Chapter Text
“Okay, we’re here!” Chie announced after stopping in front of one of the buildings that lined the streets of Okina. Yukiko and Yosuke caught up to her, looking to see where they’d ended up. It was a fairly small store compared to the other shops that surrounded it. There was a blue-and-white awning that hovered over a display table, which held a few pots of flowers, each one having a noticeable price sticker stuck to the front.
“A flower shop?” Yosuke raised an eyebrow, skeptical.
Chie frowned. “What? Flowers are romantic, right?” Seeming unsure, she glanced to Yukiko, as if looking for confirmation.
The other girl nodded. “Yes, very!”
“I get that, but…” Yosuke wasn’t exactly convinced. “How exactly are flowers going to help me? I’m still gonna have to talk to Yu when I give them to him, aren’t I? And we just saw how well that went...”
“Yes, but different flowers often have different meanings associated with them,” Yukiko explained. “and since you’re having trouble talking to Yu, Chie and I were thinking that a bouquet of flowers would say more to him than words can.”
Yosuke thought about it for a second. “I guess…” He had to admit that it did make sense.
The three of them stepped into the shop, and as soon as Yosuke passed through the doorway, the strong aroma of flowers attacked his senses. Yosuke coughed hoarsely into his arm, feeling as though someone had shoved a handful of petals down his throat.
Chie patted his back a few times and gave him an encouraging smile. “Don’t worry, the same thing happened to me the first time Yukiko took me here.” she glanced over to the raven-haired girl, who didn’t seem phased by the overwhelming scents in the slightest. “Though, I’ve never seen her react to it at all. She comes here all the time, I think she’s become immune to it.”
Once Yosuke had stopped dying, he paused to take in the shop’s surroundings. The flower displays inside were even more extensive and impressive than the small ones outside. Shelves upon shelves filled with vases of carefully arranged bouquets lined the walls. Meanwhile, some hanging plants were suspended from the ceiling with long vines dotted with flowers draping over the sides.
“Oh, good afternoon, Miss Amagi!” Yosuke looked over to the checkout to see an older woman at the register, a cheerful smile on her face. “Are you here to pick up flowers for the inn?”
Yukiko shook her head, walking towards the register to greet the cashier she was assumably familiar with. “No, I’m just here to help a friend,” she explained.
Taking a moment to look around at the displays, Yosuke found himself in awe that such a small store could have so much variety. There were so many different colors and sizes; some bouquets were of a singular type of flower, some were different flowers with the same color, while others were a mix of colors, flower types, and sizes. Where should he start? Yosuke couldn’t help feeling overwhelmed. There were so many options, how was he supposed to pick just one?
“Come on, let’s start looking!” Chie beamed, bounding towards one of the tables to browse the flowers. She paused by a section that had several bouquets of roses in different colors, gesturing towards them. “Hey, how about some red roses? They’re practically a staple for love confessions!”
While the idea of surprising Yu with roses did appeal to Yosuke, they felt just a bit too cliche. “Nah, too overdone. I don’t want him to think I just grabbed the first flower I could think of.”
“That’s fair,” Chie agreed before considering their next option. “Then, how about roses in a different color? Still classic, but unique at the same time! Let’s see…”
Chie took out her phone, where she’d had a sort of online flower encyclopedia pulled up, navigated to the “roses” page, and scrolled through the results. “Oh, look at this one! Apparently, lavender roses mean “love at first sight”!” She looked up at the tables and pointed towards a small bouquet of lavender roses. “And they have some here! How about it?”
Now, the whole “Love at first sight” thing surely seemed romantic, especially in the movies, where two lovers would lock eyes from across the hallway, or a busy street, or store, or whatever, and in that moment feel that spark and just know that the other person is special. Now, that was all fine and dandy to Yosuke... if you didn’t consider the fact that his first actual interaction with Yu involved him crashing his bike and falling into a trash can right in front of him. Yosuke would always regard him meeting Yu as an important turning point in his life where things finally started to get better, but god if he didn’t cringe whenever he was reminded of it. Even if he did get the lavender roses, what would he even say, anyway? “Partner, I’ve loved you ever since you pulled me out of the garbage.” Yeah, there was no way that was gonna happen.
“Yeah, I think I’ll pass…” Yosuke dismissed, peering over Chie’s shoulder at her phone and looking at the rest of the list. White roses represent innocence, yellow ones for friendship, orange ones for enthusiasm… Yosuke read through each entry, but none of them seemed to stick out to him.
He must have made some kind of face, because Chie seemed to have realized his dilemma. “You know what, let’s forget about roses! There’s a lot more all around us, so let’s go see what else there is!” She ushered him to a neighboring table that held a different assortment of flowers.
Yosuke’s eye was immediately caught by a bouquet of yellow flowers. They had long, thin stems, and the flower consisted of a cluster of brightly colored petals with serrated edges.
“These ones are nice,” Yosuke commented, taking the bouquet in his hands and turning it over to get a better look. Upon closer inspection, Yosuke could see small flecks of red among the yellow colored petals. “They’re…” Yosuke looked at the price tag located on the side and read the name of the flower out loud. “‘yellow carnations’.”
“Okay, let me look them up!” Chie tapped the words into her phone and scrolled down a bit… then she frowned.
“What’s up?” Yosuke inquired, noticing her dissatisfied expression.
“It says here that yellow carnations are never supposed to be given to someone as a gift. Apparently, they’re supposed to mean…” she hesitated, as if reluctant to say it. “...disappointment.”
Yosuke heaved a sigh. Of course they did. Disappointment. Yosuke was no stranger to that word. He’d had it flung at him a hundred times over in the past few years.
“They symbolize rejection too…” Chie noted dismally. “Looks like that’s big “no” for these ones...”
“Rejection?” Yosuke repeated aloud, then gave a low, almost defeated chuckle. “Maybe once I give Yu my flowers, he can give these to me in return.” He said, as if he were almost certain he was going to be rejected.
Chie’s frown only deepened at Yosuke’s comment. “Come on, you can’t be talking like that!” She chastised. “You need to be confident, or this is never going to work!”
“I think that’s a bit easier said than done, Chie…”
“Well you’ve got to at least try!” The brunette faced Yosuke head on and put her hands on his shoulders. “I want you to look into my eyes and say ‘I’m going to do it and it’s gonna be great!”
“I-What?”
“Say, ‘I’m gonna do it and it’s gonna be great!’ ”
Yosuke was a bit stunned at Chie’s sudden passion. “Uh…” His eyes darted from side to side, trying to avoid her fiery (and kinda frightening) gaze.
“Say it!” Chie demanded, shaking Yosuke by his shoulders.
“Okay, okay!” Yosuke blurted out. “I-I’m gonna do it, and it’s gonna be great?”
“Say it and mean it! ” She bellowed, shaking him harder.
“But… I don’t mean it!” Yosuke retorted, wrenching himself out of Chie’s iron grip. “Do you want me to lie?”
Chie paused, seeing the almost pained expression in Yosuke’s eyes. Realizing she might come on a little bit too strong, she decided to tone it down just a bit. “No, I don’t want you to lie- well, not exactly.”
Yosuke cocked an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”
“Listen, what you need to do is tell yourself it’s going to work. Multiple times. When you wake up, before you go to bed, before you eat, anytime you feel anxious about this whole confession thing, you need to take a breath and say, ‘I’m going to do it and it’s gonna be great.” Chie instructed, and Yosuke, though dubious, listened to her. “It’ll probably sound like a lie at first, but if you say it to yourself enough times, you might just start to believe it.”
“Are you sure that’ll work?” Yosuke felt that even if he said it a million times, he’d never truly believe it.
“Of course! You’ve just gotta fake it ‘till you make it!” Chie beamed. “If you keep telling yourself you’re gonna fail, then that’s exactly what you’ll do! But, if you think yourself up instead of down, that fake confidence will turn into real confidence!”
Yosuke was still skeptical, but it wouldn’t hurt him to try. It did make some sense, at least. He wasn’t sure if he could tell himself it’s going to be okay and truly mean it, but he’d at least make an effort to stop talking like he was going to get rejected. “Okay, I think I can do that…” He took in a deep breath. Just gotta fake it ‘till I make it...
~~~
Yosuke would spend the rest of the time at the flower shop repeating those words to himself. He could feel it easing his fears just a little bit, but it was hard to stop the mountain of anxiety that was constantly pulsing through his mind. But, nevertheless, Yosuke did his best to at least shove it all to the back of his mind for the time being while he continued to search for that perfect bouquet of flowers.
Even with all three of them looking, it still took a while to find something that fit exactly what Yosuke wanted to convey to Yu. He began to fear that he was being too picky and figured he should just grab something and be done with it, but Yukiko assured him that there were so many options for him to look through to find the perfect one, and that both she and Chie were willing to stay there all day if they needed to.
In the end, Yosuke did wind up finding something he liked. It was a small bouquet of dark pink daisies, symbolizing gratitude, because Yosuke truly was grateful for everything Yu had done for him. From helping him face his shadow, to being there for him in both the TV World and in real life, to just simply being his friend and caring about him, which was such a foreign experience Yosuke wasn’t exactly used to. He’d had friends back in the city, sure, but none of them he’d really connected with like the ones he had now. Yu had shown Yosuke what it was like to have true friends, ones that he actually cared about and would probably do anything for, instead of just a bunch of assholes he’d hang around just to avoid feeling lonely. Yosuke couldn’t help but feel like he could never repay Yu for that, but for now, some dark pink daisies would have to do.
The next morning came and went, and before he knew it, Yosuke was sitting in the classroom, a package of dark pink daisies carefully tucked into his backpack. Swallowing his fear, Yosuke looked to Chie and Yukiko, gave them a nervous thumbs up, and left to meet Yu at his locker, the flowers held behind his back so hard that his knuckles turned white.
Chie and Yukiko waited for him, chatting idly at their desks without admitting that they too were just as nervous for Yosuke.
“H-How do you think it’s going?” Chie asked after a few minutes went by, unable to continue ignoring the elephant in the room. Class had ended long ago, and now the two girls were the only ones left in the classroom.
“I don’t know. I hope everything’s okay.” Yukiko replied, glancing at the door for any signs of the brunette returning.
“Do you think we should check up on him?” Chie suggested nervously.
Yukiko shook her head. “No, if he sees us, it’ll definitely throw him off. I think the only thing we can do is wait.”
Chie let out an exasperated sigh and slumped down in her chair, knowing Yukiko was right. A few more minutes went by in silence with tensions so high you could cut it with a knife as they waited for Yosuke to come back.
Just as Chie was about to get up and go check on him anyway, the classroom door burst open. The two girls snapped their heads up to see Yosuke slamming the door behind him. He sucked in a few deep breaths as if he’d just run a marathon, and then slid down against the door, head in his hands.
Oh god, that can’t be good. Chie thought worriedly, getting up out of her chair and rushing to Yosuke’s side. “Yosuke, what happened?”
“Did Yu-kun….” Yukiko started, approaching carefully.
Yosuke looked up, his face flushed red. “No, he didn’t reject me… Actually,” he looked down at his shoes guiltily. “I didn’t even tell him.”
“What? Why?” Chie inquired, confused. Though nervous, Yosuke had seemed seriously determined to confess when she’d last seen him. “Did you chicken out?”
“No! Well- kinda…” Yosuke sighed. “I tried to, I really did! But as I was talking to him, he started sneezing and stuff… I asked if he was sick, and then he said it was just his pollen allergies!” Yosuke groaned, throwing his now tattered bouquet of daisies to the floor in frustration. “He’s allergic to the damn flowers!”
“Wait, really?” Chie exclaimed, shocked. “What’d you do then?”
“I didn’t wanna give him something he’s allergic to, so I just panicked, made some lame excuse, and ran off…” He sulked, tilting his head back against the door to stare at the ceiling.
“We’re really sorry, Yosuke-kun... ” Yukiko apologized. “We had no idea he was allergic to flowers.”
Chie nodded. “Yeah, we thought it’d be romantic!”
Yosuke huffed, pushing himself back onto his feet. “No, it’s not your guys’ fault. I had no idea either…”
“W-We’ll just have to try something else! One failure doesn’t mean it’s all lost!” Chie put in optimistically. “Yukiko and I’s plan may not have worked, but I’m sure someone else on the Investigation Team could help you!”
Yukiko’s face lit up with an idea. “Oh- I think Kanji-kun is free, and I’m sure he’d be more than willing to lend a hand!”
Yosuke just grimaced.
“Hm? Is something wrong, Yosuke-kun?” Yukiko asked, a concerned look on her face.
“Well, it’s not that I’m against getting help from Kanji…” Yosuke scratched the back of his head awkwardly. “But I don’t even know how to explain the situation to him… I’ve been kind of a jerk to him in the past…” he admitted, ashamed.
“Would it be easier for you if we told him?” Yukiko proposed.
Yosuke nodded. He wasn’t exactly proud of his previous actions towards Kanji, and he didn’t want to be the one to break the news that he, who had been a huge dick to Kanji because he might’ve liked dudes, was now struggling with his very gay crush on his best friend (who is very much another dude). He didn’t entirely like the idea of having Chie and Yukiko fight his battles for him, but it definitely would take some pressure off of him if a third party let Kanji know of the situation instead of Yosuke himself. “Yeah, I think that might be better. Do you guys mind?”
Chie shook her head with a smile. “Nope! Just leave it to us!” she declared before bounding out of the room.
“We’ll text you later to let you know what he says.” Yukiko informed him. She stepped towards the door, but paused before opening it and turned back to Yosuke. “And, don’t let today’s loss get you down. We’re gonna do all we can to help you confess to Yu, so try not to dwell on it too much.”
Yosuke gave her a grateful smile. “Thanks, I really appreciate it. I really can’t thank you guys enough.”
Yukiko returned his grin. “Well, I don’t know about me, but if you want to thank Chie, I think a good steak would make it even.”
Yosuke groaned. “Ugh, no way! I don’t know if my wallet can handle that!”
“I’m just kidding,” Yukiko chuckled. “You don’t have to do anything special to pay us back for helping you, it’s what friends are for.” The raven-haired girl flashed him another smile before leaving the classroom to go after Chie.
Yosuke smiled to himself, his heart filled with a warm, wholesome feeling at Yukiko’s words. As he began packing up his stuff to leave, he noticed the bouquet of dark pink daisies he’d left on the floor. They were a bit more disheveled than when he’d first gotten them, but they were still very pretty. It was a shame I wasn’t able to give them to him, Yosuke thought. What do I do with them now, though? He could probably go back to the flower shop and see if he could return them (flowers aren’t exactly cheap, after all) while he mulled over different ways to confess to Yu.
He wasn’t sure exactly how he was going to do it, but whatever it was, it was definitely not gonna involve flowers.