Life on Stage

[madimpossibledreamer]

Clearly, Bruce Wayne was the mask Batman wore.
I can definitely see the two playing ASB, so that's what they're playing.

Main Points: Persona 4 AU
Chapter Summary: The Magician differs from his other Yosuke counterparts.
Word Count: 1039
Rating: T
Note:  The souji/yosuke tag is for vague references and flirting.  It's definitely not anything stronger than their interactions in the game.  Mild spoilers for who's on the team.

 

                The Magician’s not awed by the glamour of the stage or of teen idols.  No reason to be; he’d spent years of his life up there, after all, and had learned how much the illusion and reality didn’t match up.  He doesn’t react like Rise; he’s not especially worried about not being genuine or that his stage persona is fake.  Oh, every now and then concerns like that would pop up, but then he’d have a show, and singing and dancing is something he pours his entire being into, and everyone has a good time.  He knows how to put together an outfit, and thanks to dreams of a blue room he doesn’t have to worry about lyrics, either.  And it’s not like it’s all from this other world, either.  It just serves…like a muse.  The music is him.  Is them.  He’s a lot more responsible than fellow Yosukes in distant worlds, and it’s not like he’s trapped in a small town, either.  Every time he begins thinking about that, he’s wanted for another Junes-exclusive event.

                If Souji was anyone else, he'd be jealous of how much Nanako-chan loves the Prince of Junes.  Because he's Souji, the adoration from Nanako just reassures the leader instead.  Yosuke doesn’t get that, but he doesn’t really question it either.  And she’s surprisingly good at keeping his secret identity, well, secret.

                Generally, though, he’s kept too busy to think about what he really wants, who he really wants to be.  He really shines when he’s making people smile or otherwise helping them out.  As much as he complains about his work at Junes, he loves it, most of the time.  He practices his salesman voice (even kept it up for his Partner, since he half suspects the odd student finds it kind of hot).  If he can just make one housewife a lot less crabby and a lot more smiley, he’s done his job.  He tends to hum on the job, or when he’s thinking hard, and given his connection with Junes no one’s surprised a lot of the songs are Arcana Life.

                He tries harder, applies himself more.  Good grades are a requirement for his inclusion in Arcana Life (they can’t have some loser representing Junes, even if no one knows who he really is), and he loves music, loves his fans, loves his fellow band-mates.

                The thing is, he can be a little bipolar sometimes.  Most don’t notice, but then, most don’t know both sides of him.  There’s The Magician, who’s good-natured and hardworking and really cool and doesn’t let anything get to him.  And then there’s the side of him that most people see, the side of ‘real life’.  He’s a whiner.  He’s lazy and immature and tries too hard to fit in with his peers, always bored with everything, and he’s absolutely terrified that this side will end up becoming genuine.  It’s his Shadow.  How it happens, like flicking a switch, he’s not sure.  And it’s not like The Magician’s a fake.  He’s genuine, maybe even more genuine than the constant complaining Yosuke does on a daily basis.  He’s throwing his feelings, his emotions, his want to help, out to the world, and the fact that the world catches it, cares back…it’s the best feeling in the world.

                It took Souji Seta for him to come to terms with this.  That he’s not half the asshole he thinks he is.  It’s just a matter of venting steam.  He’s wound tight, always under all the pressure, and The Magician can’t deal with that, so Yosuke has to.  But, his savior tells him, he’s not alone.  He doesn’t have to deal with these feelings by himself.  And yeah, maybe there are better ways to deal with it, to feel like a kid again because he’d not gotten the chance to have that, but he can figure that out, how to relax without being exhaustingly casual and difficult to rile all the time, or a crybaby, spoiled brat.

                Rise is both frustrated by him, because he doesn’t seem to have the same personal issues she does, and coos over him, because it’s nice to have someone in the showbiz who gets it.  Kanji is pretty okay with the Magician, though he occasionally gets the urge to pound Yosuke until he’s got some nice black eyes to match the cocky grin.  When she’s not threatening him, Yukiko’s intimidated, though the Prince has gotten really good at making her laugh up a storm.  Teddie takes everything in stride, but then, sometimes he wonders about that bear.  Naoto…Naoto doesn’t quite know how to talk to him, but he’s pretty sure that, other than Souji, the detective knows him the best.  He’s pretty sure Shirogane took one look at him and read him like a book.  Yeah, okay, it sounds a bit cliché, but given the insightful comments the other Prince has offered, he’s sure he has pretty solid evidence it’s not all a fiction.  Chie, well, Chie’s not sure how to deal with him, but he thinks she likes having a friend to spar with, verbally or physically, even if it ends up being way too violent most of the time.  And Souji, well.  Souji’s Souji.  He’s cool with everything, except when he’s not.  He’s encouraging, and most of the time he’s understanding, but sometimes he’s just clueless.  The guy’s hard to read, but he’s worth the effort.

                When they’d…connected, at those concerts, Souji had gotten to know The Magician.  And sometimes he was still shy and easily embarrassed around the only star he’d ever been a fan for, but he’d also, most of the time, just treated Yosuke like a best friend.  It’d been weird before Yosuke found out about the TV World, but Souji had just been looking out for him.  In his own awkward, sweet, kind way.

                He’s pretty okay with that.  And if he autographs the (alphabetized) collection of Arcana Life paraphernalia when he’s set down his controller and is waiting for Souji to come back with food before their next round of Family With Personas versus Vampire, smug grin stretching from ear to ear as he notes the extent of his friend’s understated obsessive collection, well, he figures it’s allowed.