[Closed] Operation: Cheer up Junpei and Avoid Stomach Ulcers

[blazeoflife]

Who: Junpei Iori, Fuuka Yamagishi, Shinjiro Aragaki, Akihiko Sanada, any other purse owners...?

Where: District 1: Convenience Store and Shirijo/Akihiko's Apartment.

When: November 22th, afternoon and evening

Summary:  After finally finding out Junpei's been living on noodle cups since the festival and realizing it's a certain bad anniversary for him, Fuuka offers to cook him dinner. Hilarity and Shinjiro saving the day (and Junpei's stomach) ensues.

Warnings: Possible swearing, angst and bad food.

[Afternoon: District 1]

This timey wimey bullcrap messed with Junpei's head in a few different ways.  Other than Fuuka, everyone else from his world came from different points in time. Which already made the 'hey Minako went into a coma and then died and she's already been cremated' discussion sort of unbearably uncomfortable. And then, because they'd been dragged into this world he'd lost half a year's time, from March to October.

Which meant that November 21st and 22nd crept up on him in a way that made his stomach turn, the realization only hitting him when he'd glanced at a calender earlier that week. As such, he'd kept to himself mostly, not wanting to bother his senpai, Fuuka or any of his new acquaintances with his ...well, depression, honestly.

He felt a bit cheated; didn't he deserve a bit more time to come to grips with what happened to him? To Minako? To Chidori? He'd just lost his best friend not even a month ago, and now he was getting a firm, punch to his gut (shot to his gut?) reminder of the death of his girlfriend. It was made all the worse when he was stupid and gave himself a paper cut the morning before while looking through the job section of the paper.  It healed just a few seconds later, but that made it even worse in a way; an every day reminder of what he'd lost that day, of what he'd gained, and sometimes, in spite of himself, he wondered if he was worth that sacrifice.

Junpei'd promised Chidori he'd keep on living and wouldn't waste the second chance she gave him, but that didn't mean it ways easy to keep going. Not that he was going to do anything, of course! Just... it all weighed a bit heavily on him, is all.

But he had to go out; he'd run out of noodle cups, and he was starving. He'd only managed to pull himself out of bed, get showered and dressed sometime in mid afternoon, though his eyes showed he hadn't gotten any sleep. He'd managed to get to the convenience store and grab what he needed (though he was so goddamn SICK of cup noodles now), so now all he had to do was make it back without meeting up with anyone he knew.

Easy enough, right? 


[Evening, Shinjiro and Akihiko's Apartment]

It was still a few hours from when Fuuka had told Junpei to come to her apartment for dinner; so why was she knocking at Shinjiro's and Akihiko's door with such a desperate look in her eyes?

Comments

[cookingmechanic]

She wasn't sure how to react to HIS reaction; surely he wasn't nervous that she'd make him sick! Maybe. She wasn't sure if he had tried anything after she had improved. But then again, maybe he didn't think she would ever cook for him. Whatever the reason, she figured it was understandable either way.

"Yes. I really want to cook for you, Junpei. I could pay you back for everything you've done for me...in a small way, of course."

Smiling, she gently squeezed his hand, hoping he would accept her offer.

[blazeoflife]

"N-no, cooking... it ain't small Fuuka, don't put that down. Spending money isn't the same as cooking for someone."

He didn't grow up with home cooked meals as a normal, regular thing. And she was smiling at him so earnestly, and...

Sighing, Junpei hung his head, knowing he couldn't say no. He didn't want to be alone. His hand gave a tentative squeeze back, and he looked back up with her a small, shaky smile.

"If you're sure it won't cause you trouble..."

[cookingmechanic]

Blushing softly, she was glad to see him cheering up a little. Or at least not turning her down. The returned squeezed made her smile grow. Shaking her head, she replied, "No trouble! It would be a pleasure to cook for you!"

Giving him one more squeeze she let her hand drop from him, instantly wishing to hold it again. For the warmth, of course.

"I'll come over tonight with it, so don't get full before then," she tilted her head some, then dropped her eyes, smiling, "I'll go do some shopping now...so...be safe on your way home, alright?"

[blazeoflife]

The warmth... had been nice. But he pulled his hand back, the faint smile still there. A pleasure to cook for him, huh?

Junpei couldn't help the rueful laugh about 'not getting full'.

"Dooon't worry, little chance of that, Fuuka."

Be safe. Did she mean... anything by that? He nodded slowly, realising a bit how much he had worried her if that was the case.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine. I'll be in my apartment, okay? ...Thanks, Fuuka."

Another nod, a small wave, and Junpei turned, heading back to his apartment.

Well... spending the day with someone may be better for him, after all.