Manly Male Bonding

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Original Prompt: ANON NEEDS TO DROWN HER SORROWS IN KINK MEME. D8

I need fluff. Pure, unadulterated, Souji/Yosuke/Kanji friendship fluff.

I REALLY DON'T CARE ABOUT ANYTHING ELSE.

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Stupid stitches, stupid—ah, fuck, he'd messed up again. Now he was going to have to pick the thread out and start over and he'd done this like three times already, he was sick of needles and thread and complicated techniques that Kanji couldn't properly explain because of course they came like second nature to him and God forbid he dumb it down for someone who'd never done this before. Not that he was going to ask, he wasn't an idiot, but, seriously, three times on something that would have taken Kanji two seconds was just—

"Yosuke-senpai, what the hell is that?"

Yosuke hunched lower over his project. "What? Dammit, stop looking!"

"Looks crooked."

"It is not." Yosuke glanced down. It totally was.

Souji looked up from his own sewing attempt. "Can I see?"

"No!" A surprise gift was no good if the guy in question saw it before it was ready. Also, it was no good when it looked like absolute crap.

Fuck, sewing was hard.

He should have been more casual – "No, partner, not yet. It's nothing important, just a little something that I'll let you see when it's ready." – because his adamant refusal just made Souji curious enough to drop his fabric and lean over his shoulder. Yosuke tried to simultaneously sneak a peek at Souij's work – he bet it was great but Souji had placed it in such a way that he had no idea what it was meant to be – and hide his failure under his shirt.

Not that that stopped Souji, of course. He simply put his hands under Yosuke's shirt and tugged on the cloth when he jumped. "Is that one of my handkerchiefs?"

"No." It totally was. Souji's name was embroidered on one of the corners.

"I thought I lost that. Did you steal it?"

"…No." Kanji gave him a flat look. He was knitting, not sewing, and surrounded by like five balls of different colored yarn. Yosuke couldn't see what he was making exactly but the glimpse he did catch showed it was perfect, ugh. "I didn't, Souji left it on his desk and I didn't want anyone to take it so I, uh—"

"Took it," Kanji supplied.

"For safe-keeping. I was going to give it back." Eventually. One day.

Maybe.

Souji tugged on it. "Can I have it back now?"

Yosuke let it go reluctantly, not eager to have his sad efforts shown to anyone, especially Souji.

"What's this?" Souji looked closely at one of the corners, where Yosuke had been trying – and failing spectacularly – to add something. "It's kind of hard to read."

Yosuke's face felt like it was sunburned. He dug his needle into his shoe. "Partner."

"Huh?"

He raised his voice. "It's supposed to say partner. I was going to give it back after I added that."

Kanji examined it. "Looks crooked."

"Oh my God, I know." He gestured to the…whatever in Kanji's lap. "I bet your thing is great, huh? What is it, anyway?"

Probably something for Naoto, like a new hat with expandable earmuffs and a soda holder—no, a pocket to keep her detective notes or something.

Kanji held it up. "Making you a scarf, Yosuke-senpai. Senpai told me how red you get when it's cold. That's no good; you'll get sick. See here, that's—" He pointed to a figure. "There's Susano-o and next to him is Izanagi and I was going to add Rokuten Maoh if that's okay with you but I wanted to check first."

"…Oh."

"Also, there're a couple of flowers."

"I suggested those," Souji said, still resting his chin on Yosuke's shoulder and turning the handkerchief over in his hands. "See, your name is Hanamura and flowers—"

"Yeah, I get it." Looking at the red scarf, Yosuke wasn't sure if it was going to be the most badass piece of clothing he owned or the most girly. Maybe both. Either way, he took back all those bad thoughts about Kanji. "That's…pretty awesome of you, man. Thanks."

Kanji shrugged and tried to hide the fact he was blushing. "About Rokuten Moah…"

"Yeah, sure, throw him on there."

Souji pushed the handkerchief back in his hands. "Finish this."

"It sucks. You can barely read it." It looked especially amateur when compared to the professional quality of Souji's name in the other corner. "Maybe Kanji—"

They both shook their heads. "Keep it up," Souji said. "You're almost done. I'm looking forward to getting it."

"Well, okay, if you really want it." He tried not to show how pleased he was. "Hey, Kanji, you got a handkerchief or something? I'll put your name on it."

"Nah, don't own nothing like that."

Souij pulled one out of his pocket and put it in Yosuke's lap. "Here, just take my name off of this one."

"Dude, how many of these do you own?"

"A couple. You never know when it'll come in handy." He took up a spot between Kanji and Yosuke and pulled his own project back into his lap. Yosuke eyed it. It was a shirt and he was working on adding something on one of the sleeves. "What's that going to be?"

"It's going to say partner," Souji said, holding it up. His effort wasn't quite as good as Yosuke had expected but it was still pretty respectable.

"…Is that one of my shirts?"

"You left it, um, in the gym changing room so I took it. For safe-keeping," he added after a beat. "I was going to give it back."

"Oh."

Kanji snorted and returned to his work. "Remind me not to leave any clothing around you two. How many more flowers, Senpai?"

"A lot. The whole end should be full of them. And make sure they're colorful."

"Don't—" Yosuke wondered if he was allowed to make demands. "Don't make them too…flowery, okay?"

"Nah, don't worry, they'll be badass."

Chie asked him later what they spent the day doing. Yosuke sucked on a finger, sore from where he'd continuously stabbed himself, and told her it was so manly she wouldn't be able to appreciate it if he explained.

The next week, Kanji showed them how to sew flowers. Yosuke was only vaguely amused. Souji loved it.

Poll #5977 Manly Male Bonding

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