Don't Knock It 'til You Try It

[scatter]

Summary: Because after they save Kanji, trying it is inevitable.

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When Yosuke said, "I wonder why Kanji's so interested in guys," Souji wrinkled his nose up in that way he did when he was annoyed and asked, "Are we talking about this again?"

Yosuke'd been mostly thinking out loud and hadn't expected any real reply, but he couldn't let that pass. Laid out on Souji's couch, he frowned at him where he sat on the floor. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing," Souji said, continuing to flip through the magazine Yosuke'd lent him. "It's just that you've been thinking about it a lot."

"I have not." Souji gave him a flat, wordless look, and okay, maybe Yosuke had been dwelling on it lately but who wouldn't? It'd be weirder if he didn't think about it. "And even if I did, what's wrong with that?"

"I didn't say there was anything wrong with it, but Chie and Yukiko don't seem have a problem with it."

"Who said I had a problem?" He didn't. Not exactly. It was just...different, and Yosuke'd never been entirely comfortable with different. "Plus, they're girls. Girls are different when it comes to stuff like this."

Souji tilted his head, confused. "Are they?"

"Duh."

"Huh." Souji settled back against the couch and took a minute to absorb this new information. Yosuke took a minute to wonder how Souji could be so clueless about people and still make friends. "Either way, you've got it wrong. You heard what he said to his Shadow - he's more intimidated by girls than anything else, and he doesn't feel manly enough because people always make fun of his hobbies. Which is stupid, by the way; there's nothing wrong with knowing how to sew. It's useful."

"It's not the sewing," Yosuke said, "it's the stuff he makes, all those cats and rabbits in little dresses."

"What's wrong with those?" Souji asked.

"It's just..." Yosuke gestured vaguely, not looking at him. "You know, they're..."

"I like them," Souji said firmly, and Yosuke dropped his hand.

"Yeah, alright. They're not so bad."

Satisfied, Souji turned back to his magazine. "Why'd you bring it up?"

"Hmm? No real reason, I was just thinking." He could have dropped the subject there or changed it, and maybe he should have, but he was curious about it all despite himself and it wasn't like he could talk about it with anyone else. "It can't feel good, can it? Kissing a guy, I mean. It'd be all rough."

Souji laughed, pulling one knee up to get more comfortable. "Maybe if you kissed Dojima-san."

"Yeah, you'd cut your face on him. Guy's got a serious five o'clock shadow. A girl'd be nicer," Yosuke said confidently. "Girls are soft."

"Not all of them."

"Well, not Chie, maybe--"

"And it's not like all guys are hard," Souji said, ignoring him. "I don't have stubble."

"I'm not sure that's worth bragging about. You don't need a beard but a little stubble's manly."

Souji ran a hand across his face, frowning. Yosuke laughed at him and rolled onto his side so he could see the TV better, relieved that the conversation seemed to have naturally come to an end. It was definitely nice being able to talk about even stuff like this with Souji - he'd never had a friend he would have considered bringing it up with before - but the topic made Yosuke nervous and a little uncomfortable, like if he mentioned it too much or talked about it for too long then Souji might start to look at him differently.

He was absorbed in watching TV when Souji suddenly asked, "You think Kanji's ever done it?"

"What, what that guy just did? Not unless he had some wires holding him up--"

"Kiss another guy," Souji interrupted. He was toying with the pages of the magazine lying next to him. Yosuke hadn't noticed he'd stopped reading it.

He snorted derisively. "No way. No one in Inaba'd--uh..." He caught himself, knowing Souji wouldn't like hearing what he'd been going to say, and continued with, "It's too small here. He'd be too worried about someone finding out to go through with it."

"That makes sense." Souji paused then asked, "Could you do it?"

Yosuke craned his head to see Souji better. "What, like on a dare?"

"No. Or yes, maybe, I don't know." Souji sneaked a glance at him. He was beginning to crease the pages of the magazine but didn't seem to notice. "Could you do it at all?"

"I..." Yosuke felt his face go hot.

As if trying to encourage him, Souji said, "It's probably not too different from kissing a girl."

Because Yosuke had loads of experience doing that. He turned back to the TV, but could feel Souji still watching him, waiting for an answer. "Sure," he said, trying to sound like it was no big deal and hoping this was the right response, "I could do it."

"Yeah?"

"I said yes, didn't I?" After a beat, he asked, partly because he felt like it was expected of him and partly out of genuine curiosity, "What about you?"

"I don't see why not," Souji answered. "It's just a kiss."

"Right. Okay then." Yosuke tried to get comfortable again, but he couldn't focus on the show anymore, not when he was painfully aware of Souji on the edge of his vision, head down and chewing his lip as he thought. It wasn't like he didn't have an idea of where this conversation was heading, and he waited, tense and anxious, for Souji to say something.

"Do you want to try it?"

Yosuke exhaled heavily and turned his face into the cushion. He might have been half-expecting it but that didn't prepare him for actually hearing the words coming out of Souji's mouth. "What?"

Souji shifted against the couch and glanced at him over his shoulder. "Do you want to try kissing--"

"I heard you," Yosuke said. "Why are you asking?"

"I don't know." Faintly accusing, like this was somehow his fault, Souji added, "You're always bringing it up."

"Don't blame this on me."

Souji flushed, guilty. "I'm not."

"Good." Because whether or not he brought it up a lot, it wasn't his fault if Souji went and got ideas in his head. It definitely wasn't his fault if Souji decided to act on them, either, but if he really wanted to, if he was asking about it... Yosuke couldn't lie to himself and say he hadn't wondered what it'd be like. But to actually admit it? When he answered, he mumbled it into the couch. "Alright."

"Yeah?" Souji said, too excitedly.

"I said yes, didn't I?" Yosuke propped himself up on his elbow. "Don't make such a big deal out of it."

"I'm not." Souji quickly wiped the surprise off of his face and rose to his knees. "Are you going to come down here?"

"You're the one that asked me," Yosuke said stubbornly. "You move."

"Okay." Souji turned around to face the couch and searched Yosuke's face. "How many girls have you kissed?"

"About as many as you," he said, and Souji frowned. Was that because the number was too high or too low? How many had Souji kissed? Annoyed at the thought, he continued more roughly than he intended. "Look, just go ahead. It's not that serious."

"I know that." Except his expression clearly said he didn't. Yosuke squeezed his eyes shut and let him close the distance between them.

He jumped when Souji's lips touched his and immediately felt stupid because it wasn't as if Souji was doing anything - it was a light, dry kiss, barely there at all. Souji broke it after a few seconds but only to change angles; he leaned back in almost immediately and this time Yosuke didn't have reason to jump. His mouth had fallen open slightly as he took a deep breath and Souji caught it that way, parting his own lips to better match it. From then on, it wasn't one kiss so much as it was a series of them, each one as small and careful as the last and resulting in Souji inching more and more into Yosuke's personal space. By the time Souji broke it off and sat back on his heels, Yosuke was gripping the couch cushion hard and his chest hurt from not getting enough air.

"Nothing to it," he lied. He felt like he should say something else, maybe make some crack about Souji needing more practice, but all he could managed to do was sit there and blush like an idiot.

"Easy," Souji said. He had a funny look on his face that made it hard for Yosuke to meet his eyes. "Can I do it again?"

"What? Why?"

"I just...want to kiss you."

In the back of his head, Yosuke'd had a vague worry that something like this would happen and he wouldn't know how to handle it. He'd been right; he didn't. Frustrated with both of them, he asked, "Why do you have to be so weird about everything? You wanna mess stuff up between us?"

"No," Souji said, "I just really want to kiss you."

He said it easily enough but he was blushing faintly and more importantly he looked nervous. Yosuke felt the knot in his stomach unwind some when he saw that. He still didn't know--this could still be a really dumb idea--but it was a relief to know that he wasn't the only one being affected.

Because, yeah, Yosuke wanted to kiss him again too.

"I guess it can't hurt to try one more time," he said.

"Just once?"

Yosuke's blush deepened. "Don't push your luck, partner." More than once sounded good but he'd make Souji ask for it.

After all, there was nothing wrong with trying, right?

Poll #11303 Don't Knock It 'til You Try It

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[spywindow]

This was so cute!