Chapter Text
Yu was exhausted. All it would take was one strong push and he would fall to the ground, unable to keep himself upright any longer. It was all he wanted to go home and sleep, but he couldn’t. They needed to get stronger.
The day prior, they had gone after Adachi and into the twisted version of Inaba that he had created, but quickly realized that the Shadows there were too strong for them to handle, so they had reluctantly left, going back to previous areas to train, trying desperately to gain strength to go after him.
He was pushing everyone extremely hard - he knew that - but they needed to get to him before something happened. He was so mad at himself for not realizing sooner that Adachi was the one behind everything - it seemed so obvious now with hindsight. He had grown somewhat close to him, but now felt hurt and betrayed. Had all of that just been an act?
He was trying to not think about it - his mind wandered there enough at night when he was trying to sleep - and throw himself into training. Everyone else was taking rests as he swapped between members, trying to give them all an equal opportunity to fight, but he was in it through everything and it was really starting to wear at him.
That was why he hadn’t noticed the Shadow’s attack until it was too late. That was why Yosuke had yelled his name. That was why he had sprinted at him, trying to push him out of the way. That was why they had both gotten hit. And that was why he had been knocked unconscious, nothing but darkness surrounding him.
He woke with a start, sitting up and looking around. It seemed like he was back at the backlot. They must have decided to come back here after he had blacked out.
His body felt weird, like something was just ever so slightly off. He was lightheaded, on the brink of a headache, as if he needed to drink some water. He didn’t get a chance to investigate before someone called out.
“Oh, Yosuke-kun, you’re awake.”
It was Yukiko’s voice. That was right - Yosuke had gotten hit too. Was he okay?
“Yosuke-kun?” Yukiko said again.
He looked toward her. She was staring at him. Why was she staring at him while saying Yosuke’s name?
“What are-” he cut himself off, blinking in surprise. That was most definitely not his voice. It sounded almost like…
He looked down at himself, taking in a sharp breath. Yosuke.
He looked like Yosuke, from the t-shirt under his uniform jacket, to the white tennis shoes he would always wear, to the headphones sitting around his neck, even down to his skin tone and the slight bit of brown hair he could see in his periphery.
What had that Shadow attack done? Was he…? No, he couldn’t be… right?
He swept his gaze around the room, ignoring everyone’s concerned eyes, until he landed on a sleeping figure, a few feet to his right.
His breath caught in his throat. It was him - the same face he saw every day when he looked in the mirror. There was something so uncanny about it. There was always a sense of wrongness whenever he heard his own voice in recordings, but seeing his own face and body from the outside magnified that feeling tenfold.
He took a deep breath, trying not to panic, rubbing his eyes on his sleeve, “I think we have a problem.”
“What do you mean?” Naoto asked.
“I…” he gestured down at himself, “I think something happened with that Shadow’s attack. I’m not… I’m Yu.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Chie asked nervously.
“I think that Yosuke and I swapped bodies.”
Nobody seemed quite certain what to make of that, everyone just staring at him in shock.
Teddie was the first one to break the silence, “Sensei’s in Yosuke’s body?”
“That’s kinda freaky,” Kanji said.
All of a sudden, next to him, there was a groan. A groan in a voice he knew well.
He turned to see himself - Yosuke in his body, he assumed - sitting up and looking around. After a few seconds, his eyes locked onto him, widening, before he scrambled backwards, almost falling over.
“Yosuke, it’s okay,” his voice was as level and calm as he could make it.
He looked around quickly at everyone, “What do you-” he stopped, looking down at himself, “What’s going on?” he asked after a few seconds.
“I think that the attack we just got hit with made us swap bodies.”
Yosuke paused for a few seconds, his expression changing from bewilderment to some kind of quiet acceptance. He looked at him, groaning, “I hate this.”
Yu frowned, “It is very unsettling.”
“Yeah, I’ll say,” Chie said, “I’ve never seen Yu-kun’s face so emotional.”
“Or Yosuke-kun’s so emotionless,” Yukiko said.
“Uh, sorry?” Yu said.
Rise, who had been quiet up to that point, started speaking, “All right, you two, stand together. I want to see what’s going on.”
Yu nodded. It would be good for Rise to scan them. He stood up, legs wobbling. He was normally a little taller than Yosuke, but it seemed like Yosuke’s legs were a little bit longer and it was making him unsteady. He felt like a baby horse trying to walk for the first time.
He got his balance back, then walked over to where Yosuke was, who had been having a similar problem in terms of standing. He let him lean a little bit on to him.
Rise summoned her Persona, frowning after a few seconds, “Oh, that’s weird.”
“What is it?” Naoto asked.
“It’s like I’m getting half a reading from each of them. One half is Yu-senpai and the other is Yosuke-senpai.”
That made sense to him. If his mind was in Yosuke’s body, then it followed that part of the reading would be himself and the other Yosuke.
“So they really did switch bodies?” Kanji asked.
“You were still doubting that?” Yosuke asked.
Yu ignored them, “Is there any way to swap us back?”
Rise frowned, “I’m really not sure. It might go away on its own?”
“It might?” Yosuke asked.
“I don’t know.”
Yosuke took a sharp breath, “Wait, do you think it’s like that one movie where they swapped bodies? Do we have to do something selfless for each other before we’ll turn back?”
“What are you talking about?” Chie asked.
“You know, that movie with Lindsay Lohan? They were fighting and then they swapped bodies.”
Yu frowned, “Are we fighting about something?”
“I don’t think so?”
Rise sighed, “No, I don’t think it’s like Freaky Friday, Yosuke-senpai.”
Yosuke frowned.
“Well, if there’s nothing we can do in here to swap us back, maybe we should go home for today,” Yu said.
He didn’t really want to leave, but he didn’t think that he would be able to fight like this anyway. Going after Adachi would have to wait another day.
There was a chorus of agreement.
“What are we supposed to do?” Yosuke asked.
Yu thought for a second, “You can come stay with me. There’s no one else there to ask any questions.”
Yosuke nodded, “Teddie, can you tell my parents that I’m staying at Yu’s tonight?”
Teddie blinked at him before nodding, “Okay, Yosuke, but I’m gonna miss you.”
“You’ll be fine.”
“How do you know that? Maybe I’ll wither away from loneliness.”
Yosuke groaned, “It’s one night. You can deal.”
“Okay, this is weirdin’ me out,” Kanji said, looking at them.
“What’s weird?” Yosuke asked.
“You sound like Yu-senpai,” Naoto said, “He doesn’t usually speak to Teddie like that.”
“Oh.”
After that, everyone left the TV, ending up in the electronics department at Junes. They quickly left the store, winding up in the parking lot.
Rise pulled out her phone, “Hey, Yosuke-senpai?”
“Yeah?”
“Can you smile for me? Really wide?”
Yosuke furrowed his brow, “Uh, why?”
“Oh,” Yukiko said, “I would also like to see that.”
“Okay?” Yosuke said, smiling. It was a smile that was common on Yosuke’s face, but it was a little weird to see it on his own.
Rise lifted her phone up, taking a picture, “Thank you!”
Yu shook his head, “I would have smiled for you if you asked.”
“Not with teeth, you wouldn’t have.”
Did he not smile with his teeth? He was about to protest when Yosuke started speaking.
“Okay, if we’re done, can we go now?”
“Oh, yeah, let’s get going,” Yu said, “We’ll see everyone tomorrow, bye.”
There was an exchange of goodbyes and then everyone disbanded, walking home.
As soon as they were out of sight of everyone, Yosuke began leaning on Yu, “Geez, Partner. I didn’t want to say it in front of everyone, but I’m so tired. How were you even fighting like this?”
Yu shrugged, “We need to find Adachi.”
“Yeah, I get that, but you need to take care of yourself. Have you even been sleeping?”
Yu looked down at the ground, “Not well.”
“Yu…”
“It’s fine.”
“It’s not though.”
Yu didn’t say anything else as they kept walking. As much as he hated to admit it, Yosuke was right. It wasn’t fine that he wasn’t sleeping or that he had honestly been forgetting to eat for the past few days. There was just so much going on in his head.
“Do you have stuff to make dinner or should we stop by the shopping district?”
Yu frowned, trying to think.
Apparently the hesitation was enough for Yosuke to make a decision. He sighed, “Okay, we’re going to the shopping district.”
They walked over, stopping by Aiya to grab some takeout before heading to the Dojima residence.
They walked in the door, taking off their shoes, then going over to the table in the living room to eat.
“Oh, can you give me my phone?” Yosuke asked, holding out his hand.
Yu nodded, reaching into his pocket and pulling it out, placing it in his hand.
“I just want to text my parents in case Teddie forgets to tell them or he says something weird.”
After that, they finished dinner. The only reason why Yu was able to eat all of his was because of the thought that he was basically eating for Yosuke.
They cleaned up, then Yu went to go grab the spare futon out of the downstairs closet. Yosuke was staring at him intently.
“What?”
“It’s just so weird.”
Yu smiled. He understood that very well. He was trying to not let it bother him, but seeing his own face every time he looked at Yosuke was very unnerving.
“I’m sure it’ll wear off soon.”
“I hope so.”
They took the futon upstairs to his room, then set both of them up. Despite the situation, he was kind of excited to have a sleepover.
“I think I’m going to take a shower and get ready for bed,” Yu said.
Yosuke nodded, “All right, I’ll go after you.”
Yu began rummaging through his dresser, pulling out two pairs of pajamas. They were a similar size, so he figured they would be able to share. Before he left, he pulled the headphones off from around his neck and handed them to Yosuke. He took them gratefully.
He started heading toward the bathroom.
Before he could make it out the door though, Yosuke stopped him, “Oh, Partner?”
Yu turned toward him. He was blushing. That was weird. That’s what he looked like when he was blushing. Why was he blushing?
“Don’t look at my dick.”
Oh. Yu’s face started to heat up, “Don’t worry. I won’t.”
With that, Yu headed to the bathroom, stopping to grab a clean towel out of the linen closet before going inside, taking off his clothes and putting them in with the laundry - he would do that tomorrow.
He hadn’t even considered it before, but now it was all he could think about. It took so much willpower to not look down.
As he passed by the mirror, it caught his eye. It was jarring. He was expecting to see his own face, but instead, it was Yosuke. Not being able to actually see his face had made this experience not so bad, but now, presented with the fact that he was clearly not who he was supposed to be, he couldn’t help the panic building in his chest. What if he was stuck like this forever? Yosuke was his best friend - someone he cared deeply about - but it wasn’t like he wanted to be him.
He made himself start taking slow, even breaths. He needed to calm down. What good would it do for him to panic?
He took a deep breath, looking at the reflection in the mirror. He had always thought that Yosuke was handsome. He ran his fingertips across his jawline - it was very well defined.
There was a small spattering of freckles across his cheeks. He had counted them before, once, while they had been sitting around the table at the Junes food court, unsuccessfully trying to figure things out about the case. When Yosuke had caught him staring, he had seemed weirded out for a second before flashing him a smile that made his heart pound.
His eyes were the color of light brown sugar, sweet and warm - a color filled with connotations of safety, and home, and friendliness, and love. He could stare into them for hours, his heart fit to burst.
He reached up, gently running a hand through his hair. It was soft and almost silky to the touch. The roots were just starting to peak through, a tawny brown against the light honey color of the rest of the strands.
His eyes drifted down to look at his chest. He had seen Yosuke bare chested before, but he hadn’t ever let his gaze linger on it for too long. This was definitely a violation of his privacy, but he wanted to look at it.
He lifted his hand up, placing his palm down in the center of his chest, running it down the smooth skin. He wasn’t super muscley - toned more than anything else - but it was still very nice. He found himself wishing that it was actually his hand on his chest, but there was no way that something like that would ever happen.
He sighed, turning away from the reflection and to the shower, turning it on and stepping in. He managed to completely avoid looking down as he cleaned off, eventually stepping out and drying off, wrapping the towel around his waist.
He quickly got dressed, walking back to his room, grabbing another towel out of the linen closet on his way back for Yosuke to use.
As he entered the room, Yosuke’s eyes immediately snapped to him. He was sitting on the couch, headphones on, absentmindedly wrapping his finger around the cord.
He took the headphones off, “So?”
Yu frowned, “So, what?”
He was blushing again, “Do you think my dick looks weird?”
Yu blinked at him, “You told me not to look?”
“Yeah, but it’s kinda hard not to.”
“I didn’t look at it.”
“C’mon dude, I want to know if it’s weird or not.”
“I didn’t look.”
“Well look now then.”
“What?”
Yosuke stood up off the couch, walking over to him, “I just want your opinion on it. Please, dude.”
Yu looked at him in shock. He wanted him to look at his dick? What was going on.
He was apparently taking too long to respond because Yosuke reached over, grabbing on to the waistband of his pants, looking at him as if asking for permission.
Yu blinked at him, “Uh, all right.”
Yosuke took a breath, then pulled his pants down, letting them fall around his ankles. Yu had to take a second before looking down.
His brain immediately started short circuiting. Yosuke was in his bedroom, essentially naked from the waist down. Since it was Yosuke in his body that had pulled his pants down, did that technically mean that he had undressed Yosuke from the waist down - and he was standing in his bedroom? He was looking at Yosuke’s dick in his bedroom.
“Dude? Does it really look that bad?”
Yu was pulled out of his stupor, “No, it looks fine.”
Yosuke groaned, “Fine? So it’s bad, huh?”
“What?” Yu blinked, “No, it’s good. Great even.
Yosuke started blushing, “You’re just saying that.”
Yu shook his head, “No, it’s nice. Probably the best I’ve ever seen,” that wasn’t exactly saying much - he didn’t really ever look at porn, so it was one of the only ones he had ever seen period. Even still, he did definitely like it. He wanted to touch it, but he restrained himself.
Yosuke blinked at him, “Really?”
“Yeah, you look great Yosuke.”
Yosuke hummed, “Can I look at yours?”
Yu’s heart rate increased dramatically, “You want to look at mine?”
“Yeah.”
It was quiet between them for a few seconds.
“All right.”
Yosuke immediately hooked his fingers over the waistband of his pants, pulling them off. Yu held his breath as he looked down.
Yosuke groaned, “That is so not fair.”
“What do you mean?”
“How does it look so good? You’re so hot already and your dick is nice too?”
Yu’s face heated up as he looked between the two of them, “They’re not so different.”
Yosuke looked at him like he was crazy, “Yeah, they are,” he walked a little bit closer to him so that they were standing side-by-side, “Yours is so much longer.”
Yu frowned, “Not really.”
Yosuke groaned, “Do you have a ruler?”
“We are not measuring them.”
“Why not?”
Yu groaned, “Yosuke.”
“Please?”
“Your dick is fine. I think it looks amazing.”
“Amazing…?” he looked embarrassed yet strangely proud of himself.
“Yes, amazing. Now go take a shower so we can go to bed.”
“All right,” he leaned down, pulling his pants up before taking the towel Yu had brought him as well as the pajamas, then heading toward the bathroom.
Yu pulled up his pants as well, taking a deep breath. That had been… a lot. Yosuke could be surprisingly shameless sometimes.
He slowly made his way over to his futon, pulling back the covers and laying down in it. He found his alarm clock and set it. They had school in the morning. He just hoped that they would be back to normal by then.
A few minutes later, Yosuke came back into the room, “Do you want me to turn the lights off?”
“Yeah,” he yawned.
Yosuke flipped the lightswitch, then walked over, climbing under the covers of the other futon. He was quiet for so long that Yu assumed he had fallen asleep. Suddenly, he began talking.
“Hey, Partner?”
“Yeah?”
“Have you had your first kiss yet?”
“No,” girls had asked to kiss him in the past, but he had always told them no. If he was being honest, he had never really seen the appeal in kissing girls.
“Really? Me neither.”
Yu hummed.
“What if I’m a bad kisser?”
“I doubt it, but if you are, I’m sure you’d get better at it the more you did it.”
“Yeah… but…” he paused for a little while, “I was just thinking that… since we’re like this right now… I was wondering what it would be like to kiss myself.”
Yu rolled over to face him, furrowing his brow, “You want to kiss?”
“Only if you want to. It doesn’t really count as our first kisses, right? Since it would be with ourselves,” he was speaking very quickly, almost panicked.
Yu didn’t know what to say. Yosuke wanted to kiss him? Technically, he wanted to kiss himself, but he was in Yosuke’s body, so that meant kissing him.
“What are you hoping to get out of this?”
“I just want to see how it would feel to kiss me so I can figure out how to improve it.”
“I…” he hesitated. Would it be wrong of him to say yes? The word passed his lips before he could consider it, “Okay.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, why not? Might as well take advantage of the situation, right?”
Was it bad that he was agreeing to this? He was really the one taking advantage of the situation. He didn’t have much time to think it over though as Yosuke was leaning over him.
It was kind of unnerving. It was his face still, but it was also Yosuke. He closed his eyes, not wanting to think about it.
He waited for him to touch him, and it came more violently than he expected as their noses bumped together.
“Oh, sorry,” Yosuke said. He would guess he was wincing.
“It’s fine.”
A few seconds later, Yosuke tried again, this time successfully pressing their lips together. Again, it was really weird. He was kissing himself. It was his body, but just the simple fact of knowing that it was really Yosuke made his heart start pounding in his chest.
Surprisingly, it felt really nice, their lips moving against each other, a light tingling playing across his lips. Yu reached up, wrapping his arm around his neck, letting out a light sigh into the kiss.
Yosuke prodded at his lips with his tongue and Yu opened his mouth, letting Yosuke move his tongue inside.
It was fine until their teeth hit together. Yu pulled back in alarm. That had hurt a surprising amount.
Yosuke groaned, “Sorry.”
Yu was at a loss for words. They had just kissed. No matter what the body and mind situation was, what had just happened was that his mouth had been on Yosuke’s mouth. He knew that it was a one-off thing that would never happen again, but, even still, he was giddy, intent on treasuring that experience for the rest of his life.
“I… uh… it’s okay. Now you know for when you kiss a girl.”
“Right.”
“We should probably go to sleep. We have school tomorrow.”
“Oh, yeah, all right.”
It was strange because it was in his voice, but it sounded almost like he was disappointed at that.
He took a breath. He was too tired to think about it. He was ready to go to sleep.
He fell asleep quickly that night, his chest pleasantly warm.