Work Text:
“Man. Why can’t I marry you?”
The words were spoken around a mouthful of rice and sweet potato, barely catching Yu’s ear. “Come again?”
Yosuke stopped mid-chew, his jaw slack behind closed lips. He swallowed and rubbed a bit of sauce from the corner of his lip. “Just saying, man. Your cooking is amazing.”
Yu’s shoulders rounded back, his attention back on his bento. “So you’d only marry me for my cooking?” He kept his tone playful, letting one corner of his mouth quirk up.
Yosuke shook his head, his dyed caramel hair swinging around his temples as he chewed. “You caught me. The way to my legal everything is through my stomach.”
“That hurts. I have other redeeming qualities.”
“I dunno. Eating is pretty vital.”
Finished shoveling his lunch into his mouth, Yosuke leaned back against the cement barrier of the school roof, letting the sun bathe his face. His empty bento sat in his lap, balanced in one hand. He reminded Yu of one of the cats that frequented his house, an orange tabby that seemed to do little more than sun himself on the sidewalk.
Yu picked a few more bites from his portion, then nudged Yosuke with his box. “Do you want any more? I’m done.”
The partial tabby teenager snapped to attention, eagerly taking the box and devouring what rice was left. It was as well, Yu was still hungry, but he always thought Yosuke was a little too skinny for his liking, ribs visible under his skin when he changed in the locker room.
“Anything for dessert?”
Yu gathered up the bento boxes, piecing them together. “You’ll only marry me for food, and now you want dessert, too? You don’t appreciate me.”
They exchanged featherweight punches and half-hearted shoves laced with laughter as they returned to class. Yu deposited his empty bento boxes in his cubby at the rear of the room, giving Yosuke’s shoulder one last swat as he want to sit down.
—–
Yu was still wrestling with garlic when Yosuke knocked, and sent Nanako to let him in. He could hear his cousin and his best friend chatting in the entryway, the shuffling of shoes and jackets announcing Yosuke’s arrival.
“Smells great already, Partner!” Yosuke greeted Yu, his hair damp and his shirt changed. He leaned against the fridge, stuffing his hands in his pockets.
“No flowers?” Yu stopped mincing and put on a mock pout. “You’ll never win me that way.”
Yosuke’s eyes widened for a moment before he caught on, rolling effortlessly with their shared inside joke.
“You made it sound like your mind was made up.” Yosuke shrugged, winking. “Should I bring some next time?”
“Generally that’s what you do when you’re trying to marry someone.”
Nanako’s head snapped towards them from her seat near the TV. “Big Bro, are you gonna marry Yosuke?”
Yu set his knife aside and turned the switch for the stove. “Not if he never brings me flowers,” he called back. “You should go sit,” he told Yosuke. “I’ll bring out drinks soon.”
“You don’t need help?” Yosuke gestured to the plates and bowls filled with various ingredients.
Turning him by the shoulders, Yu ushered Yosuke towards the living room. “It’s fine. Sit.”
Yosuke did as he was told, taking a seat corner from Nanako as she watched the quiz show. Yu came in just as the commercial break began, bearing three glasses. Yosuke helped him set them down.
“Yosuke, you should bring Big Bro flowers.”
Yu grinned as Yosuke nearly dropped his soda, sputtering slightly. “We’re just joking, Nanako. Your bro is just a really good cook.”
She pouted. “But if you marry him, you can have his cooking every day!”
Her logic was sound, but Yosuke still shook his head. Behind him, Yu had returned to the kitchen, the sound of a wok sizzling drowning out the Junes commercial. It smelled heavenly.
“Boys can’t marry boys, Nanako,” Yosuke said.
“Why not?”
He couldn’t answer her, even after Yu presented him with a plate full of the best stir fry he’d ever tasted.
—–
“You really wouldn’t marry me?”
Yu’s words were jarring in the near silence, a whisper over the river by their feet. Yosuke propped himself up on his elbows and stared at Yu, who was wearing his headphones. Yosuke thought maybe he’d heard wrong, or he’d imagined the words. Yu looked to be asleep in the grass, a bit of his gray hair sliding away from his forehead.
“You’re so weird,” Yosuke mumbled.
Yu opened his eyes, squinting under the overcast sky up at Yosuke. “You wouldn’t?”
Shaking his head, Yosuke rolled up to sit, wrapping his arms around one knee and staring at the water. Yu always did that, said odd things like they were nothing. Yosuke had yet to figure him out.
Beside him, Yu sat up, offering his headphones and mp3 player. They sat in silence, their hips touching.
—–
Yosuke brought him flowers.
Nanako was delighted, eagerly taking the small bouquet of daisies and skipping away in search of a vase. Yu’s face was bright, a smile wider than Yosuke had ever seen gracing every feature, from chin to eyes.
“Thank you.”
They studied in Yu’s room, books and notes open on his small work table. Yu was an excellent study partner, as evident in Yosuke’s slowly rising test scores. After an hour Yu declared a break, and went downstairs for drinks. Yosuke stretched out on his couch, his long legs dangling off the side. Studying wore him down, so much more than the TV.
A cold, wet chill to the side of his face snapped him out of his reverie. Yu stood over him, a can of chilled soda for a weapon. Yosuke glared, then laughed as he made room for Yu on the couch.
“Thanks again for the flowers.”
Yosuke let his head rest against the back of the sofa. “You said you wanted them.”
Yu went silent for a long moment, his fingers playing with the condensation on his soda can. “I think you’d make a good husband,” he finally said.
“…Really?”
Yu only smiled at him. They returned to studying, but Yosuke had trouble concentrating.
—–
The sweat on Yu’s face was making it hard to see, his glasses slipping down his nose and giving him enough glimpses of fog to make his head pound. They would have to return soon. Frustration at their lack of progress furrowed his brow as he switched Personas.
There was a grunt, and a shoulder slammed into his. Yosuke’s push sent him reeling, landing hard on his back a few feet away. Yu looked up to see Yosuke take the force of a mortal blow that was meant for him. His friend crumpled. Yu gripped his sword and saw red.
Chie kept her distance as Yu tended to Yosuke in the aftermath, casting his strongest healing spell. Kanji did too, watching them from the side. Yu supposed he’d overdone it on the last shadow, but this was his partner.
Yosuke stirred, a hand going to his head. Yu slipped his headphones down around his neck.
“You don’t have to go that far,” Yu whispered. “Flowers are enough.”
Yosuke huffed a laugh, stumbling to his feet.
—–
“Dandelions?”
Yu took the flowers anyway, bright yellow and cheerful despite their earthy fragrance. Yosuke only shrugged.
“Sorry. Between the TV and buying sweets for Ted, I’m sorta broke.”
Yu placed the tiny blossoms in a water glass. “They’re lovely.”
They watched a movie, one they’d both seen, and talked over it. Yu nestled in to Yosuke’s side, his head questionably close to Yosuke’s shoulder, but not enough to be shrugged away.
“I think I’d like to marry you,” Yu said as the credits started to roll.
Yosuke did shrug his shoulder a bit then, feeling warm. “Quit that.”
Sitting up, Yu drew one knee under himself. “Quit what?”
“The stuff about marriage. Quit it.” Yosuke stopped the DVD, using more force than strictly necessary on the remote.
Yu sat for a few seconds before getting up to eject the disc and put it away. “Is it that terrible?”
Yosuke raked his hands through his hair and sighed. “It’s weird.” He turned away, unable to look at Yu. Not when he was staring at Yosuke with that look in his eyes. It was the look he got when he wanted something but wouldn’t say so, like when they couldn’t afford the new weapons at Daidara’s. “I’m not marrying you.”
Yu had switched the TV to cable, letting a talk show rerun provide white noise. He returned to his place on the couch, noticing how Yosuke leaned in the opposite direction.
“Is it weird?” He fiddled with the hem of his shirt. “We get along really well.”
Yosuke wrinkled his nose. “Pretty sure there’s more to marriage than just getting along.”
“Like what?”
“Like - oh my god, will you just drop it?” Yosuke stood, wincing at how the volume of his voice had gone up and made an effort to lower it. “I gotta pee.”
When Yosuke returned from the bathroom, Yu didn’t mention it again.
—–
“There’s so much other stuff,” Yosuke blurted out, breaking the silence. Yu stirred, turning his head against Yosuke’s back. He’d made himself comfortable there as soon as Yosuke had taken up space on Yu’s floor, rolled onto his stomach on the spare futon, reading a trashy magazine.
“What do you mean?” Yu asked, not lifting his head.
Yosuke ducked his head, trying to hide himself behind his own shoulders. “You can’t just marry somebody because you get along.”
“What else is there?” Yu’s voice sounded like it was pointed at the ceiling.
“There’s -” Yosuke searched. The words of his magazine article blurred. “There’s shit like kids and mortgages and taxes and - and sex. Married couples have sex usually.”
Yu hummed softly. The room was too warm for Yosuke.
“We don’t have to do those things,” Yu said, and this time Yosuke felt the puff of hot breath against his spine, all the way through his shirt. Yosuke shut his magazine.
“Maybe I want those things.”
Yu shifted, taking his weight off of Yosuke’s back. A hand replaced it. “But not from me?”
Shoving the magazine away, Yosuke rolled, facing away from Yu. After a while, the light was switched off, and Yosuke heard Yu shuffling into his futon a few feet away.
—-
The marriage topic didn’t come up again, but Yosuke could see it in his partner’s stance, in his eyes. It was on his mind, he wanted to talk about it, but was refraining. Yosuke hated it. Yu barely talked under normal circumstances, and it made his voice that much more… something. The silence was tense. Forced. It all made Yosuke felt like he’d gagged him.
So he’d invited his partner over under the guise of studying. It was as good an excuse as any, and the best he could come up with.
Yosuke opened his front door to have daffodils thrust into his face. He backpedaled, and the flowers receded. Behind them stood Yu, a box tied with red ribbon under his other arm.
“Hi.”
Not knowing what else to do, Yosuke led Yu inside. He had no idea where his mother kept the vases, so the daffodils ended up in a water pitcher. They looked sort of charming that way, if he was honest.
“What’s with the flowers?”
Yu shrugged, holding out the other box. “I made some chocolates.”
“Dude,” Yosuke took the box, but didn’t open it. The ribbon was tied in an intricate bow. “White Day was like a month ago.”
“I know.”
They went to Yosuke’s room, stepping around his piles of clothes and CD cases to sit on the bed. Yosuke toyed with the ribbon on the box.
“You’re pretty set on this stuff, huh?”
Yu hummed at him in question, and Yosuke gestured at the box in his lap, then towards the stairs, to the flowers he’d left in the kitchen. He dared to look at his Partner and was met with a look of what might have been adoration.
“I meant it when I said I wanted to marry you,” Yu said softly. Yosuke bit at his lip and tugged the ribbon on the box until it unwound. Inside were four chocolates, dusted with cocoa. The aroma made Yosuke’s mouth water.
Yosuke took one and ate it. It was the best chocolate he’d ever had, rich and dark and maybe with a hint of coffee. He pictured Yu in the kitchen, making chocolate in his apron, molding the delicate candy with his elegant hands. Yosuke liked the image more than he thought he would.
Licking the cocoa off his fingers, Yosuke smiled. “I think I could handle that.”
He heard Yu inhale, the sound quiet but sharp. “Do you mean it?”
Yosuke played with the idea of eating another. “If it means I get your cooking and chocolates, then yes.”
Yu nudged closer. “And the rest of it?” His voice dropped a bit. “Mortgage and sex and all that?”
Offering the box, Yosuke smiled. “Since I met you, you’ve been good at pretty much everything you’ve tried.” He watched Yu take one of the chocolates. “I don’t see how this would be much different.”
Yu was still chewing his chocolate when he leaned in to plant a tiny kiss next to Yosuke’s nose. “I’ll do my best. You’ll need to tell me what flowers you like, though.”
“I think I’ll keep you guessing.”
Yosuke offered another, but Yu pushed the box back and let Yosuke eat the rest. They studied a bit, played video games, and Yu kissed Yosuke’s cheek again. And after he’d left, Yosuke moved the water pitcher full of daffodils to his room.