Chapter Text
All summer they’d talked about having a picnic. From the moment Yu and Yosuke got off the train at Yasoinaba station and greeted all their friends to the day they booked their train tickets back to Tokyo for second term, it had been an almost daily topic. But it wasn’t until now, days before their train left, that they had finally taken the time to come out here — to the hill overlooking town.
Summer days went by fast in Inaba, even if the afternoons could feel long and lazy. The heat could get sweltering anywhere there wasn’t a beachy breeze there to greet you, so they’d spent most of their time at the shoreline and by the river, getting their skin bronzed and even-toned. The trees here might have provided some shade for a picnic, but without wind, they would be sweating within minutes.
Eventually, they both agreed that the late summer sunset was a better time for one. The wind was turning cool this late in September, and it brushed their faces softly at this altitude. The tree branches danced and sang above them. The cicadas, finally at the end of their season, buzzed forlornly in the distance.
Yu’s bentos had been thoroughly conquered, and Yosuke’s stomach and heart were full and happy as he leaned back on his hands and gazed out at the skyline dimming before them. Sunset had just started, so the sky was still deeply blue and only beginning to turn the slightest bit yellow at the horizon. He could also see Yu’s strong back and shoulders from where he was sitting just slightly behind him, their broad length looking unusually appealing from this angle.
He wanted to hold him, truthfully. But he was too fat and full to move, so he decided to try and get a peak at his face, instead.
“Did Yukiko tell you that she finally made a good bento?”
Yu turned and looked at him immediately. Jackpot.
“Did she? For who?”
Yosuke shot Yu a telling gaze. He didn’t try to hide his smirk as he watched the realization dawn on Yu’s face. “Who else?”
Yu laughed. “I’m guessing meat was on the menu.”
Even though he was too full, Yosuke picked up the last of Yu’s dumplings from the basket and plopped it into his mouth. He loved Yu’s spiced pork filling, even if this one had gone cold long ago. He hummed through his bite as tried to recount the menu that Chie had rattled off to him over the phone the other day. Of course, coming out of Chie, the descriptions had been mostly uncultured nonsense, but Yosuke had been able to piece it together through context, as well as the picture Chie had sent him.
“Pork stuffed gyoza,” he started, his mouth still completely full, “with a side of beef tips, rice, and some tofu. The seaweed salad did not get touched but ‘looked presentable’.”
Yu leaned back on both his palms until their shoulders were aligned, his gaze upturned towards the setting sky, which felt somewhat closed in beneath the canopy of half-manicured park trees just beginning to lose their seasonal green. The clearing they’d spread their picnic blanket on was already littered with the remnants. It wouldn’t be long until the leaves browned totally and offered a satisfying crunch on a long walk. For now, though, they still had some summer left. Just a touch, if you could ignore the chill in the wind.
“I’m proud of Yukiko. She’s learned a lot about cooking.”
“Yeah…” Yosuke responded, maybe a bit too fondly. He had gotten a little too distracted looking at Yu’s summer-kissed skin in the low light. “Too bad she’ll never know how her vegetables taste,” he said, clearing his throat.
Yu turned away from the sky and leveled a challenging smirk in his direction. “If I can get you to like fish, then Yukiko may get her to like veggies, eventually.”
Yosuke bristled at Yu’s look — or, really, how it made his face heat up. “I doubt it. Yours is the only fish I’ll eat,” he countered. “And Yukiko’s cooking can’t rival yours. No… I’m afraid Chie’s love for meat will never be conquered.” Yosuke looked down dramatically, ignoring the sight of the empty cans and plates and litter of a well-earned picnic that they would eventually have to pick up.
“Well, she has to eat them at some point.”
As if sensing Yosuke’s thoughts, Yu sat up and began throwing the looted food containers and trash into the picnic basket. Yosuke quickly jumped in to help.
“Maybe Yukiko could start mixing them into her food…” he wondered aloud, busying himself with helping his partner pick up. It felt wrong to throw all this garbage in the large, beautifully woven wicker picnic basket that he assumed Yu had bought for its looks, but they didn’t have a lot of options.
Yu hummed, throwing the silky napkins in last and flipping the lid closed. “Like sneaking blended vegetables into pasta sauce?”
“There’s an idea!”
