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“Come with me.”
“What?!”
Damn that Minato. The way he said things so abruptly, it almost made Junpei’s heart flutter… And he was a guy! No wonder the girls at school were always all over him and that pretty-boy face of his…
Despite Minato’s abrupt demand to join him, the two of them were to arrive at their meeting place separately, so Junpei waited for Minato near the station fountain, sitting on one of the benches with his head between his knees.
What’s that guy’s problem, anyway? Junpei thought. Askin’, no, demandin’ I come with him outta nowhere! What’s he got planned, huh? Better not be anything weird, man… that guy’s sense of humor is something else…
Before Junpei could dwell on the thought any longer, the telltale sound of scuffing feet hit Junpei’s ears and to no surprise when he lifted his head he saw Minato standing there in front of him, cool and collected as always and not a moment without his damn hands in his pant pockets.
As usual, Minato said nothing, just gave a brief nod that Junpei only noticed because he’d seen it half a thousand times by now even in their short time knowing each other.
Junpei lifted from the bench and Minato took a step back to give him space to stand, and Junpei could never get over that rush of superiority he flet over the fact that he was taller than Minato. Something about the way he looked down at him, the way Minato had to look up at Junpei, even if only slightly, Junpei couldn’t help whenever a smug grin appeared on his lips because of it.
“C’mon,” Junpei said grumbly, not excited for whatever they were about to do. “Let’s go.”
Despite Junpei bein the one to announce their dep, Minato was the one to lead this way, since this was his idea, Junpei thought bitterly.
Minato walked slightly ahead of Junpei and Junpei found himself thinking and staring at the back of his leader’s head, as he often found himself doing since meeting the guy.
What’s this guy’s deal, anyway, huh? Junpei thought to himself, looking over the slight side profile of his leader. Unconsciously, he was mimicking MInato’s position of walking with his hands in his pockets, feet clapping the ground in tandem.
He thinks he’s some kind of hotshot, huh? Well I’m not buying it. He hasn’t cracked so far but I’m sure he’s just scared like the rest of us, and I’ll prove it somehow…
The two walked silently, and just as Junpei was about to cry out in frustration about there the hell they were going, Minato suddenly stopped and Junpei almost bumped into him because of it.
“Hey, man, what the hell was that for, huh? You should watch where you’re going, ‘specially when you can’t see ‘cuz of all that hair--”
Junpei’s words stopped abruptly as he finally took notice of what it was Minato was looking at.
A family of ducks in a pond was right in front of them. A big duck and eight or so little ducks were wading in the pond and Junpei’s mouth fell open in shock as he watched Minato kneel down and somehow procure a bag of seeds or something from his pocket. Minato jostled the bag, mixed the seeds up around, and took a handful in his hand, then he turned around and offered his hand to Junpei.
To put it bluntly, Junpei looked at him like he was crazy. Was this guy joking? Feeding ducks at a pond on a random afternoon after school? Was he pulling his leg? He had to be. This was some kind of trick, a prank that if Junpei gave in would somehow make him look like a fool…
Feeding ducks… Minato was out of his mind.
As time went by, with Minato simply and silently looking up at Junpei, his arm outstretched and his one visible eye wide, Junpei knew this wasn’t a joke and that fact was even crazier than it if was.
A long while passed of Junpei debating his own sanity when finally enough guilt had accumilated from convincing himself that if he didn’t take the bird food he was a dick, somehow, and Junpei sighed and knelt down besides Minato, opening his hand.
Junpei was too preoccupied with glaring at the ducks, as if this was somehow their fault, to notice the way Minato briefly smiled before hiding it away with a flick of his hair, his face quickly returning to his usual neutral expression as he watched Junpei.
Minato gently released the birdseed into Junpei’s hand and Junpei held back a grimace at the fact that it was warm and slightly damp. This guy’s got clammy hands? Junpei thought. I would’ve assumed he was as cold as ice based on how inactive he is…
He then grinned smuggly at the ducks. Hope you guys like wet bird food…
(Why Minato’s hand would’ve been clammy didn’t occur to Junpei, of course. Nor did it occur to him that all duck food was wet, eventually, at least.)
Junpei faced the ducks, food at the ready. Then he paused, looking at Minato through his peripheral.
“So, uh. What do I do?”
(This time) Minato didn’t hide his reaction, making a snort noise that Junpei felt himself warming at in embarrassment.
“Hey, I’ve never done this before, alright?! Just-- tell me what to do before I throw it at you!”
In lieu of words, as usual, Minato grabbed some more birdseed from the bag and demonstrated what to do. He made a quiet chittering sound to get the ducks’ attention and the ducks perked up at and gently waded through the water towards them to investigate the noise. Once close enough, the ducks started quacking and chirping as Minato sprinkled the food into the water, and once again Junpei watched in awe, mostly startled this time by the fact that Minato was actually smiling and dare he say looking warmly at the ducks.
What the hell was going on?
After dispersing all the feed, Minato turned to Junpei. He titled his head towards the ducks, eyed Junpei’s closed hand, and nudged him with his shoulder, encouraging him to try it out.
“Go on.” Junpei could almost hear the words despite Minato not speaking.
Junpei looked nervously between Minato and the ducks, as if there was some way to mess this up somehow. He held his hand over the water and immediately one of the ducks took notice of him, wading over to him. Another one of the ducks saw its sibling and followed, but the rest of the ducks were still focused on Minato, hoping he’d give them more food and completely unaware of Junpei’s existence.
Junpei stared down at the little birdies chirping up at him for food and it occurred to him that he didn’t feel that sense of superiority he did when looking down at Minato. Instead, somehow he felt small despite being way bigger than them. He looked into their shiny black eyes and saw so much life it almost scared him. He’d never thought about the “life” of an animal before, and he’d only recently been thinking of the “life” of humans, after all, so anything beyond that simply hadn’t occurred to him before. But now it was staring him right in the face and hitting him all at once. The birds in the trees, the cats on the street, that dog he sometimes saw at the shrine near the dorm, hell, even the worms and bugs in the dirt, all of them were alive just like him and they were all sharing the same earth and sun and oxygen. Junpei looked at those ducks and saw his grandpa that had passed a few years ago, his cousin he hadn’t seen or even thought about since he was 9, Yuka-tan laughing while teasing him and having fun, and…
Junpei turned to glance at Minato and he jumped when he was already looking back at him. One large, shining, unblinking grey eye had Junpei pinned in place and like a scene from a movie, slowly the image of the duck’s face overlaid Minato’s. Minato’s snort, Minato’s quiet chuckle, Minato’s smile, the few words Junpei had heard Minato say, they all started playing in Junpei’s mind like a symphony… that suddenly got cut short when Junpei felt a pinch on his finger and he yelped, finding that one of the goddamn ducks had jumped up and bit him like a little jerk! Less out of pain and more in furey at the audacity of this duck, Junpei roared and flapped his hand wildly, trying to get the duck off of him. In doing so, Junpei opened his hand and unintentionally released all the bird feed into the water, and it seemed that was exactly what the duck wanted because all the other ducks flooded towards the food and the one biting Junpei released him and dropped into the water to join it’s family in the feast.
“YOU DAMN DUCK!” Junpei yelled, and he almost had half a mind to charge into the water after it to give it a piece of his mind, until he heard a quiet tinkling sound and his head immediately whipped around towards Minato, who was toppled over on the ground, holding his stomach and laughing harder than Junpei had ever seen anyone laugh, much less the quiet-and-stoic Minato.
Minato was gasping for breath, rolling all over the grass, and Junpei felt his ears burn at not only being mocked by a damn bird but by his damn leader too! Junpei looked down at his leader laid out on the ground before him and… he didn’t feel superior. Didn’t feel any kind of negative emotions whatsoever, towards this guy who he could now consider his well-and-true friend. He expected for himself to be pissed for being made fun of, and yes he was a little embarrassed, and his ego was slightly bruised, but he found himself not mad in even the slightest degree. Just a little flustered for being so uncool, but… he was fine, and he wasn’t sure if he could’ve said the same thing abot himself a few months ago if this had happened then, before he met everyone in S.E.E.s. He was always so worried about being a man, being cool and tough, and he felt so dark on the inside whenever he didn’t measure up to his expectations, and yet none of that was present in that moment right now. All he felt was the warm sunshine on his skin, the warm throbbing feeling of pain on his finger, and the warmth of his face as his chest tickled at the sound of Minato’s laughter filling his hears. He was with someone who he considered so cold and yet all he felt was warmth.
“Alright, that’sa ‘nough outta you…” Junpei drawled, defeated as he flopped onto the grass criss-cross right beside Minato’s writhing form.
“I saved you from those duck by the way,” He informed Minato, nudging him in the side with his elbow. “They were totally gonna eat you for not giving them more food if it wasn’t for me!”
Minato’s laughter faded away and the two of them sat side by side on the grass, Minato’s legs straight out in front of him as he laid back on his hands while Junpei sat slouched and was still criss-crossed, threading his fingers through the soft blades of grass.
The ducks were long gone by now and the sun was just on its way to setting. The noise of running water from nearby and the sounds of other people playing in the park filled the air, and in that moment of peace and silence it dawned on Junpei that he’d never been to this park before.
Struck with the epiphany, Junpei jumped to his feet abruptly and turned to Minato, his movement sudden enough in a way that would’ve started most people but of couse Minato didn’t have much of a reaction beyond acknowledging Junpei with a look that said, “What’s up?”
“Oh yeah,” Junpei started. “How’d you find this place, anyway? I’ve lived in Iwatodai for four years now and I’ve never been to this park before.”
Minato was silent for a moment before silently raising his hand and pointing a finger forward, not looking up.
The sun was glaring at them as it started to set on the horizon and that meant Junpei had to squint his eyes to see. When things came into focus he noticed a large grey and blue apartment building across the way, one that he’d definitely seen before on the monorail to school but hadn’t really thought much of beyond that.
“An apartment building?”
As always, Minato said nothing, and yet somehow this silence was different than usual. Meaningful, if Junpei could put a word to it. Tense, even. Minato’s head was still hung low, his face completely obscured by his curtain of hair, and for the first time since meeting the guy Junpei did not like being higher than Minato, bigger, above, at a different level if only physically. It felt wrong and cruel and he wanted it to stop, to stop seeing just the top of Minato’s head that held no expression and yet somehow looked so, so sad.
“Oh…” Junpei said quietly, feeling like an idiot as memeories of Yukari, Mitsuru, and Akihiko flashed in his mind and the words “accident” “parents” and “ten years ago” stuck with them.
Saying sorry felt wrong, so he didn’t, and he scuffed his shoe against the grass as he tried to think of something he could say, what to do, what to think, next.
Junei thought of nothing.
What could you say after reminding someone of their dead parents they lost in a horrific accident that clealry traumatized the person to some degree? Sorry wasnt it. Even though he barely knew the guy Junpei kne Minato didnt want to hear the empty kind of word like “sorry”.
Junpei flopped onto the ground again, picking at the grass once more, thinking. Maybe there just wasn’t a “right” thing to say in this moment, or any. No magical worlds that could suddenly make everything all better like they were in a fairytale. Life’s not a video game, after all, there was no “right” dialogue option to pick or the “right” comboation of buttons to give you the secret and true answer of living. There’s just you and your friend in this moment and your always awkward attempts to impossibly make something horrible better, and Junpei was kind of sick of it. TIred of pretending that somewhere there was the right answer to everything out there. Even those fancy philosophers in the books in the command / war room back at the dorm, didn’t have the “right” answers, thatr’s why they’d spent years trying to figure out the solutions and even still they dont’ know it today!
Junpei was tired of pretending he could “fix” things that were never going away. But… just because the problems were going to exist forever didn’t mean there wasn’t a way to make things a little bit better, easier, less painful, right? He was Junpei after all, da man, he could do anything if he put his mind to it, right?
Reinvogited, Junpei turned to Minato and pulled his quiet friend out of the sad stupor he’d fallen into as memories tired to overtake him. Junpei nudged him in the shoulder, having a plan and hoping it would cheer him up.
“Hey man. I can’t fix whatever went wrong, but… I can be your friend, right? After all, isn’t that what friends are for? I can’t make your problems go away… but I can act stupid enough that you can forget about them for a little while, right? And stupid is my specialty! Ace Defective Stunpei is on the case!”
Just as Junpei had hoped, Minato snorted and gave a silent laugh and in that moment Junpei knew no matter how many times he would see the sight of his friend laughing he’d always want to make it happen again and again and help him forget about the world and his pain, at least for a little bit.
When the sun was close to setting the two finally left the park, with Junpei doing his damndest to cheer Minato up and get as many snorts and scofffs of ridiculousness and annoyed arm shoves and laughs and smiles as possible the entire time, and he had to say that he waas doing a pretty damn goopd job of it since Minato hadn’t stopped reacting to his attempts a single time, hadn’t frowned or gone neutral once, except to pull Junpei’s leg and wordlessly call him an idiot, and that was enough proof to Junepi that he really was da man.
When the two finally reached the dorm they stood next to each other in front of the door in an awkward silence, not sure what to do or say to keep the night going as they both didn’t want it to end just yet. They lived together so it wasn’t like their time together was over forever, and yet somehow it felt like some spell was gonna break or wear off between them once they pushed through those door.
After some time of Junpei silently wracking his brain for ways to keep things going, Minato spoke up, making Junpeis’ eyes go wide in surprise at his sudden talking.
“Thanks, Junpei,” Mianto said quietly. It was the first time he’d heard his leader talk in full sentence and he was caught off guard by how hoarse his voice was, and that it was deeper than Junpei had it expect it to be, and that it made him feel an excited tingle or some reason.
“I had a lot of fun today. You’re a really great guy, Junpei. I’m glad youre on my team.” Minato gave Junpei a smile and a squeeze on his bicep before turning towards the door, and for some reason against his control Junpei’s hand reached out and grabbed at Minato, holding him in place from going anywhere by his elbow. There were no thoughts or sounds going on or into Junpei’s head, it just felt like there was boilied water that made everything hot and muffled inside there and Junepi felt almost like he was out of control, his body taking over and deciding to do whatever it wanted without his say so.
Minato’s eyes widened and he looked at his friend, unsure what to do or say at the sudden gesture. “Junpei…?”
Before he knew what he was doing, Junpei felt himself moving forward. He had an idea of what his body was going to do but he didnt want to directly acknowledge that thought, terrified of the conseqeunes of it, so at the last second he overode the control and made his body abort the mission… and ended up accidentally headbutting Minato instead of what is body wanted to do.
“Ow, fuck!” Junpei cried, holding his eye that had hit Minato’s forehead, and when Minato made a similar sound of pain Junpei immediately forgot about himself and tried to attend to his leader.
“Oh shit, I’m so sorry! I dont know what happened-- I just…” Tried to kiss-- AAAAAAHHH!!!! “A-anyway, I’m sorry! I gotta go! Bye!” And like an idiot, Junpei ran away, into the dorm and up to his room, flying up the stairs and ignoring the confused calls of his teammates questioning him as he ran past.
Feeling almost like he was being chased by a shadow, Junpei ran into his room and slammed the door shut, gripping his head in his hands. God, Im such a fucking idiot! What were you thinking, Stupei?! Oh, yeah, right you weren’t thinking you idiot! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid--!
Downstairs, still on the porch, Minato rubbed at his head, confused but kinda getting the idea of what just happened. As he crossed the threshold into the dorm Akihiko stood from his seat to great him, just as confused as anyone else was.
“Jeez, what the hell happened to you guys? Where’ve you been?”
Minato’s head was throbbing and he gave a half shrug and an almost grimace in his face, shuffling over to the long couch next to Akihikio. Mitsuru was there too in her single seat chair and she looked up from her book, a sly grin on her face. She put a bookmark in her book and closed it, placing it on her lap.
“Welcome back. I take it things went well on your ‘date’?”
Minato shrugged and flung hijmself onto the couch, leting out a sigh of relief as the cushions released the tension he’d been holding in his body all day, nervous out of his mind to spend time alone with Junpei. Somehow, Akihiko had procured an icepack and he wordlessly handed it to Minato, who was grateful and covered the top half of his face with it, sighing at the sweet chill of pain relief.
“Lemme guess,” Akihiko started, crossing his arms. He then gestured to Minato’s forehead, though Minato couldn’t see past the icepack “Junpei did that to you?”
Minato wiggled his hand in a way that said, “Yeah, but not on purpose.”
“Heh…” Akihiko returned to his chair, getting back to polishing his gloves while Mitsuru returned to her book. “Well, it’s nice that he’s so enthusaiatic. You need a guy like that to balance you out.”
Embarrassed at the suggestion of a deeper relationship between himself and Junpei (even if that was what he wanted), Minato quickly sat up and threatened to throw his ice pack at Akihiko, but he restrained when his head suddenly throbbed, and he quickly put the ice pack back in place, glaring at Akihiko when his senpai gave a smug reaction.
“Akihiko, don’t tease him,’ Mitsuru said. “I’m sure he’ll come around one day, Minato. Iori might be… oblivious at times but he’s a good person, he’ll see things your way soon, I’m sure.”
Minato’s cheeks burned as the thought, I think he already does since he tried to k-... occurred in his mind and he laid back down, getting comfortable on the couch.
“Make sure you and Junpei see Yukari before going to bed in case you have a concussion, alright?” Mitsuru urged, always concerned for her teammates and her leader. “Don’t fall asleep until you’re certain.”
Minato waved his hand in a way that said, Yeah, yeah, yeah… and Mitsuru smiled, pleased at the liveliness of her teammates. She thought about how the two second years skirted around each other and how it would only get worse from here and she snorted, excited to see how this relationship would develop. She gave her fellow third year a glance and Akihkiko gave her a similar smug smile, the same thought on his mind.
“Aren’t we so luckly to have such excitable kouhai, Akihiko?”
“Funny, I was just thinking the same thing, Mitsuru.”
Mitsuru hummed and returned to her book, and when the time came she made sure to pull Junpei aside and give him a Talk of exactly what punishments should befall him if he were to ever hurt or abandon their leader. She was joking, of course, mostly, but she deemed it fine when later that night she saw her two kouhai huddled up outside of the dorm on the steps, nuzzling each others faces and holding hands as they whispered things only they could hear, and with a satisfied smile she closed the curtain and retired to her room. Seems she had nothing to worry about, after all.