Work Text:
Frankly, Yosuke Hanamura probably shouldn’t have been surprised when Yu Narukami showed up to Junes, part-time employee application in hand, but somehow he was. The dude was already working overnight at the hospital, during the day as a babysitter, tutored in the evening, and Yosuke thinks he remembers something about him folding envelopes on his free time.
So, when Yu walked up to the slack-jawed Yosuke in the grocery department, smile on face and paper in hand, Yosuke rightfully gave him a look.
“Bro… you’re kidding me, right?”
Yu looked confused. “What do you mean? Of course I would apply to work here, from what I’ve seen a lot of the part-timers here don’t care, and I want to help you out.”
“Yeah, sure, but like… don’t you think you’re doing enough? How many part-time jobs do you even do right now?!”
Yu scratched his chin. “A few, I suppose.”
“A few?!? Man, I can hardly even handle one on top of school and the investigation. I dunno how you do it,” he shook his head.
Yu shrugged.
Yosuke sighed. “I mean, if you really wanna...” he took the paper. “What’d you even apply for anywa- oh.”
Printed in one of the small boxes was “part-time stocker position”. While Yosuke was mainly customer service (or as he liked to call it, the Junes complaints department), he was still trained in nearly every possible position, just in case his dad wanted to torture him further. Stocking was his least favorite.
He winced a little bit. “You do realize this isn’t really an easy position... right? Most part-timers either stay here past midnight or wake up at 4am…”
“Good. I’m fine with working overnight, I should really quit that hospital job anyways… one of the nurses is uh, too friendly.” Yu looked as if he was recalling some past trauma.
Yosuke gaped like a fish for a second. “You- you- n-nurse?! I- uh. Actually, nevermind. If you’re really sure then I guess I can run this by my dad.”
Yu smiled. “Thanks.”
“Yeah… no problem.”
Yosuke made a mental note to check out any late-night hospital jobs once he escaped grocery hell.
~~~
He kept the piece of paper tucked away in his apron until the end of his shift. Before he left, he pushed open the door of his dad’s office, who looked up curiously at the intruder.
Yosuke raised the piece of paper. “New application.”
His dad gave him an odd look as he took the paper, the look turning from skeptical to impressed as he read it. “You know this kid?”
“Uh y-yeah, sir.”
“You can vouch for him?”
“Hell yeah. The dude’s a pretty hard worker, does well in school…”
“He can start 2 days from now. 10pm-2am. You’re training.”
“Wh- huh?? But I was supposed to get that day off! And what about an interview?” Yosuke pouted.
His dad frowned. “It’s only a 4 hour shift, plus it’s Saturday night, you can sleep in the next day. If you’re so sure about this guy, then I’m sure he’ll be fine.”
“I- but-” Yosuke caved. “Yes, sir.” At least he’d be with Yu. The guy was good at everything he did, Yosuke was sure he wouldn’t have to do much training anyways.
On the way home, he shot Yu a text, letting him know the good news.
~~~
Finally, Saturday night came around, and Yosuke rolled up to Junes at 9:55pm exactly, apron and all.
The “store closing in 5 minutes” announcement rang out as he made his way through the small crowd of tired shoppers, heading for the breakroom, water bottle in hand.
There, he found Yu, smiling and ready as ever sitting right outside the breakroom.
Yosuke walked up to him. “Right, ok. Let’s get started I guess.”
He unlocked the breakroom door, swinging it open and holding it with his foot as he tucked away the keys. Upon entering the room, lights flicked on, revealing a dingy looking room with a single window, three near-broken chairs, and a small table. Upon further inspection, the room also had counter space with an old microwave and a mini fridge. Opposite to that sat a wall of lockers. The whole area smelled strangely of burnt eggs and fried cheese and must’ve been a good 10 degrees cooler than the rest of the store.
Yosuke turned to a keypad on the wall, tapping in his ID and selecting “Punch In”. Yu watched intently.
“So this is where we punch in. Here’s your ID.” He handled Yu a slip of paper with a 4 digit number. “Don’t forget to punch in and out at the end of every shift, yada, yada, you probably already know this.”
“There was a similar system at the hospital,” Yu explained as he punched his number in.
“Right. So here’s what you’ll need.” Yosuke walked across the room, snatching an apron, a box cutter, and some gloves from the table.
He waited as Yu put on his apron and gloves, tucking the box cutter away in a pocket on the apron.
“Alright. Did you bring a water bottle?” Yosuke stood, arms crossed.
“Uh, no?”
“Do that next time, you’ll need it, bro,” Yosuke said, walking towards the mini-fridge and producing a plastic bottle of water, handing it over to Yu, who nodded in understanding. “Alright, let’s get going.”
By the time they left the breakroom, the store was already closed. Most of the customers were gone, and the associates were packing up for the night. Only a few people stocked so late, the rest would be taken care of in the morning, so it looked like it was just them two and their long-standing store stocker that night.
Yosuke’s dad caught them as he was leaving, tossing his son a rather large set of keys. “Yuri forgot hers, so make sure you close up for the night.” He clarified at the confused boy’s expression.
Yosuke nodded. “Right, sir.”
His dad nodded back and turned back to the main door.
On their way to the backroom they passed by a small girl with long black hair pulled up into a ponytail, headphones up, tossing various items onto stands marked “special buy”, too lost in work to even notice the two boys.
Yosuke saw Yu looking over at her. “Yeah, that’s Yuri Kanwachi. She’s been here pretty much since this place opened. Up until now she was the only night time stocker, so I’m sure she’ll like that you’re here. I haven’t talked to her much since I usually work day shifts, but I’m sure you guys’ll get along.” Yosuke explained. Of course they would get along, who didn’t get along with Yu? And they would be the only two there at night once Yosuke was done with training… for some reason, that thought annoyed him, but he shook it off as they entered the backroom.
“Alright, so uh, for today I’m just gonna take a pallet and you can kinda ghost me.” Yosuke said, scanning the large room. “Let’s see… you’re mainly gonna be doing groceries so lets go ahead and take that one.” Yosuke pointed at a large pallet full of various cans, jars, and other general condiments.
Yosuke turned around to face Yu and stopped in his tracks. This guy seriously had a tiny notepad out, and was currently scribbling notes with a pen.
“Dude… seriously?”
“Hum?” Yu looked up.
“Well… the jobs not that difficult dude, I don’t really think you gotta take notes.”
Yu paused for a second, then slid the notepad into his back pocket.
Yosuke shook his head, making his way towards a large machine. “So this is a pallet mover. Basically you just press this button and it moves forward, this one and it moves backwards…”
Yosuke went on about the pallet mover, explaining the basic necessities, then dragging it over to the pallet and picking it up.
“... and then ya just go out these doors. This pallet looks like aisle two and three. You learn where things are with time, but given how much Nanako comes here I’m sure you already know the basics.”
Yu followed in tow as Yosuke gave a general tour before finally stopping in aisle two.
“Alright then you just kinda cut the plastic wrap and start throwing things on the shelf. Don’t forget to rotate out food things, you can leave any trash on the ground. We’ll get it before we leave.”
Yu nodded, watching Yosuke unload various things, tossing them onto shelves at a pretty impressive speed.
“You can like… help ya know. The first part of this thing is this aisle.” Yosuke grunted, lifting up a box full of pickle jars and placing them onto the shelf. After all, the job was fairly brainless. Just a little tiring. Yu could handle it just fine.
“Oh, uh, ok.”
Yu picked up a box, fumbling with the box cutter. Eventually he got it in a position to cut open the wrapping… sadly, with the way he was holding the box, a few glass containers of olives fell out. Yosuke quickly noticed and, with a frantic movement, managed to catch a few before the rest fell to their demise while Yu look a panicked step back.
“Aw man, just uh, here,” Yosuke handed Yu the unbroken olive jars. “I’ll go get a mop.”
Yuri was there when Yosuke came back. She had paper towels on the floor, picking up olives and glass. Yu stood by, looking sheepish. With her and Yosuke’s teamwork, the mess was cleaned up in under 10 minutes. A new personal best.
Yuri stood up, scanning the floor for any debris she missed. “Don’t worry, my first week I flipped an entire pallet of salsa. We were cleaning that up for days!” She laughed. “I think aisle 7 still smells like Mexico.”
Yu smiled at her, all embarrassment gone. Yosuke felt a pit at the bottom of his stomach.
“Anyways, I gotta get back to work. It was nice meeting you, though! I look forward to working with ya!” She waved as she made her way back over to her pallet.
“She seems nice.” Yu smiled after her.
“Er, yeah. Anyways, maybe you should just watch me for today.” Yosuke didn’t mean to glare, but he must’ve because Yu stood back and didn’t say much for the rest of the shift.
~~~
Yosuke let out a long yawn, navigating the pallet mover back through the door.
“... and then once you’re done… you just kinda… yeah.” He showed more than he explained as he parked the pallet mover, plugging it in for the night. Then he turned around and stretched, allowing his arms to fall by his side. “And yeah that’s it.”
Just as he was turning to leave, Yuri emerged through the door, pallet in tow, and waved. “Hey! Thanks for the help tonight you two! Definitely got more done than usual!”
Yosuke nodded back, watching her park her cart and let out a long yawn.
In response, both of the boys yawned back.
“Looks like we’re all ready for a nap!” She chuckled, making her way to them. “So, how was the first day?” She turned specifically to Yu.
He smiled back. “Other than dropping olives all over the place? Pretty good.”
“Oh don’t worry, you’ll get the hang of it! Hey pro tip…”
Yosuke followed behind as they made their way to the breakroom, tagging behind, fists clenched. He still had no clue why he was so mad, seeing his coworkers getting along.
And then it clicked.
Their interactions, the whole thing, felt a lot like when he first met Saki. Even down to the events. She had dropped a few cases of cheese her first day. Yosuke saw and ran over to help. Even the “can’t wait to work with ya!” from earlier sounded just like him talking to Saki.
“... oh! We should check the schedules to. Hanamura-san posted them earlier today.”
Yosuke and Yu punched out while she flipped through a paper posted on the pinboard.
“Hum… yeah looks like it’s gonna be us three for a few days this week. I get to train ya at the end of the week, though! Have fun going back to a normal sleep schedule, Hanamura-san!” She giggled.
Yu smiled.
Yosuke choked out a laugh.
“Cya guys Monday!” Yuri waved again, shrugging on a coat, punching out, and pushing the door open.
“Well she’s definitely a lot friendlier than that nurse I was talking about.” Yu stated, completely deadpan.
“Wh- dude!”
~~~
Monday came quicker than Yosuke would've liked it to.
He made his way through the store and entered the breakroom, only to find it Yu-less. Puzzled, he punched in, then pulled out his phone, shooting his Partner a text.
With no response a few minutes later, he made his way to the backroom, wondering if Yu went on without him.
Sure enough, he was back there, and Yuri was letting him drive one of the pallet movers.
"Ok… so now you just turn it the way you wanna go. It's kinda like a car, except you walk with it."
Yosuke approached, and Yuri gave him a warm smile, glancing away for one second. "Oh hey Hanam- wait- WAIT NO STOP!"
Yu looked out of control as Yuri quickly reached over, pressing a red button and making the machine move back. Yu had ran it straight into a towering pallet of various glass jars of jelly.
The trio held their breath as it swayed, and then settled, nothing tipping over.
"That… was a close one," Yosuke sighed.
"Uh… s-sorry."
Yuri giggled. "Don’t worry, I'm sure you'll get the hang of it!"
Yu did not get the hang of it.
As per training procedure, Yosuke allowed Yu to drive the pallet mover around the store. For someone seemingly so great at everything they did, precision accuracy in the TV world and all, Yu was not good at the job.
Even with no pallets involved, he somehow crushed many shelved chips, and broke many corner displays.
Eventually, Yosuke had to take the pallet mover back before the whole store crumpled.
“Here, dude. Just… watch me, again.” Yosuke took the pallet mover, letting it drag behind him, carefully navigating the aisles.
“When you’re turning corners, make sure you adjust correctly, and watch the corner you’re- hey, what are you doing?”
Yu looked up from his notebook. “Notes.”
“I-” Yosuke sighed, willing to try anything at this point. “I guess if you think it’ll help… anyways, as I was saying…”
Yosuke continued to explain, pulling the bulky machine as Yu nodded along, scribbling down notes. It was odd, in a way. Here was the Investigation Team leader, failing so badly at something Yosuke was actually decent at. It was like a position swap, he was so used to taking commands and learning from his leader. Now he was giving commands, and Yu was following. Yosuke was suddenly the leader, and it actually felt pretty good, both being better at something than Yu and giving him instructions. Not that he would ever admit that outloud.
“... and yeah, other than that, you just need to practice. Here.” Yosuke handed over the handle of the pallet mover, watching Yu take it cautiously.
Yosuke cringed as Yu almost immediately ran it into a wall, causing a loud THUNK to echo throughout the store.
Immediately following, he heard footsteps coming their way and groaned internally.
“Everything alright over here? That didn’t sound too good.” Yuri jogged her way over, eyebrows pressed together, headphones around her neck.
“Uh, yeah, it’s alright.” Yosuke said, in an attempt to get Yuri back to her own station.
The statement was quickly counteracted by another loud THUNK. Yosuke turned around, only to find Yu driving the pallet mover away from a giant mess of various peanut bags.
Instead of walking away, like Yosuke was hoping, Yuri went up to Yu. “Here, you kinda wanna put your hand like…” she placed her hand over his, showing him how to hold the handle correctly. “This.”
Yosuke folded back, wanting to tell Yuri that she should go back to her station.
“Yeah, there you go. Then you just kinda lightly… yes! You’re getting it!” Her hand was still on top of Yu’s as she pressed both their thumbs down on the forward button. The machine started moving forward slowly.
“Wow, that actually makes a lot of sense. Thank you, Kanwachi-san.” Yu said, smiling down at her, walking with the machine.
She giggled. “No problem!” She stopped the pallet right in front of Yosuke, smiling. “Hey Yosuke, I’m gonna keep helping him with the pallet mover, I have a bit more practice with it than you do so maybe I should show him this part. It might help! Do you mind cleaning up the peanuts and finishing my pallet?”
Yosuke sighed. He could argue, but honestly she was right. It would probably help. He nodded.
“Awesome!" She turned back to Yu. "Ok so you wanna make sure you start slow and have enough space to…”
They walked off, leaving Yosuke to angrily throw peanut bags back onto the shelf.
He caught them a few times as he unloaded the next few pallets. By the time Yosuke was done with the second pallet, she was letting Yu drive, explaining intricacies that Yosuke couldn’t verbalize.
Even with his headphones up, Yosuke didn’t miss the smile on their faces and their laughter throughout the store.
~~~
At the end of the shift Yosuke decided to walk Yu home. However, instead of talking Yu’s ear off like usual, Yosuke was almost completely silent, arms crossed, and never looking directly at Yu.
“Everything alright?” They must’ve been walking for about 5 minutes before Yu asked, concern lacing his voice.
Yosuke sighed, letting his arms fall to his side. “Yeah, I just... “
“You know, if it’s bothering you, I can quit the job. But you do realize tomorrow is your last day of training. Then we won’t have to run into each other aga-”
“Wh- no, no! It- it’s not that. Just… I dunno man.” Yosuke recrossed his arms, refocusing on the path ahead of them.
“Is it Yuri?”
Yosuke practically jumped, stopping in his tracks and turning to Yu. “W-what?! N-no!”
It most definitely was Yuri.
Yosuke closed his eyes, taking a deep breath.
“Yosuke… you can be honest with me.”
Yosuke squeezed his eyes closed and rubbed the bridge of his nose, attempting to get rid of the sudden pounding headache. “No - it’s just. She - well like you two - it reminds me a lot of Saki-senpai. You know?”
Yu’s face suddenly fell. “Oh, uh yeah, I get it.”
“She just, I dunno the situation between you two…”
“It’s ok Yosuke, I completely get it. And I think I can help out a bit tomorrow.” Yu smiled, but it didn’t exactly reach his eyes.
Yosuke looked back, even he couldn’t quite put his finger on what exactly was bothering him, but he wouldn’t decline help from his best friend. He nodded.
The rest of the walk home was silent.
~~~
Tuesday was weird.
When they all arrived, Yuri tried to help Yu again, but he quickly shrugged her off, excitedly insisting that he thought about it all day and decided the only way he would get any better at navigating the store was if he was left alone to do so. He then suggested that Yosuke and Yuri work together instead, saying something about how they worked well together, and pointing to their clean-up job from a few days ago as evidence.
The two just shrugged and decided to let Yu go off on his own.
The next odd thing happened when Yosuke and Yuri were stocking shelves. Per Yu’s insistence, they both worked together on a single pallet. Yosuke got one side of the aisle while Yuri got the other.
“Ya know, Yu-kun is pretty sweet. Working with him yesterday was a lot of fun! You guys are good friends, right?” Yuri asked, tossing boxes of mac-n-cheese onto the top shelf.
“Uh, I mean, yeah I guess you could say that.” Yosuke shrugged, pulling cans of pasta sauce and placing them on the bottom shelf.
“Ya know… we make a good team… when Yu-kun gets the hang of it I think we’re gonna work really well together.” It might’ve been in Yosuke’s mind, but her voice seemed to get more suggestive towards the end.
“Yeah, sure.” Yosuke grunted, pulling jars from the pallet with more intensity than he was a few seconds ago.
“I think I’m gonna ask him out.”
Yosuke dropped a jar of sauce. It splattered everywhere. His mouth was wide open, as if he wanted to say a sentence, but all that came out was little sputtering noises, as if he had just malfunctioned.
He looked over just in time to see Yuri smirk. “Knew it,” she muttered.
Before Yosuke responded, she offered to go get a mop and started to walk off.
That’s when the third weird thing happened.
A distinctive scream and the loudest crash Yosuke ever heard rattled throughout the store.
Yosuke’s heart stopped, realization flooding in. It was either one of two things, a burglar who was really bad at what they were doing or- “YU?!?” He was immediately on his feet, running past Yuri, towards the sound of the crash.
He ran, one thing on his mind. Yu. Was he hurt? Did something happen? No, no, no! Of course you shouldn’t leave a new employee alone! What were they thinking?? And if Yu was hurt there was no way in hell Yosuke would be able to live with himself. What if it was worse? No! What would he do? He couldn’t live without Yu, he couldn’t think without Yu, he needed Yu!
He must’ve ran for a full minute, dodging and weaving through shelves, before making it to the other side of the store, the scene splayed out in front of him.
“Yu!?!” He ran right over to his bewildered friend, quickly looking him over for broken bones or scrapes. There was nothing. He was ok.
Without thinking, Yosuke pulled him into a big hug. “I- I thought. Did-did you-? What-”
He had started crying. When did he start crying? This wasn’t exactly the time to get emotional.
.... why was he so emotional?!
He tried to stop crying, but the only thing he managed was a guttural sob into Yu’s workshirt.
“Yosuke? I- I’m ok. Just knocked over a giant display of soda.” He somehow sounded more perplexed and worried than he looked when Yosuke found him.
“Y- you i-idiot I t-thought you really hurt y-yourself!” Yosuke punched him on the back, still hugging him and crying into his shirt.
It took a second before he felt arms circle him, Yu slowly rocking them back and forth. “It’s ok, I’m ok.”
Yosuke looked up just in time to see Yuri turn the corner, concerned expression quickly falling into relief, then to something Yosuke couldn’t quite pinpoint.
She laughed, shaking her head.
Yu must’ve heard her because he let go of Yosuke and looked over at her, baffled.
She stopped shaking her head. “Oh, it’s nothing. I’ll go get the floor scrubber.” And with that, she walked off.
It took Yosuke a second to come back to himself before he realized he was still hugging Yu. Upon this realization, he let go and backed up. “I- uh, so… what happened?”
Yu went on to explain how the pallet mover had a complete mind of its own, and it went and decided to run straight into the wall of soda, which was starting to get sticky under their feet.
Yosuke nodded along, picking up destroyed soda cans and obviously not buying it, until Yuri turned the corner with the floor-scrubber. Yosuke took the pallet mover out of the way as she cleaned up the spill, leaving the floor polished, as if nothing ever happened.
With a sigh, Yuri checked her phone. “We didn’t exactly get much done… but man, I’m more than ready to go home. What about you guys?”
Yosuke nodded, even knowing he’d be in for a lecture from his dad in the morning. Despite the little they got done, the night was exhausting. Yu had no choice but to go along.
~~~
The night was cold, and the three had decided to walk home together. They made idle chat until they reached Yu’s street.
“I guess I’ll see you tomorrow, Yuri. And I’ll see you at school, Yosuke.” He smiled, but something still seemed off as he bowed his head and turned away. The two watched him walk down his street until the darkness made his silhouette hard to follow.
“Man, he’s been acting strange. Kinda worried,” Yosuke frowned as he and Yuri continued walking.
“Mmm, yeah.”
They walked on for a few minutes, the cool autumn night nipping at their faces.
“Sooo… how long have you liked him?”
Yosuke gracefully tripped on a rather treacherous patch of air, nearly falling face first into the road before Yuri caught his sleeve.
“Whoa there, you ok?” She questioned.
“What- hahaha, ye- yeah of course I’m ok… what did you say?” Yosuke scratched the back of his neck as he felt himself blush.
“I asked how long you’ve liked him.” She stated, matter-of-factly.
“Huh?”
She rolled her eyes, looking forward. “Jeez, you two seem denser than a rock. Careful, if you join forces you might create a blackhole and swallow the world whole,” Yosuke looked back, bewildered at her statement. “I’m not blind, you know?”
“Uhhh-”
“Dude, all he talked about yesterday was you. It was all ‘Yosuke’ this and ‘Yosuke’ that and ‘Yosuke is seriously the most best friend I’ve ever had’ blah blah blah. Maybe this is sharing too much, but I think you guys need the help - I got him to admit he likes you, hum?”
Yosuke’s heart practically leapt through his chest. Yu… liked him? Like, like liked him? That… why…
“And come on, the way you acted yesterday when I went off with him? You had a total pouty-face. And then today when you dropped that can of sauce after I said I was gonna ask him out. Dude, priceless, seriously.”
Yosuke only stared at her in disbelief.
“By the way… I completely lied. Dude seems cool, and hot, but seriously weird. Plus you’re literally the only thing he talks about. I wouldn’t ask him out, and I’m not interested in him that way.”
Yosuke still couldn’t formulate words, and was getting further away from his ability to do so.
“Oh, also, I’m calling out for the rest of the week. Someone’s gonna have to keep training Yu. In the store. By yourselves.” She gave him a wink as she turned down a sidestreet. “Later, ya love-sick dingus!”
Yosuke somehow made it home, got into bed, and didn’t sleep a wink.
~~~
Sure enough, the next morning his dad let him know he would be working the night shift with Yu for the rest of the week. Yosuke completely missed his cereal bowl when he went to pour his milk.
All day at school, Yosuke couldn’t speak a whole sentence to Yu, who seemed just as oblivious as ever. Did he… did he really like Yosuke like that?
And why was Yosuke actually really excited about that possiblity?
But no. There was no way- he liked Yuri, it was so obvious…
… but like, did he?!?
It was gonna be another long night.
Yosuke showed up sometime around 10:30pm, after willing himself out of bed before his dad got home to yell at him.
He parked his bike, slouching his way to the door, and turning the key in so he could slide it open.
Someone was already in the back, he could hear the signature CLUNK of the pallets moving. Yu was an idiot, sure nothing necessarily horrible happened last night, but he could get seriously hurt here alone.
With that thought in mind, Yosuke quickly made his way to the breakroom, punched in, and ran to the backroom. Sure enough, Yu was there, moving around empty pallets, attempting to stack them on top of each other.
“Dude,” Yosuke sighed.
Noticing his presence, Yu looked up, and smiled. A real one, one that proved he was happy to see his Partner. Yet, it was only there for a second as it fell into a shadow of itself. “Well, how’d yesterday go?”
“Huh?” Yosuke asked, confused as he approached.
“You know, with Yuri. You guys go back to her house or have you not even asked her yet?”
“Ask- dude, what the hell are you talking about?” Yosuke crossed his arms, attempting to read Yu’s expression.
“You know, ask her out. You said she reminded you of Saki, and us hanging out bothered you. I assumed-”
“Huh? What? Dude, no way in hell I’d date her. She’s chill and all but she’s really not my type.”
Yu seemed to perk up at this news. “Oh, well, sorry for misreading the situation.” He turned back to the pallet mover, carefully arranging it as to place the other pallet…
“Ya man, if you wanna ask her out, feel free.” Yosuke shrugged back. Yuri was probably kidding the other day, right? Yu wasn’t into… he wasn’t like that. Neither was Yosuke, for that matter.
Still, what Yosuke said must’ve startled Yu. The pallet machine lurched forward, taking down the perfectly stacked pallets with it.
Yosuke flinched. “Er, sorry?”
“I- I uh. Yeah I don’t really want to ask her out either,” Yu sighed, looking at the mess of pallets.
Something inside of Yosuke was pretty happy to hear that directly from Yu, but he ignored it, deciding to focus on his job for once. “Alright, well, we can worry about this later. I’m gonna teach you how to do the cooler tonight, less things to break.”
They made their way back to the breakroom so Yosuke could grab a company-issued sweat jacket. He threw it over his head and then turned to Yu, who was still standing in the short sleeve shirt and apron.
“Did you get a jacket or…?”
Yu shook his head, Yosuke frowned.
“Here, I usually keep my spare around here somewhere.” Yosuke dug around in the small locker space, eventually coming across a slightly crumpled baby blue pull-over. “Ah hah! It’s not exactly a company jacket, but we’re the only two here so whatever.”
Yu took the jacket.
Yosuke winked at him. “Careful with it though, that’s my favorite hoodie.” He was taken back a little bit when he made out some red on Yu’s face.
No, nope. It was obviously nothing.
But then Yu pulled Yosuke’s favorite light blue hoodie over his head and Yosuke’s heart started doing somersaults. “Uh… y-yeah, cooler.”
The back of the cooler was a smaller space than out on the floor, designed for one person to stock. With two full pallets, it was even smaller. To one side was where all the stocked items were rolled down to meet the customers, the highest shelf was at least a foot above both of the boys heads. The other side was a metal wall stocked high with different pallets full of cooler items. The middle left just enough space to roll a mover around.
Yosuke expertly maneuvered the mover into the small space, scooping up the first pallet, while explaining more of the basics to Yu. “... and then ya just move the pallet back and forth so ya don’t have to walk far. Got it?”
Yu nodded.
It was actually going pretty smoothly, Yosuke showing Yu where things went, while the other boy tried to help out as much as he could. They bumped into each other a lot, as you do in a small space. Still, every time he’d stand up to find Yu right there his breath would catch a little. Yet, he was persistent at ignoring any cutesy fluttering feeling, racking it up to his lack of sleep over the past week.
Finally, they reached the bottom of the first pallet, and Yosuke was dying. The cooler was cold, yet he was still sweating like crazy, his arms were painful from lifting everything, and his feet hurt. Stocking was somehow like the TV World, but worse. You think he’d be fine with it, running miles through dungeons and swinging kunis around, but alas lifting milk and bacon still got the best of him.
He stretched up, letting out a long yawn. The last part was easy to find, it was all concentrated in a single area, but also pretty heavy. Drinks. Yosuke didn’t feel like hoisting gallons above his head, especially not this tired, and well, he was technically the weaker of the two here.
He turned to Yu. “Hey, think you can get this last bit? Everythings right there.” He pointed to an area next to the large machine. “I’ll start on the next pallet.”
Yu nodded as Yosuke ripped the plastic-wrap off of the next pallet. He wasn’t able to move it, since the small area wasn’t big enough for multiple people and multiple movers, but he could at least get it started.
To his dismay, the next pallet was stocked high with creamer, another heavy item on the top shelf. Still lighter than orange juice.
With a huff, he lifted the creamer up, sending it down the little rollers until it hit the end with a satisfying plop.
At some point he stopped paying attention to what he was doing, mindlessly tossing crates up, and looking over at Yu, who was still wearing Yosuke’s light blue hoodie, hair now slightly askew from working. He could make out some of Yu’s arm muscles through the shirt, it was oddly mesmerizing, watching him grab a box of whatever, stand up, and place it on the shelf only to watch it roll down and out of sight.
However, the routine was broken when he looked over at Yosuke, his eyes widening. “Look out!”
Yu careened himself at Yosuke, knocking both of them to the ground before a loud SPLAT rang out. Creamer seemed to rain from the heavens, coating the floor where Yosuke was standing. Had that hit him in the head, it definitely would’ve hurt like hell.
But that wasn’t what was on his mind at that moment. What was on his mind was the fact that Yu was currently on top of him, bear-hugging Yosuke to keep him from hitting the concrete floor, closed eyes inches from his nose.
After a second, the eyes blinked open, only to meet Yosuke’s shocked ones. “I- uh, s-sorry.” Yu clamered off of Yosuke, face redder than a tomato as he stood up, extending his hand.
“What- no, uh, thanks man. That would’ve sucked if it hit me. Guess I stocked one too many.” Yosuke laughed, taking Yu’s hand and attempting to ignore the blush on his own face.
They were still close when Yosuke stood up. Now Yosuke could make out Yu’s face. Worried eyes, high cheekbones… no, nope.
“I- I’ll go get a mop,” Yosuke turned away and darted out of the cooler, not even waiting for a response from Yu.
They mopped up the puddle, then got back to work. The cooler remained silent.
The rest of the night went off without a hitch, but that was probably because Yosuke also did the entirety of the second pallet, leaving him beyond exhausted for the walk home.
The walk was pretty quiet up until Yu’s street.
“I- I’ll see-” Yosuke let out a long yawn, “seeya tomorrow.” He waved back, but Yu didn’t turn.
“You look like you’re gonna pass out if I let you walk back alone. I don’t want to find you laying in the street in the morning.” Yu gave him a worried look.
“Hum? I’m good man. See?” Yosuke took one step forward, but he forgot how much his feet hurt and stumbled a little bit, almost tripping over his own left foot.
“C’mon.” Yu didn’t take no for an answer, walking up to Yosuke and putting a hand on his back, guiding him towards Yosuke’s house.
Yosuke was almost too tired to articulate thoughts, five hours of non-stop stocking and less than ten hours of sleep that week in total would do that to a person. There was one persistent thought on his mind, however, and he couldn’t stop his mouth from forming the words. “So, like, you’re really not interested in Yuri?”
Yu shook his head.
“Heh. Good.” Yosuke mumbled.
Yu shot him a puzzled look. “I thought you didn’t like her either?”
“What? Oh- I don’t.” What he had said still hadn’t quite registered in his brain.
“Then why is that a good thing?”
And that’s when it registered. “Huh, wha- uhh.” His brain still felt like it was 3/4ths of the way asleep as he tried to come up with an excuse. “Well when we walked home yesterday she said you liked someone else. Now I know she’s not lying to me.” Yosuke mentally pat himself on the back for that response. Heck yes half tired brain, you go.
Yu’s face lit up like a firetruck. “D-did she say who I liked.”
Yosuke, who was still mentally patting himself on the back, hummed a yes in response as a reflex reaction.
He felt Yu’s hand come off of his back and murmured in disapproval at the loss of warmth.
“S-she did?” Yu had stopped walking, Yosuke turned around to face him. And then, once again, realized what he had just admitted.
His eyes went wide. He couldn’t just lie, could he? His best friend - his Partner was asking him and he couldn’t just… but then how would he...
Panic. That was the only thing his half tired mind was capable of, and then Yu was like right there, red in the face, and then in a moment of complete basically-drunk brilliance, Yosuke approached him, quickly closing his eyes, and grabbing Yu’s face, landing a kiss almost right on the lips. Sadly, in his mostly dead state, he aimed a little low, hitting his friend right on the chin.
Almost immediately, he backed out, hands laying on his Partner’s shoulders, face probably containing all the blood in his body, and eyes wider than what he thought possible. Yu’s face wasn’t much different.
They stood there for a second, embarrassment and awkwardness hanging in the air until Yu’s mouth slowly turned up into a smile, and he broke down laughing.
Yosuke stepped away as Yu fell to the ground in a Yukiko-style laughing fit, which somehow only made Yosuke blush more.
If the whole situation served one purpose, at least Yosuke was fully awake now. “H-hey.”
“Sorry,” Yu wiped a tear from his eye, standing back up. “That was just…” He bit his lip, looking Yosuke in the eye.
Yosuke huffed, turning away continuing the walk home.
Yu quickly caught up, but Yosuke kept himself turned away.
They walked on silently for a few minutes before Yu spoke up. “Be honest with me… was that…?”
Yosuke stopped paralyzed, he was deluding himself if he thought he could just ignore what he did, and he was way past lying himself out of this situation, so instead he sighed and turned towards Yu. “Yeah. It was.”
More silence hung in the air as the situation dawned on the two boys.
“Then… do you think you could… try again?”
Yosuke looked up at Yu, who was staring at the street, still biting his lip.
Yosuke’s heart stopped again for a second. No, no! He wasn’t like that. He shouldn’t, he just shouldn’t… but then why did it feel so natural, going up and kissing his best friend? Why did he want to so badly?
His brain was still partially asleep, but it was awake enough to understand that he might not get another chance. It was now or never again.
So, with a sly smile, he approached his Partner, cupping his face and looking into his eyes, before landing a kiss in the correct spot this time.
Yosuke was officially looking forward to working the night shift for the rest of the week.