I'm really scared," but she's grinning, looking relieved herself because, man, clearing the air felt good. "When did you get all … mature, and - and well spoken and stuff?"

He's taken a seat on the concrete barrier, letting out a breath. "Guess Souji rubbed off on me."

"Guess so," she says, joining him on the makeshift seat and looking out at nothing much in the afternoon light, swinging her legs a little.

They're sitting side by side, and even if it's more comfortable than it was, it's still tense. Chie leans in on Yosuke's shoulder, gently, because she's terrified he'll pull away. He doesn't.

"I'm sorry too," she says suddenly. "About – about what I said about Saki-sempai. That was … way outta line. I'm sorry."

Yosuke tenses, just ever so slightly, but he puts a hand on her shoulder anyway, half holding her, and says it's okay (and it is) and in that moment it's quiet and easy and they're so close to something right now.

It's Chie who breaks the silence again.

"We'll have to be there for him. For Souji. We've always relied on him, so I wouldn't mind if we're the ones pulling him through this time 'round, like you said."

Yosuke sighs. "Yeah. I owe the guy so much. Least I could do is let him lean on me a little just this once. I wanna – he makes me wanna be reliable. For him. You know."

"Mm," she says, resting a little more on him, pausing thoughtfully. "He's not going to go running off half-cocked like an idiot, you know. I just know he won't. It's not his style, even if it is personal this time."

"Yeah. You're right." He 'hmphs' a little laugh. "Well, there goes my justification for that little display."

"Mm-hm," she says. "But it's okay. Really." She suddenly suppresses a laugh "Hey, I'm just glad you didn't use any sleazy lines about not wanting to die a virgin. Then I would've had to kick your ass."

He laughs a little, but it dies quickly into thoughtful silence. When he speaks again, it's slow and deliberate. Getting stuff off his chest is a luxury Yosuke's been slowly getting used to with Souji. And now, with Chie … he feels like he can tell her anything when they're like this. And he's starting to like it.

"It's just, I dunno. I just go 'round and 'round in my own head with this, you know? Like, 'what if, what if, what if?' 'Til eventually I start thinking shit that's just plain crazy."

"Ugh, I know how that feels." She thinks of her Shadow, that monster of jealously and resentment – insecurities that were mostly invented by her own self, having nothing much to do with Yukiko's beauty and charm at all.

Yosuke can tell her anything, he can, so he tells her the thing that's eating away at him the most, and he doesn't care if it's painfully cliched.

"I'm – I'm really, really scared, Chie," she feels his grip on her shoulder tighten "Even though Souji's gonna be alright… well, there's still no promises. I … I don't wanna die. And I don't wanna lose anybody else, either."

When she pulls away to look at him, he's fighting back tears and it breaks her fucking heart. "You won't. I'm telling you," she says, smiling right to his face. She wraps her arms around his neck in a proper embrace and rests her forehead against his. Chie thinks of herself as the kind of person who suddenly finds endless reservoirs of courage and strength when the people around her have none. Seeing Yosuke so scared, bizarrely, makes her feel brave. She wonders if that's a little sick, somehow, but she decides it doesn't matter as long she can lend some of that strength to him and the others.

So she rests her head on his shoulder and holds him just a little tighter and he squeezes back. After a long moment, she pulls away and stands up.

"Well,' she says brightly "I suppose there's no point worrying now. C'mon. We should just – get in there. Get it over with. It's not going to go away unless we do something, right?"

For a moment, looking at his face, she wonders if she's been insensitive. But Yosuke, to his credit, brightens as well. "Right," he says with more confidence than even he expected, and he's grinning.

She watches him putting his fears aside and she feels so goddamn proud all of a sudden that she can barely keep herself from kissing him when he stands and dusts himself off.

But that can wait, she decides, taking his hand and giving it a squeeze as they head for the stairs.

Later, when she throws herself body and soul into the battle, she fights for it.