#does this count as souyo?

[quil12]

Slowly replaying P4G and this is legitimately my favorite line in the whole game

It will just randomly pop into my head sometimes.

It's also why I really love Yosuke as a character - he's just so relatable. Genuinely just the want to be special - the want to be something more than yourself - that's something that I can very deeply empathize with - and I feel like it's something a lot of people can relate to. It goes along with what his Shadow says at the start of the game about wanting to be a hero. And then I just love the conclusion that he reaches here, which is that you don't need to try actively to be special to someone because you already are just by living life and forming connections with people.

I just love Yosuke lmao

Bonus: One of the gayest lines in the game said directly after

(Emphasized by the fact that this is also when you get the ability for him to take a mortal blow for you)

[yuripira4e]

Ships are made 200x better when the actors/ voice actors/ writers/ artists ship them. Like it becomes so imbedded in the characters even if they try not to let it I love is

[risette-blast]

fake Yu is so obsessed with his champion belt it's really funny

and then yosuke winning him over only for Chie to immediately God's Hand him afterwards... 😭

[lolo3h]

So I made those fruit icons of drag Yu and Yosuke that I was talking about before. Feel free to use without credit, souyo is for everybody

[blueoakshusband]

I feel like rambling about my top 4 fav ships lol, I suppose they count as comfort ships haha (they do, they really do)

To start off, this ramble is a multifandom ramble, the ships are namelessshipping (pokemon), makoharu (persona 5), ninerose/tenrose (doctor who), and souyo (persona 4)

I just feel like rambling and I haven't posted my own content/rambles on this acc in awhile

I wanna ramble about headcanons that most of my friends know for at least namelessshipping, and add to hcs for the other ships

Red x Blue Oak (namelessshipping) from pkmn, they get married early at age 19 lol, they're 24 currently in my hcs and run/own the Battle Tree in Alola, they DID go on a honeymoon in Alola, but that was a couple years before they decided to move there and start the Battle Tree (I changed up the timeline in the sumo/usum games a bit lol)- both of them are gay and transmasc (both using he/him), Red took Blue's last name, his old last name was 'Shade' lmao (I have SOOOOOOOOOO many hcs for them but I'll save those for other days) (I have more hcs for all of these ships tbh but like yeah, saving my typing for now, mostly) audghshsh okay fine some more, they love cuddling, Red usually shows affection through actions (he's selectively mute in my hcs) and Blue loves it- Red is actually just slightly more clingy than Blue, tho, even tho they tease each other and Blue acts snarky and Red quietly confident during the day, at home they're affectionate and love to cuddle at the end of the night in each other's armssssss AUGHHDHDHHSHSHSHSHSH sorry the idea of them cuddling has comforted me SOOOOO much, haha it's a bit funny but it really does, they're my top ship ever (tho I support other ***SAFE*** ships) and yeah, ahdghdhdhs

Makoto Niijima x Haru Okumura (MakoHaru) from persona 5/persona 5 royal- Makoto is transfem (using she/her), and is bi and demisexual, Haru is a demigirl (using she/they), and a lesbian- they get together after the events of specifically third semester in p5 royal happen, Haru asks Makoto out on a date lol, Makoto is shocked cause she was growing feelings for Haru and was worried she wouldn't give her a chance, but yeah, they start dating- they combine their last names methinks, also Sae approves of Haru right away LMAO, since Makoto (when home for university holidays) brings Haru over all the time

The 9th/10th doctor x Rose Tyler (ninerose/tenrose) from modern doctor who- ohhhhhdggdhs my god, they make me soooo happy, yes I know it's a bit cliche to like the first (modern) companion from Dr who with the doc but like??? Their story is soooo tragic- and we don't leave out the ninth doc in this place, he is so silly and funny and it's great to see his development as Rose shows him how to be a bit happier again, and then regenerating into a younger looking person for her- yes I don't mind other doctor ships I just have a huge soft spot for Rose w the doc- I like to think the Doc (any regeneration) uses no labels lol, he uses any pronouns "what ya think, today!" and Rose is soooo pansexual (cis and uses she/her, btw)- I also give the Doc (any regen) different looking eyes and teeth (fangs hehehe) to make her look diff from humans a lil bit, secretly

And lastly, Yu Narukami x Yosuke Hanamura (SouYo) from persona 4/persona 4 golden- just finished p4 golden like last week and I immediately got attached/hyperfixated (I have adhd lol) on these two- most recent comfort ship of mine for sure, even tho I enjoy other ships ofc! I just tend to get favourites from games/shows/etc. Anyways Yu is transmasc (he/him), and Yosuke is cis (he/him), both are gay lol- Yosuke definitely must have some typa internalized homophobia- that or I think he projected his worried feelings onto Kanji (don't worry, he very much apologizes to Kanji eventually)- idk how Yu and Yosuke got together yet tbh, maybe after the golden and arena ultimax (I just started playing it) events? I also hc that uh, Yu's parents passed away somehow (idk how yet for sure) and he moved back to Inaba for senior year permanently, and like yeah, sometime within there is when him and Yosuke get together- either I wanna make it sweet or angsty before they get together lol, dunno yet but yeah, gay ppl

[thedetectiveofinaba]

Anon asked: Persona for the fandom ask

Send me a fandom and I'll tell you my opinions / accepting

I'm limiting this to P4 (for my sanity)

The first character I first fell in love with: Naoto. After her it was anime!Yu bc he is goals. 10/10.

The character I never expected to love as much as I do now: Yukiko. I thought earlier that she was boring and eccentric for the sake of it and while I am bummed that if you ignore her SL she has that first impression and it stays as such. She's a good character and her SL is pretty... eh easy to misinterpret who I don't blame ppl who do that - you need to have the experience of "do I want to X out of my own volition or peer pressure" to get it.

The character everyone else loves that I don’t: Idk if this counts but Chie isn't the "best girl" to me. She's an IT member I like and think is neat & likable but not the superior one.

The character I love that everyone else hates: ...does a character who I'd write at most canon div. count? In that case it's probably Drama Club SL girl. She's been neat so far but the shoehorned romance SL is super annoying & I'd probably undo that.

The character I used to love but don’t any longer: The Music Club SL girl. I don't relate to her as much as earlier and it's probably why.

The character I would totally smooch: either Yu or Naoto. Yu is closer to an actual fictional crush and Naoto a spirit animal/inspiring character.

The character I’d want to be like: Naoto. Bruh is that even a question.

The character I’d slap: Mitsuo Kubo or the Kashiwagi teacher. They somehow cross the line of being icky on purpose and the comedy attempt falls flat.

A pairing that I love: Yunao and (post-game) souyo

A pairing that I despise: Yu x Ai. Sorry guys, I just don't get why Yu would fall for Ai after she's treated Yu like shit. He'd probably give her a second chance after she's learnt what not to do but liking Ai romantically? It's just uncanny and to me tells how it's nonfluent romance SL logic.

...then again despise is a strong word, closest to my POV is "I don't get it nor ship that but if you ship that I'm letting you be on your lane and exist there in peace since it's my NOTP". Useless hate is useless and the chances on me disliking the ship is that I don't get it.

(I also don't get the charm of Ai since I personally wouldn't ever befriend a person who's like "I won't hang out with you unless you skip lessons with me". I get the point of her SL and what it shows, but just... it's not for me, chief. It's against my personal values and that's why it doesn't sync with me. She's there and exists, I guess, but that's really it.)

[rom-e-o]

I was tagged by the awesome @alyikav for this fun set of questions - thank you so much, friend! These are so fun, and I loved reading your answers! (Souyo FOREVER)

3 ships: Jokamu, Otasune and Souyo are the top-tier for ships, but I've been in the Ebenestance ship for a while year, soooo...how about four? (I'm already cheating)

first ever ship: FIRST EVER??? I can't remember! Um...no, I have no idea.

last song: Dance the Night - Dua Lipa

last movie: "The Blackening" - I JUST got to watch it, and it's already a fav. A honest-to-goodness Halloween comfort film. I also recently watched "Ichabod and Mr. Toad" for some more vintage vibes!

currently reading: I just finished "The Spellbook of Katrina Van Tassel" and I AM HEARTBROKEN ;;

currently watching: My latest game obsession is "Disney Dreamlight Valley", so I'm watching everyone's reactions to the latest update! (We got Belle and Beast, yay!) Also been watching, um, my Sims. Does that count?

currently consuming: Nothing tbh

currently craving: A long, indulgent, scalding hot self-care shower.

tagging mutuals: @quill-pen @crimson-phantom-designs @ray-painter @purgratoriat No obligation, of course! <3

[thatlittledandere]

Shipper tag game

Tagged by @unfortunatelycake <3

1 . What ship were you completely obsessed with when you were a teenager, but now you don't care about anymore? I can't say I don't have any feelings at all left for anything I used to be CRAZY for... They come back whenever I see fanart lol

2. Which ship would you consider your first one? Maybe Ichigo and Aoyama from Tokyo Mew Mew I reaally hoped things would work out between them. After that came Harry Potter and my first non-endgame ship Harry and Cho :/ Bad taste I know

3. Your first fanfic was about which couple? First one written or read? I don't remember the first shipfic I read (first smut was Yutaka and that tall girl from Lucky Star), first one I wrote (or started at least) Yamcha and Tien from Dragon Ball/Z. Lost to time.

4. Do you remember the first couple you saw fanart of? Absolutely not lmao

5. Have you ever gotten into ship discourse? Not too actively. Sure I've reblogged some shit in my time and bitched in private and in tags but I don't think I've like.. made hateposts or sent mean anons or anyth-

....Have I...? Now I'm suddenly not sure anymore.......

6. Did you use to have any NOTP or have one currently? USED TO FOR SURE. SO MANY. I can't really be bothered anymore. I can dislike things and say "hmm. don't like that" to myself and then go on with my life and not think about it.

7. Who were the couple in the last fanfic you read? Dave Strider/Karkat Vantas (Homestuck)

8. Currently, do you have any OTPs? Not really 😩 I'm in an annoying transitional state where Souyo doesn't plague my every waking moment anymore but nothing has come to replace it. I'm trying to resist davekat taking that place lmaooooooo

9. Is there any couple that, to this day, you are extremely mad about not getting together? Not really...? I rarely ship anything canon plausible that doesn't become endgame. Maybe the Doctor and Rose but even then. The Doctor can't just settle down and they sorta did the closest equivalent in the form of Tentoo.

10. Is there any ship you used to dislike but now you think they are kind of interesting? Oh yeah one twitter doujin was enough to make me intrigued by Adayu. Adashu. Adasou. Shuada. Those bitches from Purse Owner 4

11. Do you have any ship that, in the past, would've been considered normal but now you would be cancelled over? It's the other way around really. My ships have always been really vanilla but I've become more open to spicier dynamics in the past couple of years.

Unless people are mad about Doctor/Rose age gap of approximately 900 years loool

12. What is your favorite crack ship? I don't really do those. I'm uncreative there needs to be something in canon to catch my interest. OR just. a HUMONGOUS amount of fanon. Like, by all accounts, Atsutodo (atsushi and Todomatsu from Osomatsu-san) would be a crackship, Atsushi appeared in one episode as a side character in one skit, but the fandom took to it so hard I'm not sure if it counts anymore. One of the more popular ships in the whole fandom is kindof a gray area... Then again DOES a crackship have to also be a rarepair..?

13. What is the couple you read the most fanfics about? Sigh. Been reading davekat and johndave lately. Been TRYING to read roxycallie but they're such a sideship....

14. What do most of your ships usually have in common? Friends to lovers, one of them is or is made out by fandom to be homophobic. For my het ships, a height gap seems to be a reccuring theme, although to a lesser extent than the uh homophobia.

15. What you absolutely hate in a ship? That's much harder to name than things I like... Anything CAN theoretically be sold to me in the right circumstances.

Boy I sure did avoid answering most of those questions!

@magiccatprincess @soullessserenity @livefreeordie13 k that's enough of me

[shinydmoon]

Hello lets just get this over with.

Here are the things that could fall under PolyShipping.

Yugioh:

Yubel x Jay x Jesse(except not really due to au)

Dimensionshipping(ArcV)[soulmate clause] also doesn’t actively ship it in personal Yugioh mass au.

LoZ:

4 swords Adventure manga. Aka the Rainbow 5[Soulmate clause]

May be Marin x Legend x Ravio?(i ship Ravlink and don’t have any problems with Marin so Hing poly as Galaxyclan says)

Rest:

Ccs- Toyou x Yue/Yuki. Split personality

Persona- SouYo when including Shadows(does this even count? Fudge if i know.)

Persona- Crow x Joker x Fox. … i just threw them together when making Hypnos au and eh. Sure? Really i don’t mind any PolyThieves pair besides Joker x Navi/Oracle. Those 2 are Siblings.

Persona au- (Moon moth)Mint x Nyx[split personalitys with Nyx aka the 14 Arcana shadows]

My own story: those 3. As i call them, the nextGen trio.

OH I FINALLY RECALLED SOMETHING!

Ygo GX: Ryou - Adicus - Green hair. The Occult seniors trio. They are not ocs And are 3 separate people.

[junesprojects]

📺 CONTRIBUTOR SPOTLIGHT 📺

Introducing Formatting Mod and Page Artist @scarabell!

Full interview below:

Q: Please tell us about yourself!

A: Hi! I go by Medomai, or Mai for short. I love Persona, and have the biggest soft spot for Persona 4. I’m in quite a few fandoms, and love creating art as well as seeing other people’s art as well! 

Q: Who are your favorite Persona 4 characters and why? 

A: Yosuke, Yu and Ai are my favourites. I resonate with all of them and their hardships in different ways. I have the biggest soft spot for Yosuke, however. I love how happy and energetic he is on the outside, while also struggling internally with feelings I strongly relate to. I love his partnership with Yu, and how well their friendship and love for each other comes across in all the games. 

Q: Which Persona 4 characters do you find fun or challenging to draw and why?

A: I find all the boys challenging to draw, as I'm more comfortable drawing girls! Yu is the hardest, his bowl cut does my head in sometimes. Rise is my favourite to draw! 

Q: What are your favorite Persona 4 ships? 

A: Souyo is my absolute favourite, I also love Yukichie and Naorise.

Q: Which Arcana do you see yourself as? 

A: Either the Moon or Hermit.

Q: What's your favorite trope? 

A: Enemies to lovers.

Q: Do you have a favorite Persona? 

A: Design wise probably Scathach! Or Loki in his SMT III design, if it counts. I also love all the different variations of Izanagi thematically. 

Q: What made you want to become an artist? 

A: I loved how much you could express and bring to life with drawing, how it opens up a new world of bringing your imagination, emotions, thoughts and feelings to life! I was also inspired by cartoons I used to watch as a kid.

Q: How did you get into the Persona series? 

A: Years ago, I stumbled across Persona 4 anime clips. I fell into the Persona hole and never got out.

Q: What would you like to accomplish with your contribution to AOA zine?

A: To have fun, and to be able to create with a like-minded community where we all love the same thing!

[6idus]

me and my friend are currently doing a p4g ng+ run and playing as our Beloved Duandale Pringle with the yosuke romance mod

[characteroulette]

Bunch of Transistor Yosukes because yeah.

Obvs he would still wear Red's dress some times but I like he red jeans too much lol

[ghostlyfield]

been wondering the kind of music yu listens to...

[obeysword]

i’ve been trying to find this all day. but this scene in the anime with mitsuo’s shadow, really speaks a lot of yu’s character. i really don’t like to hc muses who have feelings / could fall in love with other characters in the series unless it’s deliberately shown to be canon? & has canonical weight behind it. but i think souyo kind of does. (everyone in p4 is gay)

‘i have nothing. everything is nothing. friendship’s an illusion. you’re on your own, and you’re empty.’

yu then realizes he can’t summon his persona, no matter how many arcana he calls forth. none of them appear. he’s defenseless. he’s been broken down by words & is desperate to maintain something.

‘you have no bonds - you have nothing at all! empty. you are just like ME.’

mitsuo’s shadow then proceeds to grab yu’s throat & attempts to choke him.

the discussion is interestingly reminiscent of how the gang go about rejecting their shadow-selves. yu straight up denies mitsuo’s shadow, even though he & mistuo are pretty alike. they’re both lonely. both desperate to have someone understand them. both want friends & are scared to be alone. inwardly, they’re both fragile people; naive & immature in their understanding of the world. yu acts mature, & he is! he had to basically raise himself from an extremely young age bc his parents were never around. but when it comes to people, they are both a little weird in commincation & the things they do & say. yu is by far healthier than mitsuo who: stalks, preys on women & children, acts rude & illmannered, & doesn’t respect boundries. but you get my meaning. mitsuo plays videogames to escape reality where he has no one; he has no friends & he longs for attention, even to the point he was willing to commit homicide & claim he was the one who killed the other two victims. narukami studies, reads, & again, would act very mechanical. i wouldn’t be too shocked if he used reading as an escapism. a lot of people make up their own worlds, stories, & find semblance in forms of media bc their daily lives are filled with loneliness & rejection. bc of narukami’s mechanical nature, i think it can be easily established he is a perfectionist. he has to do everything right, exact, & a lot of that was likely enforced by his parents. my own parents used to do that often to me, so i can really see how this carries over into his character. persona does a really good job of making their cast feel human & relatable to the audience.

‘no it just goes to show, the only people who thought we were actually friends, was us.’ - yosuke. & while these words are said callous & casually, narukami takes them deeply to heart. it’s like he was just stabbed with the realization: were we ever really friends...?

narukami begins to slip into some of his old bad habits. for example, when he’s asked a question to hang out with someone, he decides not to & gets all quiet & even more soft-spoken than he usually is. they keep reminding & bringing up that narukami won’t be here next year, he’ll be back attending school in the city or somewhere else that’s far away from the gang in inaba. he tries for awhile to maintain connections, but slowly the group goes about their lives & he feels left behind.

‘we keep meeting up to go over those murders but there’s nothing to talk about anymore.’ - kanji. ‘i gotta say, talkin’ things out and havin’ to be all nice about it, is really exhausting.’

‘you sound like an old married couple who’s bored of each other,’ - konishi

wanting to get notes from yukiko, he just decides against it. yosuke asks if something’s wrong & yu just denies it. yosuke goes to sit with chie, yukiko, kou, & daisuke. he’s on the outside looking in. he thinks people don’t want to be around him. he thinks they’re just tolerating his presence in their lives. he thinks if he pushes, he’s unwelcome & just forcing himself into their day when they really don’t want him to be there. his anxieties & fears escalate. he tries to keep his expression neutral when nanako asks him why no one wants to come around & play anymore, & that yu should invite them all over again. he’s going out of his way to be alone like how he used to. his fears of abandonment are very raw & tangible. he had something he never let himself have before, knowing that he can’t make connections to others bc of his parents always moving them about from place to place. he isolated himself so he would never have to feel abanonded again, all the while feeling awful inside bc he was all alone. i think he’s lost count of how many school’s he’s been to by the time he’s in inaba. he doesn’t even know where he’s finishing his final year of high school yet.

just as he’s losing consciousness, yosuke’s voice is the one he hears calling out to him. yosuke’s voice is projected as a light through the darkness he’s trapped in. i think that’s very reminiscent of how their whole relationship formed. yosuke is very much a sun to yu’s moon. they’re two people who aren’t supposed to touch or connect, but they have & have had each other’s backs since the second day of school. they’re complete oppisites & their elements are each other’s weaknesses. they have smiliarties, but they’re really different people.

yosuke physically pulls yu out of the darkness he’s suffering & trapped inside of. & yu’s expression, so open & unguarded, a face we’ve pretty much never seen him make before, & makes this whole scene really fucking gay tbh lmfao. yu’s heart is open. it’s through an act of kindness & being able to remember that he DOES have people who love & care for him, that he finds strength to be able to defeat mitsuo’s shadow. & boy does yu go HAM on that thing. he’s far from empty & alone. bc of this act of compassion, yosuke is, once again, able to free his heart from darkness & fear. i wouldn’t be surprised if he felt something more for him than just platonic friendship for yosuke after this moment, & if there’s a scene that really displays it, it’s really this one.

[skye-maxwell]

Worth-most

Persona 4 | Souyo | Young adult, established relationship | Rated T

Happy birthday, @romeo-and-antoinette! 🎈🎀🎉 Hope you like it, friend! 

For prompt #103 “You’re worth every second of my time” from this nifty prompt list. This does start off a bit angsty, but IS ROMANCE, PROMISE!

---

There was nothing like a long day at work to make Yosuke feel completely worthless. His boss, his coworkers, his clients—everyone had gotten on his nerves today, and every single one of them took him for granted. Maybe he wasn’t the smartest person in the office, or the most willing to kiss ass, but he was a good, loyal, consistent worker, which was more than could be said for just about everyone else there. 

He was drained physically and emotionally, plus he was starving. As he climbed the stairs to his apartment, he wondered if he would make it up to the fourth floor, or if he would just collapse before he got there. Or better yet, his stomach would growl so hard that he would crack the foundation of the building, and the whole structure would crumble down on top of him. 

That would be a fitting end to today, Yosuke thought morosely, halfway aware that his thoughts only got this dramatic when he was really spent. 

Even if literally everything had sucked all day, he at least had one thing to look forward to—Souji had promised him a homemade dinner tonight. Even though they lived together and saw each other every day, it had been a while since they’d eaten dinner together, let alone one of Souji’s famous made-from-scratch meals. Yosuke felt like it was a waste—a waste of Souji’s talents in the kitchen and (selfishly) a waste of Yosuke basically having his own personal chef in his home. 

But tonight, Souji had promised to cook for him. Yosuke’s mouth started to water just imagining some inevitably delicious scent hitting him in the face once he opened their front door, and the thought just barely gave him the strength to climb the final flight of stairs. 

However, when he unlocked the door and threw it open, there was no delicious scent there to greet him. 

Yosuke wondered if Souji was cooking something that didn’t have a particularly strong aroma, but if there was one thing Souji wasn’t shy about, it was his use of seasonings. Maybe he had finished cooking early and put everything away to heat back up when Yosuke got home? Or maybe he made something cold? It was a pretty crisp evening outside though, so Yosuke was sure Souji would want to prepare something warm… 

Yosuke dropped his bag and went to the kitchen to investigate. Souji wasn’t there, the lights were off, and it almost looked like nothing in the room had even been touched since Yosuke had left that morning, which was strange since Souji worked from home and should have made himself lunch at some point. 

Staving off his disappointment, Yosuke checked the fridge, but nothing had changed in there either. He even checked the stove, the oven, and even the microwave for residual heat, but once again he came up with nothing. 

Yosuke hadn’t heard from Souji all day, but that was par for the course lately. They didn’t mean to call and text each other less during the workday than they used to, but again, busy. 

Then Yosuke started to get a sneaking suspicion, so he made his way down the hall to the spare room they had made into Souji’s office. 

The door was cracked open, and Yosuke pressed his ear near the gap, only to hear Souji quietly muttering to himself the way he only ever did when he was both very stressed and very focused. Yosuke felt a rush of both relief and annoyance—Souji was alive at least, but there he was just sitting at his desk and not keeping his dinner promise that had been his idea and he had made such a big deal about, saying he wanted to spend time with Yosuke and do something special for him. 

Choosing to tread lightly just in case, Yosuke peeked his head in the door and said, “Souji? You got a sec?” 

Souji’s head shot up from where it was buried in a stack of papers, his eyes going unfocused behind his reading glasses as he looked at Yosuke. 

“Oh. You’re home,” Souji said flatly, and for some reason, that made Yosuke’s blood boil. 

Souji then looked from Yosuke to the clock that was hung high up on the wall, lowering his glasses so he could actually read the time. 

“Guess you don’t have a sec, then,” Yosuke said bitterly, looking away from Souji. “I’m not very hungry. I’m gonna go straight to bed.” 

He was still hungry (even if this exchange had somewhat soured his appetite), but throwing that in would be a reminder to Souji of his broken promise while also letting him know that he didn’t need to bother tending to Yosuke for the rest of the night if he really didn’t want to. 

As soon as Yosuke reached their bedroom, he fell face-first into bed, not caring about changing out of his work clothes or washing up or making himself anything to eat. He just lay there, stubbornly putting up with how difficult it was to breathe with his face pressed into the mattress because he was just so done. 

“This is so stupid,” he groaned into the bedding. “After all this time, I’m still just a disappointment, first at work, and now at home too? I really am worthless, huh?” 

“No,” Souji’s voice said softly from the doorway. 

Yosuke groaned again. 

Souji had heard him say that? Of course he had. 

Yosuke felt the mattress dip as Souji sat beside him, and Yosuke turned his face away, really not wanting to talk right now. 

Souji asked, “What makes you say that?” 

“Say what? The worthless thing? Don’t worry about it. Aren’t you busy? You should go back to your work.”

Yosuke was being petty, and he knew it. He was pushing away the only person who could comfort him, and he knew that too. Still, it felt like he couldn’t help it. At least he had enough self-control to not let out all the negativity at once—he wasn’t yelling or throwing anything or spontaneously combusting. That had to count for something.

“You’re more important than my work,” Souji said, and Yosuke almost scoffed at what appeared to be just a platitude at this point. 

Souji gently placed a hand on the middle of Yosuke’s back, and Yosuke froze. As much as he wanted to squirm away in a show of not accepting comfort from his Partner who he was mad at, that would be way too much effort in his current position. 

Souji continued, “And that’s why I feel terrible about letting time get away from me. I was so focused on my work, I had no idea how much time had passed. That’s no reason to break a promise, though.”

“So you remember, huh?” Yosuke said, immediately hating how he must have sounded like a whiny baby who was crying about missing his afternoon snack or something. “It’s whatever, man. Look, I’m in a bad mood, so just go back to what you were doing. Don’t waste your time on me; I know it’s valuable.” 

Souji’s hand lightly grasped the back of Yosuke’s sweater, probably involuntarily, and his voice broke as he said: “You’re worth every second of my time.” 

Shit, Yosuke thought, feeling like a huge asshole. In his bitter state, he had wanted to upset Souji to get back at him, but as soon as he could actually hear that Souji was upset, he wanted to take it all back. 

Yosuke slowly turned to look up at Souji, who looked guilty, and scared, and devastated, and whatever darkness spell was cast over Yosuke’s heart started to dissipate.

“I’m so sorry, Yosuke,” Souji said, his pretty silver eyes pleading for a forgiveness that only Yosuke could grant; he was never good at forgiving himself. 

As Yosuke peered up at him—his beautiful and imperfect Partner, the only person who truly thought Yosuke was worth everything and made that clear as often as he could (except this particular instance where he just happened to make a mistake on the wrong day at the wrong time)… 

Yosuke sat up and crawled into Souji’s lap, wrapping his arms tightly around his waist. 

“I’m sorry too.” 

Souji quickly hugged Yosuke back as if his life depended on it, and then he placed a kiss on Yosuke’s cheek before breathing a warm sigh into Yosuke’s hair—and just like that, it felt like Yosuke’s world had fallen back into alignment. 

“I love you, Partner.” 

“I love you too.” 

They sat like that for a while, not saying anything, until the silence was finally broken by both of their stomachs growling. 

Souji said sadly, “You’re starving, aren’t you...”  

In the exact same tone, Yosuke asked, “You skipped lunch, didn’t you…” 

They both answered, “Yeah.” 

Still holding onto Yosuke with one arm, Souji reached into his pocket for his phone. 

“I’ll order our usual for tonight, and I swear I will make you dinner tomorrow night. I’ll set a hundred reminders on my phone, and I’ll prep some of the ingredients in the morning before I even start working, and—”

“Okay, I believe you. Extra dumplings, please,” Yosuke requested as he watched Souji text their order to the owner of the local takeout place with whom they were way too familiar with at this point. 

After Souji hit send, he tossed the phone on the bed, and his arm resumed its place around Yosuke. He looked reverently up into Yosuke’s eyes, as if he was gazing up at the stars. “I swear this time, Yosuke. I swear… on your life.” 

“On my life?! Aren’t you supposed to swear on like, your mother’s life or something?” 

“Your life is the most important to me,” Souji stated, and Yosuke knew that it wasn’t just a platitude. 

“Partner, if that’s your weird-ass way of trying to convince me I’m not worthless—”

“You’re the opposite of worthless. You’re… worth-more. You’re worth-most!” Souji said, eyes bright with his own assertion. 

“That’s not a word.”

“It wasn’t until now because no one has ever been worth-most until you.” 

“You’re the most ridiculous person I’ve ever met.”

“Probably, but not because I think you’re worth-most. That just can’t be helped.” 

“Okay, you love me, I get it,” Yosuke said tiredly, slumping against Souji. 

“Nope, I don’t think you do,” Souji said, planting a quick kiss into the side of Yosuke’s neck. “It’ll take about fifteen, twenty minutes for the food to come, so in the meantime, I’ll just have to remind you of how much you mean to me.” 

Yosuke pulled back to shoot Souji an incredulous look. 

“Are you seriously trying to fit in a quickie before the food comes?” 

Caught off guard, Souji looked up at him with wide eyes, his mouth parting a bit as he struggled to come up with a response.

“That’s not what I… I was thinking more like, I could massage some of this tension out of your back while I listen to you talk about what happened at work today…”

 “Oh.”

“…but if you want…” 

“No! Forget it.”

Souji chuckled as Yosuke climbed out of his lap and promptly turned his back to him for that back rub. 

After a thorough massage, a therapeutic venting session, a few more apologies, more than a few kisses, and a hastily scarfed-down dinner, the two of them cuddled up on the couch, as per Yosuke’s request.

“Thanks, Partner,” Yosuke sighed, feeling better than he had in days, maybe weeks. “Sorry again.” 

“It’s okay.” 

“Are you sure you don’t need to get back to work though?” 

“I’m all yours, for the rest of the night,” Souji promised, and Yosuke nodded appreciatively. “So did you want that quickie now or later?” 

Souji was obviously joking, but Yosuke angled his body toward him and started pressing kisses along his jaw, feeling the heat from Souji’s blush as it started to form on his cheeks. 

In all seriousness, Yosuke asked softly against Souji’s skin, “It doesn’t have to be quick, does it?” 

Already losing himself under Yosuke’s touch, Souji murmured, “Ngh… n-not at all.”

[eatingfireflies]

I can’t believe we’re doing this in 2019 AD, but I rise back from the dead because I heard shit-talking about my boy.

Yosuke’s character development--the ones covered in his social link and not counting how he grows with the rest of the IT as a group--is imo one of the best-written progressions in P4 and I won’t stand for this. P4 has its flaws and one of the themes that didn’t sit quite so well for me when I first played it was how the characters seem to have gone a full 360 when it came to their plans for their futures. Yukiko, for example, has gone from the independent girl who wants to live on her own back to accepting that she has to take over the Amagi Inn someday. Not exactly the best message, is it? 

But sometimes, it’s what people need to hear. After all, the main point of P4 is acceptance and in the same way adults accept and make the best of a situation they don’t necessarily like, so did our P4 protags. 

Unlike the others though, Yosuke’s problem didn’t come from the outside pressures of society so much as himself. 

Which isn’t to say there’s no pressure coming from outside. There’s a lot he has to deal with just being the Junes kid in Inaba. He’s also a teenager on the brink of manhood who had been recently transplanted into the countryside. Come on man, his problem isn’t just that he wants to be interesting. And even if it were, what’s wrong with that? How hard is it to admit you’re mediocre? Is it weak to admit you’re scared of having zero reason to be in this world because you have no connections with other people and no place in society?

Buckle up, I have 100 screencaps and I’m not sure if it would all fit in one post but would we try. Pics taken from here and here.

One of the things we keep seeing in Yosuke’s social link is how good he is at PR. He’s a good kid. He has to be: he’s the Junes kid, the son of the manager. What he says and does will reflect on his family and the business.

This even though almost everyone in Inaba distrusts him because of his connection to the department store that’s killing the local business. Above, we hear women implying Yosuke is a brazen shithead for showing his face in the shopping district when his classmates’ family businesses are failing because of Junes. And still he ‘minds his manners’.

Here he finally loses his temper with the part-timers who kept bugging him about weekend work and talking shit about Saki, and it’s only because the girls told Yu to shut up. Otherwise? I bet he’d just take it all in. He’s ignored them before and there are other things to worry about:

‘Sorry dad, they said some bad things about our murdered schoolmate, kept missing work, and yelled at my best friend, but I shouldn’t have lost my temper because that’s not what the Junes kid does.’

He admits as much in the P4G additional scene. So there’s that: people expect Yosuke to be polite because of his connection to Junes even though they treat him like shit because Junes is bad for the economy. (Which it is, but they worked around that in the end.)

But that’s not the only reason Yosuke tries to be nice. There’s also what his shadow said: he’s terrified of being alone and his move to Inaba has made him more aware of how shallow his bonds with people are:

He says so when he talked about how he hasn’t changed his email address because he's hoping his friends from the city would keep in touch. Spoiler: they don’t. 

Had he not moved to Inaba he probably wouldn’t have thought different, but I guess having no excitement in the countryside and no friends to spend time with, he has a lot of free time to ponder on his loneliness and mediocrity. 

Again, it’s hard to accept mediocrity. It hurts knowing we don’t mean anything to the people around us, that we could vanish and nothing would change. He’s 17, for pete’s sake. He’s trying to figure things out while dealing with his loneliness. And he thinks the reason he has no friends is because he’s not good enough. He pretends to be nice and carefree like his shadow said, because he thinks showing people the real him (the loneliness and insecurity) would drive them away. He also has to be nice because Junes kid, remember? And in the case of getting along with his friends, he overcompensates and gets annoying/oversteps his boundaries because he’s scared and it’s all bravado. And also he’s a bit of a shit, but that’s okay Yu is also a bit of a shit and they deserve each other. 

Can I just take this moment as SouYo trash to point out that Yu walks him home and that is probably one of the gayest things ever. Especially coming after the hug which is like P4 code for ‘we’re dating now’.

Did I mention Yosuke has a lot of free time to think about his mediocrity? Not really. Like every kid on the brink of adulthood worrying about their future--college? Work? Career? What? Yosuke is worried too. Except his path has sort of been decided because of his family. 

He’s good at PR, he does the whole Junes kid shtick well, but is that what he really wants?

Ofc he usually changes the subject after bringing that up--again, he’s so scared of you thinking he’s boring and that he only complains when you hang out that he does a 180 and starts talking about the goods under your futon. 

But also can I just say Yosuke is so busy? I see Chie and Yukiko chatting in the classroom after classes and I’m like ‘Hey I have a best friend right? Why don’t I have anyone to chat with?’

He’s a busy pal. You know I always thought Yosuke might make more friends if he joined some clubs and met people outside of the Junes thing, but he has to work part-time so. 

How does Yosuke deal with this? Well he accepts that while working for Junes is tiring and maybe not what he actually wants to do with his life, there are actually some good things about it: he likes being needed. 

Is it what he wants to do for the rest of his life? He doesn’t answer that. What’s important is that, right now, he’s happy where he is.

He realised that he doesn’t have to overcompensate for being boring or being a loser. That he can show people the ‘bad’ side of him without them hating him for it. That even if he is mediocre, it doesn’t mean people don’t need his support or his company. He didn’t have to try so hard. He just had to have a bit more confidence in himself. 

And tbh he went from this:

To this:

I think there was a reason we couldn’t date Yosuke in game: it was too soon, it would feel like Yu is a rebound, that Yosuke latched onto the first person to show him kindness and interest since Saki’s death. And perhaps for the hugging scene (social link 8?) it was too early. But after social link 10? I think that would be a good time. Ofc, the game doesn’t work that way so I can see why they took it out, and yet. And still. 

But none of that takes away from the fact that he grew from being an insecure kid who wants to prove himself into someone you can trust and count on. There’s a reason the games keep giving you the option to thank Yosuke: he’s your partner and he has your back. 

I know I’m biased af because I’m like  

whenever I talk to Yosuke, but he’s just as complex as the other characters, come on man. He’s a top notch bro and this is the hill I choose to die on.