A Garden of Paper

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Original Prompt: Fluff inspired by the first few lines from the song Flowers by Emilie Simon.

[Prompt cut for length]

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There was a flower on Yosuke's desk.

It wasn’t real, just a white origami lily made out of plain paper, but it was still enough to make him pause in the act of setting his bag down and scan the room. No one was paying him any attention, except Chie who caught his eye while she talked to Yukiko, and she just laughed and shook her head. Souji was getting his homework out of his bag and—

Of course.

Yosuke plucked the flower up and waved it under Souji's nose. "Hey, partner, what's up with this? You mix my desk up with some girl's?"

Souji looked at him curiously. "Of course not."

"Then why leave this on my desk?"

"I thought you might like it. You don't?"

He could have said no immediately to save face. No one was looking at them, at least not openly, but Chie and Yukiko's conversation had reached a low point, which meant they were listening to every word, and Yosuke didn't want anyone to get the wrong idea about him. But he hated lying to Souji and the flower was nice, an unexpected surprise at the start of what was sure to be a long school day. Plus, well, it was from Souji. That automatically made it special. Yosuke looked at the flower, at Souji's face – open and unruffled, like giving a guy a paper flower wasn't worth a second thought – and made a show of shoving it into his bag. Just a show, though; he didn't want it to bend.

"Look," he muttered so only Souji could hear, "if you leave it on my desk someone could take it."

Souji smiled and Yosuke felt his cheeks heat up. "Alright, I won't do it again."

Anyone listening would have thought Souji had promised to stop doing it all together, but two days later flowers started showing up in his foot locker. They became progressively more elaborate, little bundles of colored paper waiting for him almost every morning. For a few days they stopped and Yosuke was sure Souji had decided to quit doing it, a possibility that was surprisingly disappointing. It wasn't that he thought they meant anything – nothing other than Souji thought he was worth the time it took to make them, at least – but it had been nice to know there was something waiting for him, something to look forward to. When he opened his locker one day and found a lotus flower as big as his hand waiting for him, he felt stupidly relieved.

The only problem was that as they got more impressive, it got harder to hide them. He could fit them in his bag easy but with all his books and school supplies, there was a chance of them getting bent and arriving home to pull them out – in his room, out of his parents' sight because these were private – only to find them ruined was depressing. He took to cleaning out of his bag so he had more space.

And then one day, after he found a bouquet of flowers that must have taken Souji all day to make, they simply stopped coming. He thought it was another break but when nearly two weeks went by with nothing, he brought the subject up. Casually, of course, because what did he care if Souji stopped giving him flowers? He didn't; he was just curious, like anyone else would be.

"So," he said, as they walked home from school, "I haven't gotten anything in my locker for a while."

"Oh," Souji said. "Yeah."

Yosuke waited but nothing else seemed forthcoming. "Is there a reason why?"

"I just…decided to stop."

"Ah." He couldn't think of anything else to say. "Okay."

They walked the rest of the way in silence.

He had a long shift the next day, right from breakfast all the way to just before dinner. He wasn't looking forward to it and it promised to rain, but finding Souji lingering around the plants improved his mood. They'd parted uncomfortably yesterday but Souji smiled when he saw him and they spent a few minutes chatting like it had never happened before work pulled him away.

He came back around shortly after that, expecting to find Souji gone, so he was surprised to see him still examining the flowers. "Dude, you're still here?"

"Are these all the flowers Junes has?" Souji asked, casting a critical eye over the display.

"Yeah, that's it." There was a pretty good variety available, some of them pricey. Yosuke had no idea why Souji looked so disappointed with them. "What's up?"

"I want something nice, something really impressive. These are good, but… I guess there's no flower shop in the Shopping District?"

"Nah, ran it out of town, I think." Yosuke smiled. "You got your eye on a girl?"

Souji went pink and wouldn't meet his eyes.

Yosuke's smile slipped. Oh. Oh. Of course Souji'd found someone. It made sense; he was a popular guy – everyone from Yukiko to that girl in band liked him. That explained why the flowers in his lockers had stopped. He couldn't continue to do something like that with a guy, even his best friend, if he was trying to get a girl. People would talk, if they weren't already.

"Oh. Well, I won't ask who it is, but good luck with that, okay? I've, uh, got to get back to work." He hurried away, barely hearing Souji's farewell, and grabbed the first customer who looked in need of help.

He made mistakes the rest of the day – dropped stuff, stared at nothing when he should have been stocking, directed customers to the wrong part of the store – enough that he got scolded. It was hard to focus on anything other than the idea of Souji with some girl, though, maybe someone Yosuke knew. Just…fuck, really? Was this going to cut into how much time they spent together? Of course it would, Souji couldn't hang out with him all the time if he had a girlfriend. How was Yosuke supposed to act around her? What if he didn't like her? He already sort of hated her. Would he have to stop calling him partner? She wouldn't let him continue to call him that but, well, who the hell cared what she thought? Souji was his partner, Yosuke'd been calling him that forever and he wasn't about to stop. Maybe he'd do it more just to piss her off.

He kicked a display and spent ten minutes cleaning it up.

By the time he got off of work, it was pouring and he was tired and in a bad mood. He got soaked on the bike ride home, nearly crashed into a trashcan when his front tire slipped in a puddle, had to walk the dumb thing the rest of the way to the house, and was forced to warm up leftovers for dinner because his dad was working late and his mom out of town.

Munching on lukewarm chicken and changed into his night clothes, he got all the flowers Souji had given him over the past few weeks out of their hiding places – behind his dresser, in his closet, wherever he thought his parents wouldn't find them – and set them in the middle of the room. The end result was an impressive pile of every color and flower he could think of and some that didn't look familiar at all. He was pretty sure Souji had made up a couple of them, like that brown and orange one with the purple leaves.

Someone rang the doorbell. He looked at the clock, decided it was too late for anyone sane to be out, and ignored it.

He picked up one of the flowers he didn't recognize, so small he couldn't imagine trying to fold it. It hadn't been in his locker; he'd found it in his bag after school and never did manage to figure out when Souji had put it there.

The doorbell rang again, although the sound of the rain was so heavy it nearly drowned it out. They were going to have to watch the Midnight Channel for sure tonight.

What was he supposed to do with all of these? Keep them, throw them out? Had Souji even meant for him to keep them? Maybe that's why he'd given him so many, because he figured Yosuke would toss the old ones and not keep them like some…hoarder or girlfriend or creepy obsessed partner, and what did it say about him that he wanted to keep them? They were nice, even the beginning ones that weren't as good, but how awkward would it be to meet Souji's girlfriend – Chie? They'd been hanging out together a lot… – while thinking, Hey, your boyfriend gave me flowers for two months and not only do I still have them but I hope he never makes you any, you bitch.

Okay, that was just rude, and if it was some girl he knew, he'd never call her that.

Felt a little good, though.

The doorbell rang again.

"Who the hell?" Taking another bite of his dinner, he made his way downstairs and was about to throw open the door when he realized how stupid that was. What if it was the killer? He hadn't been on the Midnight Channel but who else would stay in the rain so long when it was clear no one was going to answer? "Who is it?"

"Souji."

"Partner?" He opened the door and Souji greeted him with a smile, hair plastered to his face and looking as though he'd just jumped into a pool with all of his clothes on. "Dude, seriously? Get in here."

Souji took a few steps in and Yosuke closed the door behind him. "I won't stay long; I'm dripping all over your floor."

"Don't worry about it. I can just throw down a towel. Why didn't you call me instead of just standing there?"

Souji stared at him blankly. "Didn't think about it."

Right; Souji'd talk on the phone when someone rang him up but he hated calling people. "Then you just planned to stay there until I came down?"

"Pretty much, but it's not like I didn't know you were home. Your light was on." He made a gesture but it was lost by the coat covering his hands.

"You're not even wearing that? You're going to get sick."

"I'll be okay." Souji wiped water off of his neck with his shoulder.

"What are you hiding, anyway?" He grabbed the edge of the coat and, when Souji didn't stop him, pulled it off. There was a large bouquet under it, mostly dry and incredibly expensive looking. It was the kind guys got for their girlfriends' birthdays, guys who really cared, not just the ones who grabbed something at the last minute. Yosuke hadn't known flowers could make him so annoyed. "We don't sell these at Junes."

"No, I went to Okina. There's this shop, some old lady runs it—"

"Dude, Okina? Okay, you've got to tell me who the girl is." Yosuke wasn't sure he wanted to know but he had to find out who was so great that Souji would waste his whole day picking these out.

"Girl?" Souji held them out.

Yosuke took them, turning them over to get a better look. Definitely expensive. "Yeah, who is it? You know, it's too late to stop by a chick's house right now, you'll freak her out." He sniffed. "These smell pretty good."

Souji frowned. "They're for you."

"…Huh?" Yosuke stared at the bouquet and then at Souji, who pushed his hair away from his face and looked at the puddle forming on the floor.

"I—you seemed to like the first one but after that you never mentioned them so I thought maybe they weren't enough. I figured you might like real ones better."

"This is…" Yosuke realized he was gripping them too harshly when a petal drifted to the floor. "Souji, I'm not a girl."

Souji went pale and then bright red. "I know that, but when you kept letting me make those flowers for you, I thought… You… You weren't taking them the way I meant them, were you? That's why you never mentioned them." He pressed his lips together tightly and took a step back. "I should probably leave."

"Hey, no, wait—"

"No, really, it's fine, I'm… Ugh, I'm sorry."

Yosuke grabbed his sleeve. "Let me say something, will you?" Souji didn't look at him but he didn't pull away. "I, uh, I thought you were getting a girlfriend."

"I'm not interested—"

"And I was pissed. What the hell is some girl going to offer my partner that I can't, that I'm not…" Souji looked up and it was Yosuke's turn to stare at his feet, face hot. "Come upstairs and dry off, okay?"

"I'll just get wet again. It's pouring out there."

"I'm trying to invite you up to my room, partner, just go along with it."

"Oh." Souji smiled and Yosuke's heart did a stupid skip. "Right."

Even Souji's socks were drenched. He stuffed them into his shoes and left them by the door, and Yosuke remembered too late about the flowers spread across the floor of his room when they reached it.

"Aw, shit, this looks weird. Look, I was just trying to figure out what to do with them."

Souji looked at him in disbelief. "You kept them?"

"Well, yeah, I couldn’t just throw them away. You put a lot of work into these."

"Even the bad ones?"

"They're all pretty impressive, actually. I sure as hell couldn't make them." He tried to find a spot to put the bouquet and finally settled on his dresser, where he pulled out some extra clothes. "Throw these on."

"The bathroom…?"

"Er, right, now the hall."

He and Souji were close enough in size that they fit pretty well, but it was odd to see him out of his dress clothes and in a T-shirt and jeans. A little awkwardly, he took a seat next to Yosuke on his bed. Yosuke held out his dinner. "Chicken?"

Souji took one bite, made a face, and politely declined anymore.

"Yeah, it sucks, but it's either this or I boil some eggs." He searched for something to talk about but everywhere his eyes landed were flowers so he went with that. "So, what, you were flirting with me the whole time? Or confessing?"

"Pretty much." Souji laughed. "I didn't do a very good job of it, did I?"

"I don't know. I mean, giving flowers to another guy? How did I not notice that?" He tapped his fingers against his knee. "I thought it was just you being you, all…Souji-like."

"Then I really messed up. They were supposed to let you know I liked you."

"Well, I figured. Okay, that's a lie, but I did think, 'Hey, flowers from Souji, this is kind of awesome.' I…really liked them. Obviously; we're surrounded by them."

Souji smiled. His hair was still wet and he was toying with the edge of his shirt. Yosuke figured it was okay to think that he looked really attractive. "I'm glad."

"But why flowers?" Souji blushed and Yosuke nudged him. "Come on."

"Because I like flowers and…I like you so…" He shrugged. "I put together two things that make me happy."

Yosuke felt his cheeks go warm. "That's so corny."

"Yeah, but you're smiling so it can't be too bad."

He looked away. "I should do something for you. To let you know that—I mean, I like you back so it makes sense, right?"

Souji toyed with his shirt some more. "Let me kiss you?"

"Dude, that's moving pretty fast, isn't it?"

"Just once?"

"…Okay, once." He held still as Souji told hold of his face and leaned forward. Keep your mouth closed, don't freak out, wait, am I supposed to kiss back—?

Souji kissed him. On the nose. "Thanks for the clothes."

"That was it, huh?" Yosuke mumbled.

"Haha, what was that?"

"Nothing." Yosuke pushed him away and Souji rocked with the motion, falling on his back. "You know, it sounds like the rain is letting up."

Souji tilted his head and listened. "It does."

"You can stay until it stops."

"Sounds good." Souji tugged on the back of his shirt. Yosuke hesitated before lying next to him. "Did you like the flowers?"

Yosuke eyed them on the dresser, colorful and kind of girly and all the way from Okina. "Yeah. Thanks, partner. Did you like your kiss?"

Souji ran a hand through his hair. "Very much."

"Even though I've got like a hundred flowers and you only got a kiss on the nose?"

"I'd make you flowers until my fingers bled if it meant I got to have another." He looked completely serious.

Yosuke poked him in the stomach and hid his face. "Ugh, you dork. Don't say weird stuff."

"When you blush, you look like a rose."

Yosuke kicked him out of the bed.

The next day there was an origami rose in his locker. Yosuke threw it at his head and then put it in his bag, gently, so it didn't bend.

Poll #5952 A Garden of Paper

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