#Souyo

[z-oot]

[drowned-echo]

Ok but… souyo where they’re both autistic but like. In totally different ways.

Yosuke as high-masking doesn’t know he’s autistic - copying the people around him to try and fit in, which back in the city meant a lot of insulting eachother hitting on women etc. it’s not really him or his natural way of thinking but it’s the best way 2 fit in with a group.

Despite that though he never comes across as neurotypical- his headphones are a lifeline he needs to get through the day, both comfort item and protection from sensory onslaught- and often his attempts to fit in with conversation are stilted and unnatural as he tries to use tricks to get by with his city friends with the IT who don’t care for the heternormative stuff that keeps coming out his mouth. (The internalized homophobia isn’t helping either.)

His shadow is correct in that he’s deeply bored of Inaba and that this is exciting and something to DO, but it’s also something to latch onto that means his new friends have to keep him around- something to focus a set of new masks around.

And well, part of why he clicks so intensely and immediately with Souji is that Souji is similar to him in a lot of ways.

Souji knows he’s autistic because he’s simply never been able to act like he isn’t. He’s inexpressive, comes off as weird to everyone around him, and eventually simply learned not to care what other people think- especially as half the time he won’t be staying long enough for it to matter.

I don’t have as much to say about him bcuz tbh he feels much more straightforward in that regard, but i feel it definitely plays into how initially he wasn’t planning on bonding with anyone in inaba. It’s likely he’s tried in the past and it just didn’t work out because he’s simply never found people like the IT and eventually others in Inaba who like him for who he is, because he’s simply no good at being anyone BUT who he is.

(I know that a lot of people see the persona protagonists as mirrors and maskers, and while i definitely see it for Akira/Ren i honest to god cannot see Souji or Makoto surviving like that. Makoto does not have the energy and Souji simply would be bad at it. Neither of those two are surviving shadow negotiations. I do think it’s a valid take of the characters, though, and if you see it that way then Souji’s just a different type of autistic haha)

Also, Souji likes cats. Cats are autistic. Case closed.

…But because of all that (this is Souyo remember), as well as all the shit they go through together immediately, Yosuke and Souji very easily become close. “Partners.” Because even if they handle it differently and their primary symptoms are different they still recognize that similarity in eachother even if for a long time they have trouble recognizing what it is.

[thonkphonk]

Yosuke: Wait, if I'm the dad who's the mom?

Chie: The mom to Yosuke's dad? Wouldn't that make her...

Teddie: It's Sensei of course!

Yosuke: HUH!?

Broke: Teddie sees Yosuke's parents as also his own parents

Woke: Teddie sees Yosuke as his father figure but isn't currently aware of it

[x3n0-is-loading]

bonus:

[huniipum]

these two lovable idiots live in my brain rent free 🥹🩷

[zipsunz]

what's a guy like you doing in a place like this?

[nennenen]

p4

[maple-bea]

More souyo cuz its the only thing i can draw apparently

[taldigi]

Yu: *laughing* Oh my god, we're insufferable.

[kingfuc]

souyo smoochies ✨

[yosukehanamuralovr]

the closet is actual glass... he's asking for when yu goes back to the city

[z-oot]

[keytrio]

the sky's so high up

[sylvioki]

Missed my sillies

[tradude]

stop yapping your food is gonna get cold!!!

[louwsys]

HELLO. I AM BACK MY AMAZING YOSUKE FRIENDS