So I Heard You Saved a Cat
Feb. 12th, 2011 03:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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aibouNote: I haven't been able to locate the original prompt, but it went something like Yosuke does something heroic (with a conversation suggesting he could save a cat and brag about it for the rest of the day).
It hadn't taken long for Chie to resign herself to the fact that Yosuke was never going to shut up about this topic.
He'd met her at their table in the food court looking pleased with himself about something and because Yukiko hadn't arrived yet and she had nothing better to do—because she was a good friend—she'd asked what had made him so happy. She'd even managed to be interested and curious about the answer.
That was the first time she was forced to listen to him describe, in a story that somehow stretched on for ten minutes, how he'd helped some kid get a cat out of a tree.
"That's what has you grinning from ear to ear." Frankly, she expected something more impressive but then again this was Yosuke. He bragged about getting the songs on his MP3 player organized the right way, like he didn't just end up hitting shuffle eight times out of ten (and she'd never been allowed to check his player so for all she knew he was making that up). "I'm not sure it's that big of a deal. I mean, it's actually kind of cliché."
"Eh," he said, flicking the paper wrapper from his straw at her, "you're just jealous you didn't do it."
She threw a napkin at his head and wondered what was keeping Yukiko. "Get real."
She had to hear it again when Teddie joined them after completing his shift, and she wasn't sure who was more ridiculous – Teddie for fawning or Yosuke for so obviously basking in the approval. Didn’t he remember that everything impressed Teddie, even the automatically flushing toilets?
Teddie's eyes were huge when he turned to her. "Isn't that amazing, Chie-chan? Yosuke's so cool!"
"Are you serious?" she asked. "It was just a cat and it probably took like five minutes."
"How long it took isn't important," Yosuke said, which made her imagine him standing there for fifteen minutes, vainly tying to get the cat to come down. It gave her a good laugh, which he didn't appreciate, but Teddie started singing his praises again and distracted him.
Yukiko got a telling as well when she showed up, the words out of Yosuke's mouth almost before she'd taken a seat next to Chie, and she stared at him blankly when he stopped before realizing she was supposed to have some kind of reaction.
"Oh!" she said and her hands hovered uselessly in the air as she cast around for something to say. "How…interesting. I'm sure the child was very grateful, Yosuke-kun. Congratulations."
She exchanged a confused glance with Chie and asked, in a whisper everyone could hear, "Is that really so impressive?"
"No," Chie said.
Yosuke pretended not to hear them.
Naoto got the honor of hearing it when she showed up, although Chie wasn't sure what Yosuke was thinking when he started telling her. None of them had known her for long, but Chie had already decided that Naoto was much too serious to be amazed by something so simple.
"A classic tale of heroism," Naoto said when he finished, not sounding terribly impressed.
Yosuke shrugged, unaffected by her disinterest. Teddie still gazing at him in adoration might have softened the blow.
Rise arrived with Kanji, and she got a special telling, Yosuke more enthusiastic for her than he had been for anyone else. Chie could have recited the story at this point and saved time but Yosuke kept changing details – suddenly it was super windy (only by the river, he assured them) and the cat had an injured paw that put it in danger of falling while the little boy was about to give into panic before Yosuke calmed him down.
Really? She considered calling him out but it wasn't worth the effort. He'd confuse himself and get caught up in his own embellishments soon enough and that would be gratifying to watch.
By this point, she'd be happy to never hear the word cat again.
Rise listened to the whole thing with a smile, and shared an amused look with everyone, before giving Yosuke the attention he wanted and cooing over his accomplishment. "You're almost as cool as Senpai!" she said and stole a sip of Yosuke's soda.
Yosuke didn't look disturbed by either the act of theft or the comparison.
Souji was the last one to show up and Chie wasn't as pleased to see him as she normally would have been. Great, now the cat was going to be as big as a dog and sick, she was sure, surviving only because of Yosuke's quick thinking.
The kid would probably be sick too.
"Hey, guys. Sorry about being late. I got distracted with Nanako."
Kanji waved a hand. "Don't worry about it."
"Saved you a spot, Senpai!" Rise patted the empty chair between her and Yosuke, which she'd had to argue with Teddie to make him stay out of. They couldn't all sit next to Souji, she'd argued, and finally they'd flipped a coin to decide who got the spot. Teddie had lost but he was on Youske's other side and seemed happy enough about it.
"Just tell him and get it over with so we can move on to something more important," Chie told Yosuke.
To her surprise, he glared at her, cheeks going red. "I'm sure Souji doesn't care about something like that."
"Something like what?" Souji accepted Teddie's offer for a drink with a smile and turned to Yosuke as the bear ran off. Big mistake; knowing Teddie, he'd either come back with a platter full of every flavor available or something so sweet Souji wouldn't be able to stomach it. "What did I miss?"
"Nothing, partner." Yosuke toyed with his headphones, readjusting them needlessly. "So we're trying to figure out when we can train again, right? What's everyone's schedule?"
Souji looked to the rest of the group for some explanation.
"Yosuke saved a cat," Chie said, enjoying the way Yosuke's blush deepened as he cast her a pleading look. She'd had to listen to the story five times, each more mind-numbing than the last. He deserved some discomfort.
"It was really impressive," Rise added.
"Although," Naoto said, "I'm sure the animal would have come down by itself given enough time. It's possible that Yosuke-senpai's involved simply prolonged the problem, given that a stranger was trying to reach for it while it was in an already agitated state."
"Right," Yosuke said quickly, "helped a kid out, it's not a big deal. How's tomorrow for you, Kanji?"
"What, you're not going to tell him like you told us?" Chie said. "I thought for sure with Souji—"
She was just close enough for him to kick her in the leg and returned the gesture. Yosuke grimaced and leaned down to rub the spot but, come on, she hadn’t even put that much force into it.
Wimp.
"Hmmm." Teddie came running back with a shake from the vendor and Souji took a sip. The drink was pink and looked sweet enough to hurt, but Souji didn’t bat an eyelash. "I don't get to hear? I'd really enjoy it."
Yosuke hesitated, looking like he thought Souji might be playing a trick on him, but gave in and Chie had to hear the cat story one more time. This by far was the most interesting variation, though – no embellishments, no boasting, just a bare bones account of how the kid had asked for help and Yosuke had stayed with him until he was able to bring the cat down. The way he told it, it almost sounded boring.
"So, you know." Yosuke shrugged, eyes averted from Souji. "It was nothing special."
"No, that's really great." Souji smiled. The story would appeal to him; he had a soft spot for cats like no one else Chie had ever known. "It was a nice thing for you to do."
Yosuke was trying to appear nonchalant, Chie knew it, but he was failing miserably, unable to suppress a grin and his cheeks going red. "Eh, seriously, it's no big deal."
Rise pouted. "You look so happy, Yosuke-senpai. I wish I had done something to get Senpai's approval."
Yosuke stiffened and sputtered about her being ridiculous and how Souji's opinion barely mattered—no, wait, that's what he meant, Souji's opinion mattered a lot, it was just… Souji saved him from himself by bringing the conversation back around to the topic of training in the TV.
After they'd figured out what worked best for everyone and agreed to meet again later in the week, Chie went to get another drink. As she left the table, she heard Souji say, "Tell me about the cat again."
A look back showed Yosuke red-face as Souji gave him his complete attention. Yosuke grumbled but she noticed he was much less reluctant to tell the story this time.
She rolled her eyes. Boys could be so dumb sometimes.
It hadn't taken long for Chie to resign herself to the fact that Yosuke was never going to shut up about this topic.
He'd met her at their table in the food court looking pleased with himself about something and because Yukiko hadn't arrived yet and she had nothing better to do—because she was a good friend—she'd asked what had made him so happy. She'd even managed to be interested and curious about the answer.
That was the first time she was forced to listen to him describe, in a story that somehow stretched on for ten minutes, how he'd helped some kid get a cat out of a tree.
"That's what has you grinning from ear to ear." Frankly, she expected something more impressive but then again this was Yosuke. He bragged about getting the songs on his MP3 player organized the right way, like he didn't just end up hitting shuffle eight times out of ten (and she'd never been allowed to check his player so for all she knew he was making that up). "I'm not sure it's that big of a deal. I mean, it's actually kind of cliché."
"Eh," he said, flicking the paper wrapper from his straw at her, "you're just jealous you didn't do it."
She threw a napkin at his head and wondered what was keeping Yukiko. "Get real."
She had to hear it again when Teddie joined them after completing his shift, and she wasn't sure who was more ridiculous – Teddie for fawning or Yosuke for so obviously basking in the approval. Didn’t he remember that everything impressed Teddie, even the automatically flushing toilets?
Teddie's eyes were huge when he turned to her. "Isn't that amazing, Chie-chan? Yosuke's so cool!"
"Are you serious?" she asked. "It was just a cat and it probably took like five minutes."
"How long it took isn't important," Yosuke said, which made her imagine him standing there for fifteen minutes, vainly tying to get the cat to come down. It gave her a good laugh, which he didn't appreciate, but Teddie started singing his praises again and distracted him.
Yukiko got a telling as well when she showed up, the words out of Yosuke's mouth almost before she'd taken a seat next to Chie, and she stared at him blankly when he stopped before realizing she was supposed to have some kind of reaction.
"Oh!" she said and her hands hovered uselessly in the air as she cast around for something to say. "How…interesting. I'm sure the child was very grateful, Yosuke-kun. Congratulations."
She exchanged a confused glance with Chie and asked, in a whisper everyone could hear, "Is that really so impressive?"
"No," Chie said.
Yosuke pretended not to hear them.
Naoto got the honor of hearing it when she showed up, although Chie wasn't sure what Yosuke was thinking when he started telling her. None of them had known her for long, but Chie had already decided that Naoto was much too serious to be amazed by something so simple.
"A classic tale of heroism," Naoto said when he finished, not sounding terribly impressed.
Yosuke shrugged, unaffected by her disinterest. Teddie still gazing at him in adoration might have softened the blow.
Rise arrived with Kanji, and she got a special telling, Yosuke more enthusiastic for her than he had been for anyone else. Chie could have recited the story at this point and saved time but Yosuke kept changing details – suddenly it was super windy (only by the river, he assured them) and the cat had an injured paw that put it in danger of falling while the little boy was about to give into panic before Yosuke calmed him down.
Really? She considered calling him out but it wasn't worth the effort. He'd confuse himself and get caught up in his own embellishments soon enough and that would be gratifying to watch.
By this point, she'd be happy to never hear the word cat again.
Rise listened to the whole thing with a smile, and shared an amused look with everyone, before giving Yosuke the attention he wanted and cooing over his accomplishment. "You're almost as cool as Senpai!" she said and stole a sip of Yosuke's soda.
Yosuke didn't look disturbed by either the act of theft or the comparison.
Souji was the last one to show up and Chie wasn't as pleased to see him as she normally would have been. Great, now the cat was going to be as big as a dog and sick, she was sure, surviving only because of Yosuke's quick thinking.
The kid would probably be sick too.
"Hey, guys. Sorry about being late. I got distracted with Nanako."
Kanji waved a hand. "Don't worry about it."
"Saved you a spot, Senpai!" Rise patted the empty chair between her and Yosuke, which she'd had to argue with Teddie to make him stay out of. They couldn't all sit next to Souji, she'd argued, and finally they'd flipped a coin to decide who got the spot. Teddie had lost but he was on Youske's other side and seemed happy enough about it.
"Just tell him and get it over with so we can move on to something more important," Chie told Yosuke.
To her surprise, he glared at her, cheeks going red. "I'm sure Souji doesn't care about something like that."
"Something like what?" Souji accepted Teddie's offer for a drink with a smile and turned to Yosuke as the bear ran off. Big mistake; knowing Teddie, he'd either come back with a platter full of every flavor available or something so sweet Souji wouldn't be able to stomach it. "What did I miss?"
"Nothing, partner." Yosuke toyed with his headphones, readjusting them needlessly. "So we're trying to figure out when we can train again, right? What's everyone's schedule?"
Souji looked to the rest of the group for some explanation.
"Yosuke saved a cat," Chie said, enjoying the way Yosuke's blush deepened as he cast her a pleading look. She'd had to listen to the story five times, each more mind-numbing than the last. He deserved some discomfort.
"It was really impressive," Rise added.
"Although," Naoto said, "I'm sure the animal would have come down by itself given enough time. It's possible that Yosuke-senpai's involved simply prolonged the problem, given that a stranger was trying to reach for it while it was in an already agitated state."
"Right," Yosuke said quickly, "helped a kid out, it's not a big deal. How's tomorrow for you, Kanji?"
"What, you're not going to tell him like you told us?" Chie said. "I thought for sure with Souji—"
She was just close enough for him to kick her in the leg and returned the gesture. Yosuke grimaced and leaned down to rub the spot but, come on, she hadn’t even put that much force into it.
Wimp.
"Hmmm." Teddie came running back with a shake from the vendor and Souji took a sip. The drink was pink and looked sweet enough to hurt, but Souji didn’t bat an eyelash. "I don't get to hear? I'd really enjoy it."
Yosuke hesitated, looking like he thought Souji might be playing a trick on him, but gave in and Chie had to hear the cat story one more time. This by far was the most interesting variation, though – no embellishments, no boasting, just a bare bones account of how the kid had asked for help and Yosuke had stayed with him until he was able to bring the cat down. The way he told it, it almost sounded boring.
"So, you know." Yosuke shrugged, eyes averted from Souji. "It was nothing special."
"No, that's really great." Souji smiled. The story would appeal to him; he had a soft spot for cats like no one else Chie had ever known. "It was a nice thing for you to do."
Yosuke was trying to appear nonchalant, Chie knew it, but he was failing miserably, unable to suppress a grin and his cheeks going red. "Eh, seriously, it's no big deal."
Rise pouted. "You look so happy, Yosuke-senpai. I wish I had done something to get Senpai's approval."
Yosuke stiffened and sputtered about her being ridiculous and how Souji's opinion barely mattered—no, wait, that's what he meant, Souji's opinion mattered a lot, it was just… Souji saved him from himself by bringing the conversation back around to the topic of training in the TV.
After they'd figured out what worked best for everyone and agreed to meet again later in the week, Chie went to get another drink. As she left the table, she heard Souji say, "Tell me about the cat again."
A look back showed Yosuke red-face as Souji gave him his complete attention. Yosuke grumbled but she noticed he was much less reluctant to tell the story this time.
She rolled her eyes. Boys could be so dumb sometimes.
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So I Heard You Saved a Cat
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Date: 2011-04-08 10:12 pm (UTC)I love how the story changed every time to suit the person. That's so Yosuke! I found myself curious about how each tale would differ. His disposition when Souji arrived was adorable~ I'm glad he was pushed into revealing it one more time, and so cleanly at that.
This is the first time I've read a Chie POV from you, and it was delightful! I got a relaxing familiarity from it, like annoyance in that loveable sibling way.
[And now misc things because I couldn't seem to fit them in]
+Teddie helping to keep Yosuke's ego afloat: totally lol worthy!
+Another pleasure to read was Souji's god-like entrance~
+And the boys' private moment at the end looked so perfect. I saw those social link music notes bounce instantly from Yosuke!
no subject
Date: 2011-04-09 12:52 am (UTC)Kanji! I'll admit it was an oversight that I didn't include him more. I'm not the best at writing group scenes and tend to forget about people, but you can bet he loved the story because it had everything he loves - kids being happy and cute cats (although Yosuke bragging may have taken away from his enjoyment a bit).
I'm glad you enjoyed this, I had fun writing this one, especially once Souji came into the picture and Yosuke got all tangle up with himself (and the mention of his god-like entrance gave me a laugh).