Yosuke is feeling rebellious and oddly restless/uneasy since his partner left Inaba. After such a hectic golden week, he’s itching to actually relax and calm his nerves during summer break, but unfortunately that’s a few months off.

So, what does he do instead to take the nerves off? He steals his dad's pack of smokes. Now, he isn’t sure why he did this, but he has it already so might as well take a drag, to see how it was like- no?!

However, there is no way in hell he is doing so in the real world, the chances of being caught is low, but the consequences of doing so are far too great. So, that only leaves the TV world left to try and smoke for the first time.

As he breaks (uses his keycard and reset the alarms) into Junes, his thoughts drift back to his Partner. How life seems so much duller without him around, without his small smile to light up the room, how bumping elbows, or wrapping an arm over his shoulder, the way it tingles and shoots electricity down his spine-

UGH! Why is he thinking about it like that, they’re just friends! Partners, teammates!

He shakes himself loose, getting his bearings back inside the TV. For the most part, the twisted dungeons are mostly gone, but if you wander long enough around the picturesque landscape you can still find the ruins of them. Which lands him in the crumbling shopping district in the TV. Look, he felt bad smoking in such a nice area, he gotta hide out here!

And if it reminds him of his failures, and how he (accidentally) showed his darkest part of himself to Yu, well, that’s for him to know and no one else.

As he walks into the liquor store, a cig in his mouth as he valiantly tries and lights it to no success someone surprised him in there.

It’s his shadow, sitting on one of the counters, swinging his feet back and forth.

“What the fuck?” Yosuke mutters, letting the cig fall from his mouth onto the floor.

The- His- Shadow tsks, hopping off the counter, bounding his way over. “It’s not nice to waste cigarettes, you know how expensive they are nowadays?” It said, leaning down to pick up the smoke himself.

“I- I think they’re bigger problems right now!” Yosuke flinches back, holding out his lighter like a weapon.

Apparently the shadow didn’t get the memo, as it plucks it right out of his hands and effortlessly lights the cig, taking a deep breath. He blows out through his nose, the smoke curling around his eyes like a veil- the glowing yellow shining through the fog.

It leans in, a lit cig between its fingers, and a devious grin on its face. “C’mon, are you really surprised that I’m here? Really?” It laughed, before taking another drag.

Yosuke swallows, scratching the back of his neck, “what is it that you want?”

“You know what I want, what you want, unfortunately he’s not here though.”

“He? You mean- Partner?!” Yosuke stumbles back, while the shadow blows smoke in his direction, giggling when he tries to fan it away.

“Mmm, yeah, I suppose that means we must improvise. A little practice to help your courage couldn’t hurt- not in the same way that letting him slip by would be if you ever come back here,” the shadow threatens, getting closer, before taking a deep breath of nicotine smoke.

“What does that mean- Mph!” Yosuke got cut off by his shadows crashing their lips together. The squeak provides just enough room for it to shove its tongue in there, and kiss smoke deep into his throat.

Immediately Yosuke shoves his other half away, hacking up the smoke. “Ack! What the- kof- the hell!”

“Sorry, that was a bit too much to start off with, hm? No wonder Partner didn’t want us around, we are such a pathetic loser,” it growls, invading his space once more.

Yosuke manages to keep it at arms distance this time around, pleading “Wait wait wait- Just, what is happening?!”

“Tsk, teaching you how to kiss. You want to do this with Yu, no? You're just too chicken shit to say that you want to shove your tongue so far down his throat he’d choke on it- let alone admit to yourself that you like him, am I right?” It taunts, leaning in ever more.

“I- okay maybe you're right, but what does that have to do with- with kissing me?!” He yelps, placing a hand across his other self’s face.

It only responded with a giggle, yellow eyes shining with mischief through spread fingers. “We can help each other out, no? It’ll be fun, and you don’t have to risk embarrassing yourself in front of someone outside of you,” It mumbles, pressing a kiss to the meat of his hand where it rests along its mouth.

Yosuke yanks his hand back, which only serves to let his shadow in, bringing a hand up to hold his jaw in place in a firm, yet achingly gentle, grip. “What are you so afraid of? You ought to know better by now…”

Before Yosuke could formulate a retort, it closed the distance and pressed its lips against his again- this time much softer. There was still a bit of bite, teeth grazing along his lower lip, but much more manageable in comparison from swallowing smoke.

Yosuke should’ve fought back, pushed it away, kicked its knees backwards. Instead he gave a pitiful mewl and let himself be eaten by his shadow, frozen solid. Eventually the shadow peeled away, frowning slightly. “You know, for a kiss to be good, the other must reciprocate?”

“You’re the one who pushed yourself onto me! I wanted none of this!” Yosuke shoots back.

Its eyes burn a toxic yellow for a moment, before shifting back into a more honeyed gold. “Are you sure? You have the perfect opportunity to be kissed, to be held, to be loved, why throw it away?” It took another drag of the cig, flicking the ashes onto the dirty floor.

Yosuke blinks in surprise, looking at anywhere else but his shadow. He can’t truly look away, not with the hand holding his face firmly in place, but he can still see the destroyed shelving, and the ripped apart picture on the ground, the ghost of Saki and the memories of his first awakening still haunts this place. With Yu Narukami seeing it all, fighting for him all the while.

“Promise me no one will know about this?” He whispers, meeting his missing link’s eyes.

“I promise,” It breathes back, before locking their lips together.

This time, he clumsily tries to match pace with his shadow. Why the fuck is it so good at kissing, isn’t me? Actually, maybe that’s a good thing… He thought as it slowly pried his mouth open with its tongue, a giggle whistling through it.

His shadow starts to lead him backwards, pushing him up a counter as its tongue grazes the back of his teeth and along his own tongue. He fights back, trying to lick into its mouth, teeth lightly pressing down.

It breaks away again, moving its hands from Yosuke’s jaw up and through his hair, nails scratching his scalp so nicely it sends tingles down his spine and boils in his guts. It brought the cig into view again, smirking once more. “Shall we try it again?”

“Mm, I think I’ll just end up in another coughing fit.”

“Well, we won’t get far thinking like that. Here, Just let me do the heavy lifting, all you need to do is breathe in deep and out, okay?” The shadow didn’t wait for a response, breathing the half-burned cigarette like it’s oxygen.

Yosuke swallows nervously, before leaning in, taking in his shadow advice and breathing in deeply when it coaxes his mouth open. It wasn’t nearly as difficult when he was actually expecting it, and the smoke filled his lungs, as his shadow slowly put pieces of itself back in its rightful owner.

Yosuke breaths out through his nose, coughing a tiny bit at the end. “Shit… that feels good…”

His shadow gave a deep chuckle, waving the cig in his hand a bit, “want another hit?”

They went on like that, breathing in the smoke and exploring each other’s mouths. The slick feeling of their tongues lazily passing each other and the hit of nicotine gave them a pleasant buzz. His shadow wandering hands tracing paths from his hair, to his back, along the bottom of his legs, spreading him to make more room for him to drape himself along his front.

That isn’t to say that Yosuke wasn’t also curious, as drawing pretty moans from his other half whenever his scratch his nails along the back of his neck, wrapping his legs around his waist and pulling him closer, taking more and more and more-

Eventually, his shadow started to lose his form, eyes turning hazy and his skin glowing a dull blue, and after a last parting kiss it reverted back into its persona form, preserved in the form of the Magician tarot.

Yosuke cradles it against his chest as he heaves, reaching over to pick up his smokes and lighter. Pulling out another cig and lighting it, he summons Jiraiya.