Chapter Text
“I didn’t think there would be that many new people interested in a remake of an old game, but I guess there ended up being a lot more day one buyers than I thought,” Yosuke remarked as he looked at the crowd of people that lined up outside the game store at Okina today.
Catherine Full Body had been the name of the game Yu and him were here to pick up today, it was the latest remake of Yu’s favorite game ever called Catherine. Now, he had personally never played the original Catherine himself, but when Yu had heard of the new additional content the game provide he couldn’t help but want to share this new experience of the game with him. He had been practically fanboying about it to him ever since he heard about its release with how much he was gushing about it. Honestly, he couldn’t help but find it kind of cute how uncharacteristically excited Yu was getting about it, so that’s why he wanted to join him in the wait for the line to buy it, so he could see more of those unusual adorable excited expressions from him.
“Umm… Yosuke?” Yu suddenly spoke up and said with a weirdly quiet nervous tone that he wasn’t used to hearing from him.
“Hmm? What’s up?” The brunet started to turn around to face the other teen and say when he felt something warm wrap around one of his hands.
“H-Hey! What do you think you’re doing partner?!”
Yu had just started holding his hand all of a sudden like it was no big deal! What was up with that?!
“I’m nervous,” the taller boy looked down at the ground and awkwardly confessed.
“You’re nervous…?” Yosuke repeated, a little shocked by the development before he tried to look around the area and figure out what Yu could be so nervous of, “Nervous of what? The crowds?”
It was the only thing different that he could notice about their situation together compared to when they usually visited Okina together.
“Yeah…” Yu continued to avert his gaze and say.
“I didn’t realize you were the type to get afraid of crowds,” Yosuke remarked while not brushing Yu’s hands away from his own.
Yu didn’t get phased by a lot of stuff, he honestly didn’t know if that was because he was extremely brave or if it was just because he was a little dense that a lot of stuff didn’t hit him quite like it should (though it was probably a mix of both to be honest), but out of everything he could’ve imagined Yu being afraid of, crowds of people certainly wouldn’t have been one of them.
“I don’t usually, but there’s something about seeing all these people that’s really freaking me out,” Yu explained with an anxiety filled look on his face.
Now he was Yu’s partner, so he could typically tell when the other man was messing with him or not and he knew by the look in Yu’s eyes right now that he was being a hundred percent serious with him. He was absolutely terrified of this situation and it was overwhelming him in the worst ways possible.
“I promise I’ll let go of your hand and we can keep going just give me a minute to catch my breath,” Yu told his partner as he tried to steady his breathing and his ever accelerating heart rate.
He didn’t want to be a burden to Yosuke or anything, but he didn’t think he would be able to keep going if he didn’t calm himself down first either.
“No, it’s fine you can keep holding my hand till we get through this if it calms you,” Yosuke told him after she saw how worked up the other boy was getting, “but that’s all I’m doing this for okay?! It’s just to help you out as your partner!”
He was just helping Yu out like this because he was his partner and he deeply cared about him! That’s all it was! He wouldn’t let any other guy besides him hold his hand like this otherwise!
Grateful for the other teen’s kindness a relieved expression appeared on Yu’s face before he gave Yosuke a gentle smile and told him, “Thank you.”
“I-It’s whatever! Let’s just go get the game now!” Yosuke spat out with a red face before he dragged the other boy along to the game store.
Yu could really look far too cute for a guy sometimes; it was unfair for his heart.
…
The line for the game store was long, which naturally meant that he had spent a long time holding Yu’s hand a too. He stood close to Yu the whole time the two of them were together, partly in order to calm Yu’s nerves since it helped him know he had someone close to him he trusted nearby and also partly in order to hide their interlocked hands from everyone else.
The two of them weren’t into guys of course, so they didn’t want to give anyone the wrong impression that the two of them were dating by flaunting their hands together like that.
Well, okay he was sure he wasn’t into guys. With how Yu acted around Kanji and Teddie sometimes made his sexuality debatable and sure okay, maybe sometimes Yu had even sent a few remarks his way too that made him question if he was being more than friendly with him or not, but he had ultimately come to the conclusion that Yu was just a playful guy (probably).
Besides even if Yu did like him, it’s not he would’ve liked him back. The two of them were just friends after all, two very good friends that had nothing more than gold old fashioned platonic feelings for each other! They were just gold old dudes being guys together!
Sure, maybe he trusted Yu more than anyone else in the world, and sure maybe he wasn’t blind when it came to seeing how good looking he was, and sure maybe he totally didn’t hate having his hand in his own like he did right now, but none of that meant anything! It was just a couple simple observations from a friend and nothing more!
“Ah, it looks like it’s your turn next partner,” Yosuke spoke up and informed the other boy when he saw it was Yu’s turn next to pay in line.
It had seemed that all their waiting had finally paid off and they were now in the home stretch here.
Silently nodding his head to show he understood, Yu told Yosuke “I got it from here,” before he let go of the other teen’s hand and went over to the counter to pay.
The cool air of the inside of the store hit Yosuke’s hand when the two of their hands parted, now his hand felt kind of lonely with Yu’s own one in it.
A blush ran over his face at that last thought, was he an idiot or something?! He had told Yu himself that this thing was only going to be temporary, so why was he the one getting upset over it?! It’s not like he really liked holding that other boy’s hand and that’s why he wanted to hold it again could he? But there was no way Yu would ever need to hold his again after making it through the crowd to get here, so he should just make peace with that dream and-
“We uh… still need to walk back outside through the crowd,” Yu reminded Yosuke with an anxious smile on his face as he slipped his hand around the other teen’s hand once more.
It seemed that Yu had already finished with his purchase given the fact that he was using his other free hand to hold the plastic bag the game was in.
“Right, of course you can keep holding it out till we get out of the crowd completely,” Yosuke bashfully said as the two of them walked out of the game store together and through the crowded streets of Inaba.
He was just doing this for his partner’s sake of course, that’s what a good partner did when their friend was in trouble like this. There definitely weren't any ulterior motives behind him, especially ones that revolved around the fact that he actually wanted to hold Yu’s hand longer himself. That would just be silly after all and it would be a stupid thing to think in the first place.