[Persona 4] Crazy Thought
Title: Crazy Thought
Fandom: Persona 4
Author: inksmears
Characters/Pairings: Naoto, Yosuke (pairing subtext sort of)
Genre: Friendship/General/Future-ish
Rating: G
Summary: Naoto needs an assistant.
Author's Notes: Written for safelybeds
Naoto did not often go to Junes. She was simply too busy. When she did go she was in and out in a matter of minutes, only there to restock food before she dived back into the paperwork that piled up on her desk. Sometimes she greatly missed the days where she and the others hung out at Junes for hours. But those days had long passed. Nowadays no one really saw each other as often. Out of school and working on their respective professions, the Investigation Team communicated mostly through phone and text messages nowadays despite that all of them sans Souji lived in the same town.
Today Naoto came to Junes due to cabin fever and she must've dozed off because suddenly someone was shaking her shoulder lightly. She blinked her eyes open and peered blearily at the person towering over her.
"Oh, whoa. Naoto, it's you?"
Naoto rubbed her eye with the heel of her hand. "Ah... Yosuke-san?"
Yosuke grinned and sat down beside her. "Yeah. Long time no see! I was waking you up to ask you to move. Dad hates people sleeping here for some reason."
"Oh, my apologies... I did not mean to fall asleep."
"No worries, dude. You okay?"
Naoto nodded. "Yes, simply very busy. Have you been well?" She noted his attire was a lot more professional looking than she remembered. He lacked the Junes brand uniform and seemed more like a business man.
Yosuke shrugged. "Yeah, more or less."
"Still working the floor?"
"Huh? Oh, no. I don't really do that anymore. I help my dad with the management stuff."
Naoto cocked her head to one side. "Oh?"
"Yup!" Yosuke laughed and scratched his neck sheepishly. "I'm like his secretary or something now. Still his slave but at least this way I don't have to deal with customers anymore. I manage all his paperwork now. You know, organize things, check the figures... that stuff."
Naoto stared at him and Yosuke flustered slightly. "What?"
"Nothing... I was simply surprised." In her mind's eye Yosuke was still that irresponsible, immature teenage boy from high school. Now she was trying to reconcile that view with the very obviously different Yosuke sitting in front of her.
Yosuke arched an eyebrow at her but shrugged and pushed himself to his feet. "Speaking of, back I go. Hey, if you're around, stop by sometime. See ya."
He waved and Naoto waved back. She watched him go still feeling perplexed. Speaking of work she had to return to her own and she did so, trudging back to her apartment and the mountain of paperwork that awaited. This time as she sat down to go through it, however, she thought back to what Yosuke had said. She thought about how nice it must be to have an assistant or a secretary of some kind. At this point in her life her career was certainly big enough for this kind of thing. After all, her grandfather had one, right? And her parents had had one as well. Naoto shook her head. But that required a lot of searching for someone suitable. That was more work she didn't have time for and she casually let the thought drop.
She did not think about it again until three months later. During those months she made good on her promise to see Yosuke every so often and he to see her. Occasionally they got together with the others but it was more often just the two of them. And thus somewhere along the line they connected and became surprisingly good friends. If you had asked Naoto back in high school who her closest friend would be in her future Yosuke would not have been on her list. It was not an unwelcome connection, however, and she cherished it in her own way.
The idea returned to her while they were walking back along the wet sidewalk after a night spent drinking. It was a cold night and every time either of them uttered a word they became visible as a white cloud in front of their nose.
"I think I'm just really bored with Junes," Yosuke complained as they walked. "I've been there forever. I think Dad wants me to take the business over but... I don't think I want to."
"I think that's quite reasonable," Naoto replied and burrowed her nose against her scarf. "What would you do instead?"
"Who knows. Anything at this point so long as it's different."
Naoto wasn't sure why that particular line triggered it but it did and now that the thought was there it lodged stubbornly in her brain. They walked on in silence and within that silence Naoto contemplated. She still badly needed an assistant. The work was too much for her to handle alone, now more than ever. And although she knew Yakushuji would gladly help her she felt that would be unfair. He already worked for her grandfather in his work and then in general for the family. He not only assisted her grandfather with police paperwork but he also helped filing taxes, managing their finances and other things like that. It would be cruel to demand he take on more tasks.
But if she wanted assistance she wanted it from someone she knew and could trust to actually get the job done. Searching for someone via advertisement was out of the question.
Naoto glanced sideways at Yosuke strolling beside her.
It was such a crazy thought but for some reason it also made so much sense.
"Then I have a proposition for you if you're interested."
She stopped walking. Yosuke glanced, blinked and stopped as well. He turned to face her, hands tucked into the pockets of his thick winter coat. "Huh?"
"A new job, I mean," Naoto clarified. "I've been mulling over the need for an assistant to help me along with all the paperwork I receive."
Yosuke stared. "Oh, uh... okay?"
Older and slightly wiser but still not entirely sharp, Naoto chuckled to herself. "Would you like that job?"
Yosuke stared some more. Naoto waited patiently. Eventually it finally seemed to hit him and he started. "Whoa, wait... what? You want me to be your assistant? Like... a detective's assistant?"
"Yes."
"Really?"
"Yes."
"Me?"
".... Yes."
"I mean, that's awesome but--"
"Yosuke-san."
Yosuke's back stiffened straight. "Huh?"
"It's a simple yes or no question. You do not have to answer me right now if you would like to think about it."
"W-Well I... No, I'd like to. That would... pretty sweet," Yosuke said slowly and then grinned from ear to ear. "How awesome would that be? Being a detective's assistant? Let alone the assistant of someone so famous!"
Naoto shot him an exasperated look but smiled pleasantly. "I'm happy to hear that. I can have Yakushuji-san train you for a bit. He's the secretary of the Shirogane family. You have the basic skill set but working with more classified documents requires some training."
"Of course," Yosuke replied, nodding eagerly. "I mean... yeah! Sure!"
Naoto watched him start to babble on excitedly. Acting on a crazy thought like this was so unlike her but the more excited he became talking about it the more she felt it was the best decision she could have made.
Fandom: Persona 4
Author: inksmears
Characters/Pairings: Naoto, Yosuke (pairing subtext sort of)
Genre: Friendship/General/Future-ish
Rating: G
Summary: Naoto needs an assistant.
Author's Notes: Written for safelybeds
Naoto did not often go to Junes. She was simply too busy. When she did go she was in and out in a matter of minutes, only there to restock food before she dived back into the paperwork that piled up on her desk. Sometimes she greatly missed the days where she and the others hung out at Junes for hours. But those days had long passed. Nowadays no one really saw each other as often. Out of school and working on their respective professions, the Investigation Team communicated mostly through phone and text messages nowadays despite that all of them sans Souji lived in the same town.
Today Naoto came to Junes due to cabin fever and she must've dozed off because suddenly someone was shaking her shoulder lightly. She blinked her eyes open and peered blearily at the person towering over her.
"Oh, whoa. Naoto, it's you?"
Naoto rubbed her eye with the heel of her hand. "Ah... Yosuke-san?"
Yosuke grinned and sat down beside her. "Yeah. Long time no see! I was waking you up to ask you to move. Dad hates people sleeping here for some reason."
"Oh, my apologies... I did not mean to fall asleep."
"No worries, dude. You okay?"
Naoto nodded. "Yes, simply very busy. Have you been well?" She noted his attire was a lot more professional looking than she remembered. He lacked the Junes brand uniform and seemed more like a business man.
Yosuke shrugged. "Yeah, more or less."
"Still working the floor?"
"Huh? Oh, no. I don't really do that anymore. I help my dad with the management stuff."
Naoto cocked her head to one side. "Oh?"
"Yup!" Yosuke laughed and scratched his neck sheepishly. "I'm like his secretary or something now. Still his slave but at least this way I don't have to deal with customers anymore. I manage all his paperwork now. You know, organize things, check the figures... that stuff."
Naoto stared at him and Yosuke flustered slightly. "What?"
"Nothing... I was simply surprised." In her mind's eye Yosuke was still that irresponsible, immature teenage boy from high school. Now she was trying to reconcile that view with the very obviously different Yosuke sitting in front of her.
Yosuke arched an eyebrow at her but shrugged and pushed himself to his feet. "Speaking of, back I go. Hey, if you're around, stop by sometime. See ya."
He waved and Naoto waved back. She watched him go still feeling perplexed. Speaking of work she had to return to her own and she did so, trudging back to her apartment and the mountain of paperwork that awaited. This time as she sat down to go through it, however, she thought back to what Yosuke had said. She thought about how nice it must be to have an assistant or a secretary of some kind. At this point in her life her career was certainly big enough for this kind of thing. After all, her grandfather had one, right? And her parents had had one as well. Naoto shook her head. But that required a lot of searching for someone suitable. That was more work she didn't have time for and she casually let the thought drop.
She did not think about it again until three months later. During those months she made good on her promise to see Yosuke every so often and he to see her. Occasionally they got together with the others but it was more often just the two of them. And thus somewhere along the line they connected and became surprisingly good friends. If you had asked Naoto back in high school who her closest friend would be in her future Yosuke would not have been on her list. It was not an unwelcome connection, however, and she cherished it in her own way.
The idea returned to her while they were walking back along the wet sidewalk after a night spent drinking. It was a cold night and every time either of them uttered a word they became visible as a white cloud in front of their nose.
"I think I'm just really bored with Junes," Yosuke complained as they walked. "I've been there forever. I think Dad wants me to take the business over but... I don't think I want to."
"I think that's quite reasonable," Naoto replied and burrowed her nose against her scarf. "What would you do instead?"
"Who knows. Anything at this point so long as it's different."
Naoto wasn't sure why that particular line triggered it but it did and now that the thought was there it lodged stubbornly in her brain. They walked on in silence and within that silence Naoto contemplated. She still badly needed an assistant. The work was too much for her to handle alone, now more than ever. And although she knew Yakushuji would gladly help her she felt that would be unfair. He already worked for her grandfather in his work and then in general for the family. He not only assisted her grandfather with police paperwork but he also helped filing taxes, managing their finances and other things like that. It would be cruel to demand he take on more tasks.
But if she wanted assistance she wanted it from someone she knew and could trust to actually get the job done. Searching for someone via advertisement was out of the question.
Naoto glanced sideways at Yosuke strolling beside her.
It was such a crazy thought but for some reason it also made so much sense.
"Then I have a proposition for you if you're interested."
She stopped walking. Yosuke glanced, blinked and stopped as well. He turned to face her, hands tucked into the pockets of his thick winter coat. "Huh?"
"A new job, I mean," Naoto clarified. "I've been mulling over the need for an assistant to help me along with all the paperwork I receive."
Yosuke stared. "Oh, uh... okay?"
Older and slightly wiser but still not entirely sharp, Naoto chuckled to herself. "Would you like that job?"
Yosuke stared some more. Naoto waited patiently. Eventually it finally seemed to hit him and he started. "Whoa, wait... what? You want me to be your assistant? Like... a detective's assistant?"
"Yes."
"Really?"
"Yes."
"Me?"
".... Yes."
"I mean, that's awesome but--"
"Yosuke-san."
Yosuke's back stiffened straight. "Huh?"
"It's a simple yes or no question. You do not have to answer me right now if you would like to think about it."
"W-Well I... No, I'd like to. That would... pretty sweet," Yosuke said slowly and then grinned from ear to ear. "How awesome would that be? Being a detective's assistant? Let alone the assistant of someone so famous!"
Naoto shot him an exasperated look but smiled pleasantly. "I'm happy to hear that. I can have Yakushuji-san train you for a bit. He's the secretary of the Shirogane family. You have the basic skill set but working with more classified documents requires some training."
"Of course," Yosuke replied, nodding eagerly. "I mean... yeah! Sure!"
Naoto watched him start to babble on excitedly. Acting on a crazy thought like this was so unlike her but the more excited he became talking about it the more she felt it was the best decision she could have made.