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[Splish--splish---splash.

That was quite the event. Minato was relieved that it was over when it was over. After he got some rest, he had to check on his friends, check on anyone who needed it, and then just find some way to relax. Try to get back to normal.

So he found himself out at the beach, doing something mundane. The ocean was still enough that he could do this: Skipping rocks.

Splish---splish------splash.]

Someone once said that Hell is on your last day alive, you meet the person you could've been.

What's Heaven like then?

[It couldn't have been as simple as not meeting them. There had to be other interpretations.

Splish----splish----------splash.]

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it always could be worse

For your sake though, I wish that it won't be.

you don't even know me dude

[ Simon just laughs because, uh. ]

Depends. How old are you?

[Souji nodded. He knew Minato would. He opened his mouth to apologize again, but stopped himself. The point was moot and he'd already been forgiven for the things that mattered.]

Events like that are just hard to come back from.

[He was worried about Kanji and what he'd think of him now. Their bond was unbreakable, but that didn't mean things might not be strange between them for awhile.]

Edited 2016-12-10 16:49 (UTC)

Did you want them to be worse?

[He was really wondering.]

Edited 2016-12-10 18:12 (UTC)

just don't really see why you'd care

Seventeen. Legal drinking age is 20, where I come from.

[And that was sort of flexible? And he wouldn't even age here. Where did that leave him? Or anyone running the bar, really.]

You're doing that thing again.

[Minato gently removed his hand though from Souji's, if just to give Souji some space. He looked out over the ocean, hearing the waves below in their constant, soothing rhythm.

He didn't know if it took courage to say what he wanted to or if he was just being selfish. But he thought he could, since he knew, he knew this tactic, this mechanism.]

... You're doing that thing that tells me not to go peeking into other people's hearts.

[He knew it all too well, like he had been talking into a mirror.]

...I know.

[Souji didn't have to be that way with Minato. But he'd have to relearn that. He'd gotten used to hiding inside himself again. Old habits were easy to fall back into.]

I'll try harder.

[He held up his now free hand, pinkie extended to seal that promise.]

[It was so easy to lecture someone else about it, but the preacher needed to practice it too. Souji was like a reflection of him, a sounding board, something he hadn't seen before in anyone else. That was so comforting but also frightening in a way that he could be vulnerable without even realizing or more like dwelling on the fact that he had vulnerabilities.

He hooked his pinkie with Souji's, now sealing that promise. He smiled a little, thinking that since he was the senpai and it may have been repetitive, but opening himself up first might make it easier for Souji to do the same. Sometimes though it was just so hard to open up the wrought iron gates that guarded his heart.]

I'll tell it to you again.

[Thus Minato explained from the start about his night of moving into the Iwatodai Dorm, about gaining his first Persona, about joining SEES and ending up as field leader by default, about the Dark Hour and Apathy Syndrome, about full moons and Shadows and being tricked into fighting. He talked about Strega and Ryoji, all the things they opposed them on their way to the end, whatever end that was. It still hadn't been clear after New Year's Eve, and was only clear after the Promised Day. And clearer on Graduation Day.]

I know it's tiring. But you're fighting not because of the enemy ahead of you, but you're protecting everyone behind you.

[And it really could get tiring. So tiring. Not just that kind of fighting though. Internally there was so much to fight off, like loneliness and rejection. Isn't that why Minato ended up sleeping so much?]

Edited 2016-12-10 20:00 (UTC)

I don't know if I have to know someone in order to wish them well.

not everyone here might be wishing you well

I don't necessarily have to receive the same feeling back, do I?

[The story of his life, the story of his life...]

i guess not
do what you want i guess

[Souji knew the whole story, but listened carefully, as though hearing it for the first time. Souji knew, too, what he was fighting for and why. He knew all of it.

But it was good to be reminded. To be reminded by someone who knew blow by blow what it was like to be in his position. To lead and fight and befriend and assist without even knowing who he was himself. Someone else who found himself in the faces of other people.

Slowly, not quite hesitantly, Souji listed sideways until he was leaning against Minato. It was a bit unfair, considering how much bigger than Minato he was, even sitting side by side, but he thought it would be okay.

Closing his eyes, he let out a breath.]

Thank you.

Nope. Rapid cellular regeneration. Anytime I get hurt, it heals right up.

Did you not want me to care?

[He really was just wondering.]

no it just
doesn't really matter

[Not like he's got anything against basic sympathy, in theory or in practice, but he's never been granted a scrap of it.]

That's convenient.

[Really convenient. And he was so open with telling him too about it. Perhaps they all would've found out eventually.]

Is that normal where you're from?

[Also hoping that's not insulting but people came from all sorts of different worlds here, so who knew what was "normal" elsewhere out there in the universe?]

[Three times. Souji's heard the story three times now since Minato had been shuttling back and forth it seemed in this place outside of time. But it was new to Minato in telling it to someone, and someone who would actually believe him and listen to him, someone who knew him so intimately that it was almost too good to be true that someone like Souji existed. In their world, this world, in the universe then, he wasn't alone.

That also might have sounded absolutely selfish. He knew what he had gotten himself into and the consequences. But for all that he had been taught about bonds, friendship, links, literal Links between and among his friends, as much as he cherished them all, in the end, he was still alone.

But not anymore. Maybe now he could afford to be a little selfish.

That's why when Souji leaned against him, Minato was right there to hold him up and support him, like the second half of a coin. That's why when Souji was this close to him, it was warm, and not like a warmth that he had felt before.

He could be Minato without any appellation or disclaimer. He could just be.]

You can talk to me about anything. I'm here.

[He wanted to hear it. He wanted to help Souji in any way he could.

He tilted his head to rest it against Souji's.]

Thank you for being here for me too.

You mean caring in general doesn't matter?

[Just for clarification.]

no
never mind
don't worry about it

Well, it happens to be eighteen where I come from, so that's not too far to bend, should the situation warrant it. Or you can celebrate on your birthday, if you'd prefer to wait and you're still stuck. Since time really isn't a thing here and no one ages anyway, I tend to take it on maturity rather than a number.

[ Don't tell his wife. ]

[Souji closed his eyes. He'd hardly said anything so far, but he felt so tired.]

I'm afraid of the future.

[He could admit that. It was true, something deeply ingrained in him and amplified over his time in Wonderland. But it was still a way to deflect from what he felt most strongly: that ache of loving someone who didn't know he did. Who wasn't ready to love him back, if he ever would.

Maybe saying the future scared him wasn't entirely unrelated to that - he was afraid of not being loved back. If the time to talk about that ever even came.]

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