Persona 3 (Akihiko/Junpei)

[fireun.livejournal.com]

Title: Common Ground
Author/Artist: fireun
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: language
Word count: 413
Summary: One of those awkward situations
A/N: for the prompt - Akihiko/Junpei, awake while everyone else is asleep - "You saw me crying, I'd say that's pretty intimate. For a guy. Two guys ... y'know what I mean."

It was almost as bad as that dream where you are standing in the middle of your homeroom, naked, cold, and pimply, with every girl giggling and every guy snickering. Junpei was sure he had some snot dangling out a nostril. It was the only thing that could make the situation worse. He was sitting there, curled on his floor like some sort of idiot kid, doing his best to bawl as quietly as possible. He had been content indulging his insecurities, wallowing in his own misery, quietly on his own time…and then the door opened.

Junpei cracked a smile that probably looked as fucked up insincere as it felt. He shifted his posture to resemble something closer to tired and further from abject misery.

Akihiko looked caught between the urge to back out through the door and pretending he had never come in to check on his team mate, and quietly inching forward to see what he could do to help. It was weird, seeing the confident one suddenly tentative.

            Just like it must be weird for Akihiko to be seeing Junpei as anything but gregarious and easygoing.

            “Sorry. I don’t want to intrude…is there anything…?”

            “Shut the door before someone else wanders by.” Junpei camouflaged one last swipe at his nose with a welcoming gesture. “There’s enough floor for two.”

             It was funny, watching Akihiko shut the door as quietly as possible, watching Akihiko attempt to sort out just where to settle, still trying to decide whether or not he was comfortable doing so.

            “Oh, just park it already.”

            “I wouldn’t want to presume familiarity…”

            “You saw me crying. I’d say that’s pretty intimate. For a guy. Two guys….y’know what I mean.” Junpei snorted, regretted the action immediately and snatched a tissue. “I’m not one of your fangirls. You can ditch the fancy talk.”

            Akihiko cuffed Junpei lightly as he sat. “So.”

            “So.”

            Time was moving along its normal path, but the atmosphere was as oppressive and stagnant as the Dark Hour. Junpei scratched at the side of his face, smiling at the stupidity of the situation. Shadow assault? No problem. Basic, honest human interaction? Always a high-stakes risk coupled with some sort of insurmountable obstacle.  

            Akihiko shifted a bit. Junpei almost froze as his friend's shoulder butted against his, and Akhiko's hand tentatively clasped over his own. Junpei relaxed a moment later, leaning into Akihiko ever so slightly.

            After all, maybe Akihiko had insecurities of his own to worry about.

Comments

[nyxmidnight]

D'awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww I'm melting.

Thanks!

[airborn.livejournal.com]

This was incredibly sweet. Great work! :D

[cleflink.livejournal.com]

Neat exchange - I like the difficulty of maintaining the faces they show to the world and how much it helps to have someone who understands that.

And this exchange was super cute: “Oh, just park it already.” “I wouldn’t want to presume familiarity…” “You saw me crying. I’d say that’s pretty intimate.”

[admiral]

I second everyone else's comments. xD
Oh, Akihiko. ♥