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“Yusuke, when you messaged me to hang out, I thought this would kinda be… I don’t know, a date?”
Indeed, when Yusuke had texted at 8 o'clock at night with a sense of urgency that can only be paralleled with the Second Coming, Akira without question cancelled his plans for late-night training to meet up at the underground walkway of Shibuya. Akira had asked Yusuke out the week before, so the two are technically dating, but to his disappointment they haven’t yet gone on a proper date, what with the Phantom Thieves’ activities and Yusuke’s time devoted to his art classes. This is our first real date , Akira had excitedly anticipated.
“My, there are so many different flavors to choose from! And with the sale, they’re practically giving these away!” Yusuke didn’t seem to hear the earlier remark, “Tell me, Akira-kun! Which flavor of cup noodles do you prefer?”
Our first real date is in a convenience store. Akira certainly wasn’t expecting a candlelit dinner at Tokyo Skytree, nothing could have really prepared the boy for a night in the fluorescent-lit aisle of an almost-empty mini mart shopping for the thriftiest, yet most flavorful instant noodles 500 yen could buy.
Despite this, Akira tries for an honest answer. “Curry flavor…?”
“Ah, of course! I wouldn't expect less than a feeling of tenderness for the flavor that brings memories of the very building that has provided you solace when the justice system has so failed you,” Yusuke’s eyes sparkle with… something. “How heartwarming, and yet...! How magnificent!”
“I guess?” Akira chuckles and drops a curry-flavored noodle pack into the plastic basket he’s holding, “I dunno, I think I just like curry, man.”
“… Fair enough.”
Yusuke Kitagawa really is an enigma. Akira fell for his pretty-boy air and his refined demeanor far too easily, but his eccentric devotion to his craft and his almost childish way of handling money was a depth he had never expected to find himself reaching. It all ties to Yusuke’s one-track mind. And Akira doesn’t mind it in the least. In fact, he admires the boy’s hyper focus; Yusuke is at his most beautiful when he’s losing himself in his aesthetics. He just… wishes that Yusuke would focus on him for a bit, that’s all.
Akira is shaken out of his thoughts with the familiar crinkle of plastic and looks down. Yusuke had placed another packet in the couple’s basket, “Chicken Flavor!!” is written in bright yellow in a speech balloon next to a cute chicken mascot. Akira had a feeling that the mascot's ambitious design was what had drawn Yusuke in rather than excitement for chicken flavor…
“You’re not planning on eating this all at once are you?” Akira asks, counting five packs of variously flavored instant ramen. He wouldn’t put it past the boy who is quite literally the phrase “starving artist” incarnate.
“Of course not, I am simply taking advantage of the sale,” Yusuke responds and pulls a lock of his sleek sea blue hair behind his ear. God, Akira wants to touch it so bad. “And I was…” the usually level-headed Yusuke is averting his eyes from Akira, the grey in his long-lashed eyes darting anywhere from the basket to the floor to the couple on their own shopping trip behind his boyfriend, “I was hoping perhaps we could eat some together… That is, if you don’t mind…”
This is our first real date. Our first date is at a convenience store, and it’s amazing.
Akira laughs and playfully swings the basket at his boyfriend, who takes the blow with an embarrassed huff. So Yusuke is capable of being bashful after all. That’s somewhat of a relief to Akira. “Yeah, I’ll eat with you, idiot. Why else would I have come?” Akira says with a snicker and throws his arm around the still-blushing Yusuke, “Come on, let’s go ring this up. But next time I’m cooking us curry for dinner.”
Yusuke smiles at the thought, “I do like your curry, Akira-kun.”
...
Their kiss goodbye that night is salty like curry ramen.