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Yu Narukami has never been a man of many words. Anyone who’s met him at least once would agree. It doesn’t make him less popular by any means—nah, if anything, it just increases the whole “allure of the mysterious” that have got some of the underclassman in particular hanging off what words he does share. Could anyone really blame them? Any time someone new comes into town, they’re pretty much the first thing everyone talks about, and everyone has a little bit to say about Yu. He just doesn’t always a have a lot to say in return.
That’s not to say he’s silent—far from it. Yu isn’t the type of person to stay quiet when something is important to him, but he’s just not the guy to fill the pauses or start up casual chatting along the way.
It never bothers Yosuke. He knows that his partner chooses what he says carefully and, really, he has to give the guy credit for it. He worries that half of the things that tumble from his own mouth make zero sense, but Yu never seems to have any problem interpreting them, working his way through the muddled stream of consciousness. He’s just that kind of guy, always listening, always accommodating. Sure, he can be a little weird at times and he does this thing where he just kind of stares off into space like he’s receiving messages from the mothership, but he’s remarkably understanding. So he doesn’t always verbalize what’s actually on his mind. Rather than expecting something that from his friend, though, Yosuke has learned something much more important:
Yu is an expert at non-verbal communication. And there’s a lot more that he doesn’t say than what he actually puts into words and full sentences.
Yosuke Hanamura, on the other hand, is an expert on Yu Narukami. Anyone who’s met him probably wouldn’t refute that, either.
Throughout the months, he’s learned to interpret the slight furrow of Yu’s brows that signals he’s thinking deeply about something. It can sometimes happen at seemingly random in the middle of a conversation, but if he averts his gaze, Yosuke knows that someone’s said the magic word to trigger Yu flipping quickly through all his mental notes. When the look clears, he’ll know to speak up if Yu doesn’t already interject into the conversation.
There’s also this completely blank look his entire face takes on when he’s electing not to say something he feels he probably shouldn’t. Yosuke likes to think of it as a common courtesy thing, because while Yu does say some pretty ridiculous things sometimes, he knows his limits. There are people you just can’t please and sometimes saying nothing is better than saying something that you’ll regret. That’s a hard-learned lesson on Yosuke’s part, but Yu has mastered the complete lack of anything showing on his face. The guy must be killer in a game of poker.
His eyes widen differently depending on whether he’s surprised or mildly horrified, although the latter usually involves some form of unfortunate cooking. If he’s annoyed—which takes a lot, mind you, as Yu’s patience is endless and Yosuke really doesn’t know how he puts up with as much as he does—his eyes tend to narrow just a smidgen and sometimes his nose might do this little twitch. It’s subtle, but Yosuke feels like he’s pretty good at picking up on it. That’s just usually his cue to intervene if he can.
When he’s comfortable, he always stands with his weight shifted to his right side, his shoulders relaxed and slightly rolled back. It’s times like those that they’re usually all hanging together as a group, where Yosuke can throw an arm around Yu’s shoulders and the other boy will just accept his weight. As soon as someone he’s less comfortable with comes forward, though, he’ll straighten just enough, shoulders widening and he’ll usually drop his hand from his side to be less casual.
He carries a lot of tension in his shoulders and tends to sit and stand rigidly when he’s been working too hard, and boy does that happen often enough. Yu always seems to be scheduling or planning for something and, while he’s the king of multitasking and fitting everyone into his day, everyone needs a break every now and then. Yosuke sits behind him, too, so it’s readily apparent when he spends the day in class stiff as a board. Yosuke will usually suggest they take the day off, go hang out by the riverbed, or just go grab a bite to eat. That usually does the trick.
But for all the different ways that Yu quietly expresses himself, it’s his smiles that Yosuke feels he has down the best.
He's definitely got his friendly customer service smile, which is a default when he's talking to someone he knows he has to be polite to but maybe feels that they haven't earned it yet. Yu is always on game with his manners and most people will get this smile at least once.
He's got the smile that he gives when he's happy to see everyone first thing in the morning, a little tired, but still pleased. It’s a non-verbal way of saying “good morning, I hope you slept well” when he knows that everyone was up until midnight the night before. It’s a quiet greeting, showing just a little concern, and it’s usually enough to wake Yosuke up a bit on their way to school. He actually looks forward to that one.
There's definitely a smile reserved only for Nanako, but everyone understands that one pretty well. If he didn’t know any better, it’d be difficult to believe that they’re just cousins. It’s the kind of smile that shows adoration and pride all at once, and it goes from the corners of his mouth to his eyes. He just relaxes entirely where she’s involved. It’s the kind of smile that warms your own heart just to see how genuinely he cares about her. It’s hard not to reflect it in turn, and Yosuke knows he’s not the only one who gets wrapped up in their dynamic. Everyone loves Nanako.
He's also got this disturbingly handsome smile—he can say it that way without making it gay, right? —that he turns on every now and then without really knowing it. It's that kind that makes knees go weak and hearts all a flutter. Not…Yosuke’s, necessarily, but just in general. He’s seen it. Yu’s just a natural. Maybe enough that even Yosuke gets a little embarrassed to look at him when he smiles like that.
But for all that Yosuke can categorize his facial expressions, his body language, his smiles…he does have this one look that Yosuke hasn’t been able to dissect just yet. And he’s doing it again.
It’s lunch and they’re sitting on the roof, nothing too out of the ordinary. The lingering warm summer air mixes with the building crispness of autumn, making the weather comfortable but not overbearing. They haven’t quite taken out the fall jackets for their uniforms just yet. Being the generous guy that he is, Yu prepared a lunch the night before and decided to share it with Yosuke, who is always grateful.
After the botched attempts by their friends earlier in the year, apparently Yu saw it fit to make a proper curry. It’s got just the right texture, none of the sticky, sloppy, gritty bits of Mystery Food X. Even the vegetables and meat are sliced to just the right size.
Yu watches Yosuke take the first few bites, expression open but questioning. How is it? Is what his eyes say. Yosuke swallows and grins.
“This is great! Man, is there anything you can’t do? You can fight, you can cook—you’re like the full package.”
Yu let’s out a huff, a pleased smile hanging on the edges of his lips. “I’ll make a good housewife someday.”
Yosuke does a double take as he goes in for his next bite, before letting out a half-amused, half-annoyed scoff. How can he just deliver lines like that without even pausing?
“You had to make it weird, didn’t you?” For all the effort behind his groan, Yosuke isn’t too upset. His partner has always been a little odd, and he’d be lying if I said that wasn’t part of his…charm? Can he call it charm? It definitely sets him apart. Maybe it’s one of those “it’s always the quiet ones” things.
“I’m glad you like it, Yosuke,” Yu says as he dips his spoon into his own bowl.
Yosuke lightens up almost immediately, letting out a gentle snort as he nudges Yu’s shoulder. “C’mon, I like everything you do.”
That’s when he does it.
Yu looks up from his own curry to catch Yosuke’s gaze. He wouldn’t call it a full smile, definitely not the kind of big, dopey grin he would sometimes get around Nanako. It’s not the greeting smile, or that amused almost smirk he and Yosuke share sometimes when they’re both in on a joke no one else is picking up on. Yosuke isn’t even sure he’d call it a smile because the corners of his mouth barely move, but there’s just something in his expression that makes him stop.
There’s warmth there, in his eyes, the lines of his face softening just a bit. It’s intense and it’s one of the few times that Yosuke really notices when silence has fallen between them. It’s unmoving, unyielding, and for a moment Yosuke feels like Yu is looking not through him, but into him, finding all the places he still hides bits of himself that he’s not ready to deal with just yet. It compels him to look right back.
What’s that face even supposed to mean?
He’s seen it a few times, brief times, scattered throughout the past few months. And every time it seems to just come out of nowhere and Yosuke has no idea how to handle it. He stares back, as if that will help him decipher it more properly. It doesn’t. Yu holds his gaze and it feels like a challenge to look away.
What it does do is make his t-shirt suddenly feel much too warm underneath his dress shirt. It’s embarrassing, and part of him wonders if Yu is doing this on purpose just to see Yosuke sweat.
It is Yosuke who eventually breaks away with a cough. “Dude, what’s that face for?”
Yu’s expression stays calm. “…Yosuke?”
He suddenly feels on the spot, his stomach churning, and not from the curry. “Uh…yeah?” Yosuke sputters a little, curious but cautious.
And, in a perfect deadpan, “If I make lunch for you, does that mean I’m your housewife?”
Yosuke nudges Yu roughly and purposefully in the knee. “Would ya cut it out with the ‘housewife’ thing!? People are gonna get the wrong idea!”
Yu seems to contemplate it for a minute, tapping his chin thoughtfully. That is a look that Yosuke knows is entirely for show. It doesn’t have any of the signs of his usual thinking face, the brows or the lines of his mouth. He’s messing with him and, somewhere behind that placid expression, he’s laughing.
Yosuke sighs.
“Man, now this curry feels dirty…” He rubs the back of his neck with a dramatic sigh. It isn’t enough to stop him from eating it, though, and through a few mumbled complaints of how he’s paying for the food with his dignity, Yosuke returns to shoveling spoonfuls back into his mouth. Yu turns his gaze back to watch his friend.
Yu Narukami is an expert at non-verbal communication, but he’s also an expert on Yosuke Hanamura.
Someday Yosuke will figure out that it’s a look that’s only meant for him.