High Magician S.L. 3

[madimpossibledreamer]

Follow-up to Prince of Junes.  Several things emerged in this fic:
Even more adorableness brought to you by Yosuke and Nanako.
Clumsy Yosuke.  Again.
...Okay, no idea why this happened, but apparently this Yosuke was left-handed, but taught not to be left-handed because apparently that's still a thing.  Given the goofiness I've gotten about his parents already (MANsoon season, anyone?) I think it's probably because they didn't want their child to stick out and be picked on, not because they thought left-handedness is inherently evil.  He hasn't told Souji yet.  Because of learning to use his non-dominant hand, he's actually kind of ambidextrous, which helps with his kunai/wrench/etc usage.
...Embarrassing (for Yosuke, anyway) omake.  I rather enjoyed it.

Main Points: Persona 4 Playthrough Mild AU
Chapter Summary: Nanako and Yosuke surprise Souji.
Word Count: 1,145, Omake 50 word drabble exactly
Rating: T

            You knock, but Nanako doesn’t get the door.  “I’m home,” you call out hopefully, opening the door and taking off your shoes.  Still no “Welcome home, big bro!”  Suddenly, you feel very, very lonely.  Nanako’s probably at a friend’s house.  At least, you get to think that for all of two seconds.

            “Yosuke-nii, there’s smoke…” Nanako’s voice, fairly quiet.

            And Yosuke’s flailing.  Even as you didn’t expect any of it, it makes you smile.  “Wha—oowww!”

            It sounds like he’s really hurt himself.  It’s lucky you buy so many health kits.  You rush over, and he’s actually got it under control.  It looks like they’re cooking salmon.  And they weren’t expecting you, apparently.

            Yosuke winces, but it’s a smile too.  “I’m okay, Partner.  Just burnt myself a little.”  He lets you look at his hand, just to reassure yourself, but it comes off as him just humoring you, and that rankles a little.  “Lesson seven, Nanako-chan.  Be really, really careful around the stove, because it’s easy to burn yourself.  And lesson eight, if there’s going to be an accident, let someone older have that happen, okay?  Things like this are worse when you’re younger.”

            You turn off the stove carefully, making sure not to touch anything that might burn you too, and carefully lead Yosuke by the hand over to the couch.  Nanako, the great girl that she is, instantly reads the situation and goes for the medical kit.  That she knows about, anyway.  When she returns, she’s biting her lip.  “How bad is his hand?” she asks quietly, a little unhappily.

            You look carefully at the hand and grab out a small hand towel.  “Nanako, get some cold water on this.  You don’t want it icy, but cold is good.”

            She does what she’s told without a question, but you really need to reassure her before she starts crying and the guilt gets too bad.

 

>He’ll be fine.

>I’ll play nurse.

>“He has the two of us to help out.”

 

            you reassure her, and that gets a smile from them both.

            “It’s just a little burn,” he tries to argue, and that gets an almost-glare from you.

 

>Don’t give me that.

>“I’ve had burns before,”

>What were you doing?

 

            you tell him quietly.  “I had to learn to cook at some point, so I ended up making mistakes.  But I also learned that you don’t just ignore burns, either.  They can be nasty.  This one’s a little one, yeah, but you can’t always know that for sure.”

            His eyes are a little wide when you admit that you weren’t born with the ability to cook, but then he chuckles.  Nanako returns with the cloth.

            “So, Partner, what’re you planning to—”  He bites off his next word and makes a sound halfway between a sob and a sigh instead.  No swearing in front of Nanako, probably.

            “It’ll hurt for a bit, but it’ll help cool your hand down.”  It takes you a bit to figure out how to rephrase your next question.  You’re not Yosuke.  You’re not just about to blurt out the first thing that pops into your head which may or may not happen to be rude, even if it might be true.

 

>Why are you cooking?

>Maybe I should show you where the oven mitts are at, if you’re planning on doing this again.

>“Is the dinner done?”

               

            is what you eventually settle on.  It’s the most neutral.

            Nanako perks up.  “Yeah!  Yosuke-nii and I made the dinner, all by ourselves!”

            You notice the honorific the second time, and suddenly the three of you are blushing.  “Well done.”

            Yosuke and Nanako are now brighter than you, and you count it as an accomplishment.

            “All we did was follow a recipe…”

            “Yosuke-nii saw me in Junes…”

            “I couldn’t subject you to premade food again, even if it is from Junes…”

            “He braved the scary lady and showed me a recipe…”

            “You would’ve been proud of her…”

            “And then when his shift was over he came over to help me cook…”

            “It was a lot of fun.  Honestly, Nanako-chan is a great girl…”

            “He’s really smart, and really good at this…”

            “Nanako-chan, I wouldn’t really say tha—”

            “You didn’t.  I did.”

            “…”

            “And then all of them were cooking really well, except for the one, until the part when it started to burn…”

            “Which is when you walked in,” Yosuke finishes with a rueful smile.  “I guess I’ll have that one.  I don’t mind things being a little burnt anyway.  Well, if they’re not me.”

            You didn’t hear everything they said, when the two of them were talking at once, but you’ve gotten the gist of it and it puts a big smile on your face.  Quietly, you remove the cloth, which gets a wince, and grab the aloe vera from the kit, carefully spreading it over the wound.  Yosuke’s hand is stiff in your own, but you know it must hurt, even if it’s not half as bad as a lot of the things the Investigation Team has gone through.  He grins fondly when you start wrapping his hand, though.

            “It was a lot of fun, and I learned a lot!”  Nanako looks a lot happier and a lot less lonely, and you couldn’t be prouder of them both.  You’re falling in love with them both all over again.

            “I couldn’t have done it without her,” Yosuke corrects quickly, and that earns a smile from Nanako that lights up the room.

            “I look forward to tasting it,” you say.  They both look a little nervous, but given that it smells fine and they’d mentioned following a recipe, it probably can’t turn out as another Mystery Food X.

            It doesn’t turn out the disaster Yosuke thinks it’ll be.  The fish is a little burnt, but Dojima and Nanako end up with perfect ones, from the sound of it.  The salad is good, even though you recognize the prepackaged variety, and the rice balls decorated like cats are absolutely adorable.  Detective Dojima is looking for any excuse to growl at Yosuke, and given that he isn’t finding one, Yosuke and Nanako did a really good job.  Of course, he also can’t yell at his daughter.  That’s important.  He even did the smart thing and complimented Nanako, who gave Yosuke a lot of credit too.  And he can’t argue with Nanako.

            Yosuke’s on his best behavior.  The only thing he hadn’t done was remove the headphones.  He’s really careful with his chopsticks and his manners.  At least the hand he burned wasn’t his main hand.  And he absolutely glows when you hold his hand, carefully so as not to put extra pressure on the burn.

            You show your appreciation when you kiss him sweetly good night.  He grins and waves before grabbing his bike.  At least it's not raining, so he'll probably be fine.

Omake: >I’ll play nurse.
Yosuke turns red, and you're pretty sure he isn't breathing.  Maybe time for some CPR?
"Dude!  Not cool!" he manages eventually.  But he still looks like he might pass out any second...
>...He does, however, scoot a little closer to you, so it counts as a success.