Love Meets Pain Festival

[madimpossibledreamer]

Main Points:
Persona 4 Arcana Life
Chapter Summary: Yosuke's part in the other world during the dancing festival goes differently.
Word Count: 395
Rating: gen with some swearing

        “Love without pain, huh,” Yosuke whispers.  At first, it’s easy for Souji to just assume that’s a condemnation, like Chie’s enthusiastic rebuttal, but there’s something odd in his voice, and he glances over, fighting against the cacophony that threatens to overwhelm him.
        Yosuke’s eyes are glazed over.  Just like when he gets hit with a Charm spell.  He’s swaying slightly on the spot, mimicking the Shadows.
        Oh, damn, damn, damn, he hadn’t even considered that!  This is so close to Yosuke’s Shadow!  Sure, he’s improved tremendously since they’d met, but there’s still a part of him that’s convinced he’s worthless, that the Magician is the only one people care about. 
        As expected, the eerie voice laughs.  “Of course you would understand, Magician.  Why exert yourself trying to live up to expectations knowing you’ll only let them down?  Better to just keep up the perfect stage act.  That’s who Souji loves.”
        “You don’t get to decide that!” Souji yells, but a ribbon has already wrapped around Yosuke’s wrist, and he’s not fighting it.  It feels like frantically flipping through trying to find the perfect Persona for this moment, attempting to find the one perfect memory to contradict these words and free his boyfriend.  “Partner, I miss walking you to school and holding your hand!  If you push me away and hold me at arm’s length like this, how am I supposed to do that?”
        The restless tapping of Yosuke’s feet to the creepy song falters, the brunet shaking his head a little, as if starting to awaken.
        All right, just keep going.  “I miss cooking just to watch your expression light up when I showed you what it was!  Hell, I miss you now!  It was fun getting to practice together, and I wouldn’t want to ask you to stop being the Magician because you enjoy it so much, but if it was just the Magician and not Yosuke, do you think we’d get a quiet moment just to text each other to make each other smile or study together?  The Magician takes my breath away, but I love Yosuke, too, because the quiet moments are all his!”
        “Queuing up your song, Senpai!” Rise-chan’s voice is all the backup he needs, and the steps will come easy and sure because if there’s a solid foundation to express his emotions from, it’s his love for his boyfriend.