Chapter Text
“Whoa, with how close the two of us are now, my heart is pounding in a way it never has before! I think… I think I might just be in love with you, partner!”
“Is what you probably wanted me to say, but why on earth would I ever say something like that?” Yosuke replied as he looked back at Yu who was currently cupping the sides of his face with his hands.
“Because you really do like me?” Yu teasingly responded back.
Yosuke didn’t have to act bashful about it. The two of them were friends after all and friends could confide with each other about all sorts of stuff like this.
“Yeah, I like you alright,” the brunet replied with a mischievous look in his eye, “I like you as much as any dear friend could.”
Yu had got knocked back in shock. He had practically been shot in the heart with how much that answer had wounded him, but what made it even worse was that his own partner had been the one to deliver the killing blow.
“Seriously, how much longer do you plan to keep me like this? My cheeks are getting kind of numb in your hands like this,” the brunet told his friend as he continued to cup the sides of his cheeks.
He knew Yu liked to act playful like this every once in a while, but he was sure his cheeks were actually going to freeze up soon if Yu didn’t take them off with how much sensation he was currently losing in then.
“Not until you tell me you like me back,” Yu answered him as he kept his hands in place. His hands weren’t moving one inch off of Yosuke’s soft cheeks before he told him what he wanted to hear.
“For real? You know I already like you, we’re partners for life man, that's like the highest level friendship you can be with someone,” Yosuke told him.
He didn’t know how much further confirmation Yu wanted from him.
“No, I want you to tell me you like like me,” Yu clarified.
“Like like you? What are we in preschool?”
Now, Yu was just being childish at this point.
“Fine, then if that’s too hard you can just tell me you love me instead.”
If Yosuke wanted to go down that route, then he could accept that answer too.
“Love you?! Are you insane?!”
How could Yu expect him to admit something so casually like that to him?!
“Don’t worry I’ll make it easy for you, I’ll go first,” Yu started say.
“I love you Yosuke.”
“You’re not being serious,” the brunet responded with a slightly embarrassed look on face.
There was no way Yu was actually expecting him to believe his sudden confession would he? Even if it did make his heart annoyingly skip a beat when he said it.
“I am,” Yu informed him, “and I’ll keep saying it till you believe it and tell me it back.”
“I love you Yosuke! I love you Yosuke! I love you Yosuke! I love you Yosuke! I love you Yosuke! I love you Yosuke! I love you Yosuke! I love you Yos-”
“Shut up! I love you too, okay?!” The brunet spat back as a dark red blush spread across his face, “So just quit saying it already!”
He was going to make him die from humiliation if he heard him say it one more time.
“Okay, I will,” Yu said as a small smile spread across his face in victory after he got what he wanted.
“You promised you’d let go of me by now,” Yosuke reminded his partner when he noticed his hands still cupping the sides of his face.
He had fulfilled his end of the deal and now it was time for Yu to pay his dues in turn.
“I did, but I also want to stare longer at the face of the person I love just a bit longer,” Yu answered him, “Don’t you want to do the same to Yosuke?”
The brunet’s face went an even darker shade of red in response, apparently that was a “yes” from him too.