Archive of Our Own

The Samegawa Flood Plain was covered in morning’s dew, releasing the scent of the grass around them. Yosuke yawned, “Why do you want to race so badly?”

“It’ll be fun,” Yu did mini-squats. “To the poll on the other side.” The silver haired teen suddenly smiled, “Why don’t we make this more exciting? If I win, I get your Junes discount for a month.”

Yosuke pursed his lips, “And what would I get if I win?”

“I’ll write your next essay.” Yu gave a small smile, “You’re totally going to fail, and I guarantee you an A.”

“Deal!”

For the whole week following that race, Yosuke had been smiling like a complete idiot. It wasn’t even a challenge! He had a much faster persona than Yu, and that doubled for themselves as well. His partner wasn’t as fast as him, period. It felt good to finally be better than him in something. He wasn’t as fast as him, and that was fact now.

“Alright class, I will be assigning an essay.”

Yosuke’s smile grew tenfold and he brought his hand up to cover it.

“The topic was actually suggested by one of your more, delicate, students.” Ms. Kashiwagi crossed her arms, which squeezed her breast abnormally close to one another. There went half the class’ attention. “Your topic is to write about someone you love—and I don’t mean parents or siblings. I mean romantically love, fiery passion!”

A wave of horror suddenly silenced the class.

“You have until next Thursday, and!” She pointed at them, “Remember to check your spelling and grammar. I don’t want last minute, unedited writing! Alright, class dismissed.” She grabbed her bag and left while there was still fifteen minutes left in school.

Dread, pure dread, was on every student’s face—except Yosuke Hanamura, who pushed his hand onto his face to hide his grin. He was skipping out on pure torture.

Soon, a chorus of murmurs went around the room and Yu turned around. “Mind if I just make someone up?”

“Go for it!” Yosuke chuckled, not caring at all. “As long as I get my A!”

“Alright. Cool.”

The music-loving brunet spent the next week smiling even more than the first week. Nothing could have brought him down. Chie’s side-comments or Teddie’s pestering; nothing could bring his good mood down. Yu was right, he was at risk of failing and a guaranteed A was something he was dying for. All of that by winning a simple race! It was too good to be true!

He smiled even more when he was spending time with Chie or Yukiko and they started complaining about the assignment. Writing about someone you love—for Ms. Kashiwagi? What a bullet!

Yu never complained though, but that was because his partner never complained about anything. Which was good, the gray-eyed teen was letting him enjoy his good mood. If Yu had complained, Yosuke would have felt guilty.

Yosuke was walking on air, and when he was running late to class, he didn’t even mind that he was going to get yelled at—but getting yelled at wasn’t what happened. Nothing happened. It must have been his lucky day!

He slipped through the back and Ms. Kashiwagi only smiled at him. His luck was just too good to be true!

Chie, of course, needed to spoil the moment. “I got yelled at,” she whispered to him, “You should have gotten yelled at, too.”

“Satonaka.”

The kung-fu teen suddenly sat upright. “Y-yes?”

“If you want to whisper, complain and pretend I can’t hear you, why don’t you sit a row back? Change seats with Hanamura.”

“Yes, ma’am.” She nodded and began gathering her things.

Yosuke hid his smirk and quickly switched places, glancing sidelong to his partner.

Yu only smirked back.

Yosuke noted, however, Ms. Kashiwagi was smirking as well, and he gave her a nervous smile in response.

“Your essays have been marked.” She grabbed the stack of papers and walked around the room to hand them out. “Overall, I was very impressed. It was quite a hard topic, and I marked accordingly. And, this is the first time I gave someone above 100%. They really deserved it,” she handed Yosuke the paper faced down and made eye contact. “And in my opinion, you should go for it.”

Feeling everyone staring at him, Yosuke nodded to Ms. Kashiwagi and turned the paper over—115%!—and quickly shoved it into his bag.

Yu looked over, “What did you get?”

“A hundred and fifteen percent.”

“I outdid myself,” the silver haired teen snickered, “No pun intended.”

“What? What pun?”

“Don’t worry about it.”

Yosuke walked home with Yu and Chie until they had to go separate ways. “Ma, I’m home.” He called out as he slipped off his shoes.

“Yosuke!” a blond ran up to him, slobbering a kiss on his cheek and hugging him tightly. “I’ve been so alone without you!”

“Ack, Teddie. Stop.” He shrugged the other male away and rubbed his elbow with his cheek to get the saliva off his face. After a bit of bickering, the two returned to the kitchen table where his father was also sitting.

The brunet decided to pull out the essay, just to see what it was about.

                Since I was a boy, I had always felt my throat get dry and my palms getting all sweaty whenever I talked to cute girls. It was normal, I figured, so where was the harm? I used to think that one day, I will marry a beautiful girl and call her my wife. Lately, however, I feel like my heart is taking another path, and it confuses me. Still, I want to pursue it. Because, while I have always felt small things, like sweaty hands, for girls, I have never felt my blood race and my heart pound for another boy. I’m in love with a boy, Yu Narukami, and I’ve never been more in love in my life. And, yes, I am in love with another boy.

                It surprised me, because I had always been attracted to smaller, girly-girls, but Yu’s body is so perfectly toned. I know he works out, and he has a very athletic build. When I see him without his shirt on, I can’t help but feel like he can protect me and keep me safe, and his control of his body is just as good. He gives me these soft pokes, so I know he can be gentle if we intertwine our bodies. I know if he’d hold me with those arms of his, I’d just melt—this one time, I was crying in the rain and he put his strong arms around me, and when I felt his warmth, I realized how I felt about him.

                And in that moment, he looked at me and that was the first time I ever noticed how beautiful his eyes were. If white is all the colours, then his light grey eyes must also hold all the soft colours. That must be why, when he looks at me, my heart flutters and I get scared.  I’ve never felt this way before. His eyes have that magic. They’re so soft and expressive, too. When he’s angry, the ring in his eye burns with a need to protect, and when he’s happy, his eyes smile with him. And if eyes are the windows to the soul—then he has a beautiful soul, and it’s always looking at me.

                And I can tell he has a beautiful soul because of his caring personality. For one, I am a person who needs a lot of attention, and I can get jealous easy. But when he spends time with me, he gives me all of his attention, ignoring calls and texts from others, and just focuses on me. He’s thoughtful that way, making sure I’m okay and always doing his best to make me smile. Even though we shouldn’t, in class he passes me notes because he knows I’m going through a hard time. He cares about me. I can’t deny it. He cares about me, and it feels good. It makes me feel like I’m worth something.

                So, while there are all the fishes in the sea, and all the girls I could have, I know that it is my destiny to be with him. My heart pounds and aches for him, to hold me, to look at me, and to take care of me. I love him, and I won’t ever deny it. I love him, and I am scared to tell him about how I feel… but I know he’s the one! Because what transcends all of that, is the fact that rumour has it that he has 8 inches of glory he wants to give me.

“…”

“Hm?” Teddie looked up, seeing the brunet’s expression.

Yosuke suddenly dropped the essay on the table and screamed loudly. Not at anything or anyone in particular, just a blood-curdling scream that was made of pure fear. “Ahhh!” He shouted, suddenly dropping to the floor and instantly going into the fetal position.

“Yosuke?” His father frowned, “What’s wrong?”

“Yu! My essay!” He screamed, rolling around on the floor.

“This?” Teddie grabbed it, “Oh look! He got an A+!”

“Congratulations!” His father smiled proudly.

“I plagiarized! I didn’t write it!” Yosuke curled up next to the fridge, burying his face in his hands. “I asked Yu to write it for me!”

“Your mother doesn’t have to know,” his father laughed. “You got an A+, that’s all that matters. But, why would he write it for you?”

“We raced, and it was a bet. I won, so he had to write my next essay.”

“You beat sensei?” Teddie blinked, “I don’t think you’d win a race against him.”

“I’ve seen that boy run,” his father agreed, “You must have been really fast.”

The blond looked over to the older man and handed him the paper. “But why is he rolling around on the floor?”

Yosuke gulped. “We had to write an essay about someone we love. That’s why she made me sit next to him!”

“Why would you have to write that?” His father began skimming the essay and after a couple seconds, he snickered to himself.

“I don’t know, some stupid kid in our class offered the top—” And then Yosuke’s eyes went wide as he looked up slowly.

There was no way he could win a race against Yu. While he did have a faster persona, and he had better reflexes and reactions, when it came to leg-muscle, straight-line running, he would always be beat. And there was no way Ms. Kashiwagi would give that topic unless someone asked for it. There were legal issues and teaching ethics that had stopped her many times before, but if it was requested, she could get away with anything.

“That bastard!” Yosuke shouted, “He planned this all along! I’m going to fucking kill him! Outdid yourself, my ass!”