Work Text:
You took in a deep breath, trying to calm yourself down as you raised a shaking fist to the door that would inevitably lead you to a painfully honest heart-to-heart with none other than Yusuke Kitagawa, the Phantom Thieves' resident artist, also known as Fox and your (supposedly) unrequited crush. You didn't think he would make anything awkward; it was Yusuke after all. He was well-meaning, if naive at times, but you could hardly blame that on anything else but his upbringing. But the way he'd phrased his request for you to model for him made you think you'd be revealing a little more than your "artistic" side.
He had asked you to model for him instead of Ann when Madarame's confession had come out on live television, which had come as quite the surprise to everyone (especially you.) After all, even at Shujin, people always saw the exotic quarter-American girl instead of the fallen track star that associated with the likes of Ryuji Sakamoto and Akira Kurusu. Ann had been more than willing to give her spot to you, considering the unspoken disaster that had led up to Yusuke's awakening, but you weren't sure if you'd do much better.
The door opened, snapping you out of your downward-spiralling thoughts. Yusuke greeted you with a serene smile that made your heart pang a little. "Hello," he said. "I already have everything set up, so do you think you'd be able to get ready immediately?"
You laughed a little as you stepped in through the door. "What exactly would I be getting ready for?"
He didn't answer, prompting you to look up at him while you slid your shoes off. To your surprise, his face was tinged with pink and he stoutly avoided your eyes. In the past few months of knowing him, he was always calm and collected. You'd never seen him get anxious before, let alone embarrassed because of something like this.
"Well..." He took his lip between his teeth and rubbed the back of his head. You ignored how attractive he looked at that moment. "It was...something Akira had suggested."
"Oh God," you groaned. Between the current Phantom Thieves, Akira had been the quickest to find out about your (major) crush on Yusuke, and the most vocal in his teasings when Yusuke was out of earshot. You could easily think of a list of ideas he'd given Yusuke, ranked in order from SFW to NSFW, although most of them certainly fell in the latter half of the list. "What is it? You don't have to do it if you're uncomfortable with it, you know. I can tell him to fuck off--"
"He suggested that you model naked."
The suddenness of his confession made you stop dead in your tracks, staring at him like a deer caught in headlights. You held his gaze for longer than you'd anticipated, but it was like that simple sentence had fried your brain, filling your mind with static. Yusuke slowly grew more and more mortified until he finally covered his face and shook his head. "N-Never mind, it was a foolish idea. I should have a word with Akira for even suggesting you should do something like that--"
"Sure."
You immediately wished you could take that back. You'd blurted it out without thinking, and now the modest flushing of your cheeks had turned into a wildfire. You buried your face in your hands, hoping it didn't look as hot as it felt, feeling Yusuke's startled stare boring into the crown of your skull.
"...Really?" he asked, his voice wavering between hesitation and...excitement? "I didn't wish to ask you because I thought you would be uncomfortable with the idea. It would have been purely your decision, but if you're certain..."
"What are you trying to paint?" you finally asked, trying to grasp at anything that would take your mind off the idea of you laying on the floor in nothing but your birthday suit while Yusuke painted you. The sentence "paint me like one of your French girls" had always been laughable, even meme-worthy material in your eyes, but it seemed far less so when you were indirectly asking him to do as such.
He took a moment to answer, giving you the opportunity to finally cool yourself down and bring yourself out from your makeshift shell. His eyes had latched onto yours once again, making your heart beat so hard it physically hurt. "Desire," he said quietly. "I have an art competition coming up in about a week's time and Akira had allowed me to accompany him to Mementos, but I wished to have a...fallback, if you will, just in case my initial painting does not turn out well."
He only thinks of you as his second choice.
That thought almost made you double over as though your inner psyche had sucker punched you in the gut, but you managed to steel yourself. Yusuke had already said countless times in the past that you were one of the most important people in his life although not in the way you wanted to be so there should be no doubt in your mind that he was telling the truth. Yet in the face of his newest revelation, you couldn't help the sinking dread that made you think otherwise.
"I'd be glad to help then," you said, not thinking in your haste to push aside your doubts. Once again, you wished there were some way to turn back time and take back what you said, but you couldn't back down now. Not when you could finally get Yusuke's honest words out in the open and decide once and for all if you should push this silly crush to the side or not.
To solidify your decision, you began unbuttoning the front of your uniform, having come to Yusuke's dorm room the moment school let out for the day. Yusuke, being the kind gentleman that he was, turned away immediately and busied himself with setting up the canvas on his easel and straightening the tarp on the ground. You saw him look over his shoulder for a second as you slid your shirt over your head and began working on your undergarments. His shoulders drew forward as though he'd been dealt a physical blow.
"What's wrong?" you asked, trying to keep your voice from shaking. "Am I really that unattractive?"
"No, quite the opposite."
He began filling his palette with various colors of paints, seemingly oblivious to the way you gawked at him, your mind turning to static once again before you remembered where you were.
Having worked off the last articles of clothing, you sat uncertainly on the tarp, unsure of the proper way to position yourself. Yusuke peeked around the canvas; you supposed it was easier to disconnect himself from the situation and think of you as an unpaid model rather than a fellow Phantom Thief and close confidant.
"A-Allow me."
His small stammer distracted you to the point where you didn't realize what he was doing until you felt his cold fingers close around your arm. You flinched and swore from the shock, guilt flooding your chest as Yusuke drew back hastily. "I'm sorry, you just scared me. I...I don't mind."
He nodded, keeping a gentler grip on you as he arranged you like an art mannequin. His gaze flitted up to yours every so often, gauging how you were feeling, and you were touched by the care he put into making sure his hands didn't stray to any of your private areas. Even his eyes were firmly fixated to the safer portions of your body until he finally stood up and surveyed your pose. He adjusted individual parts to his liking and stepped back with a nod of approval.
"Just like this?"
He returned to his canvas and picked up his paintbrush. "Just like that."
The sound of his brush against the canvas was oddly soothing, and you tried to imagine what he was doing to occupy yourself as the hours dragged on. Yusuke seemed to have prepared ahead of time for your naked modeling; the air condition was cool but not freezing, pointed away from you and instead circulating throughout the room. You resisted the urge to slouch, not wanting to ruin Yusuke's supposed masterpiece. Judging by the amount of time he was putting into the canvas, you figured he was either having trouble or taking his time, and you desperately hoped it was the latter.
You chanced a glance over to the clock once he said you were okay to move your head and saw that it was nearing 8 o'clock. "Yusuke?" you called. "It's starting to get late. Do you think you have a stopping point you can pick up on tomorrow afternoon?"
He didn't answer. You puffed your cheeks out in frustration. A little more time couldn't hurt.
Another hour passed before he finally stood up with a great flourish. "You're okay to move now," he said with another gentle smile, his facial muscles twitching from lack of use. "I'm sorry it took so long. I wanted to make sure you were portrayed in a lovely light."
You dropped to the ground with a relieved groan, your muscles aching from holding the same position for so long. "Thank God," you said. You started to move from your collapsed state, mumbling something about your bag and your clothes, but stopped in your tracks as a familiar body dropped onto his knees next to your figure. "Yusuke, what's up?"
He didn't say anything again. You let out a hissed curse once again as his paint brush put a tiny dot on your torso. You looked up, expecting an apology of some sorts to come spilling from his lips like it always did, but you were met instead by a determined gaze you had only ever seen in the Metaverse before. The sight sent chills down your spine and you quieted immediately, your jaw going slack ever so slightly.
"They say the human body is the greatest canvas," he murmured. "Do you mind if I..."
Without thinking, you nodded, turning onto your back and letting him have his way with the brush.
You watched as he put delicate golden and silver swirls onto your torso, keeping them within a certain area that you knew was deliberate. After all, it would be difficult to explain to your friends why there were suspiciously familiar paint marks on your stomach should you decide to wear more revealing summer clothing. Yusuke was oddly concentrated on his task, as though you were the art piece he was planning to submit, and a strange heat began to course through your body until you finally couldn't stand the silence any longer.
"Yusuke, what am I to you?"
His brush veered slightly off course, painting a rose pink racing stripe across your belly button. He stopped his ministrations and turned fully to you, setting his supplies on the ground carefully. "What do you mean?" he asked, seeming to choose his words carefully.
"Well, you don't really paint a good friend's naked body out of nowhere without thinking something is up," you replied dryly (although not really, considering the wet paint still on your skin.) "I can't handle this...this back and forth we have going on right now. Sometimes you return my advances and other times it feels like you're completely ignoring me. Sometimes I feel like I mean the world to you and other times it seems you'd rather look at Ann or Akira instead. It's just so frustrating!"
Your voice had risen without your knowledge until you ended your rant with a shout. You clammed up, knowing there were students on either side of Yusuke's room that wouldn't take kindly to a melodramatic teenager doling out frustrated confessions to an equally frustrating crush. Instead, you pressed your lips into a thin white line and stared at Yusuke, daring him to speak and trying to ignore the painful thrum of your heart against your chest.
It took him ages to respond. By that point, the paint had already dried, and your patience had similarly done the same. You sighed angrily and shook your head, beginning to get up. "It's late," you muttered. "I'll get out of your hair, Yusuke, since you clearly don't want me here unless it's for your craft--"
"No."
His stern proclamation turned your point of view on its head. You turned to look over your shoulder, a question already on your lips, when Yusuke decided to steal your breath away from you instead.
Although you were undoubtedly frustrated, you had a habit of listening to your heart over you head, and as a result you sank into the kiss greedily. His hands landed on your hips, his touch feathery and gentle as though afraid you would shatter in his grip like a glass vase. You wrapped your arms around his shoulders, a pleasant buzzing sensation working its way around your core. He moved a hand up to the small of your back and kept the other on your waist, freeing his lips from yours just long enough to press them against your neck.
You gasped, the worry of the clock behind you fading into nothingness. Instead, you concerned yourself with Yusuke; instead, you lost yourself in him.