Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“And this is Yosuke, my boyfriend.”

Yosuke dropped his soda into his lap and whipped his head around to face his partner, eyes wide with terror and mouth wide with apparently not words as he stammered for a good fifteen seconds while trying to think of a response. The Tapp soaking through his pants didn’t speed up his thought process any, and he found himself looking down partially so he could soak it up with his napkin and partially because Yu looked completely calm, like he’d said something normal that actually made sense.

And the worst part about it was that no one questioned it, or even batted an eyelid, save for Rise who was blinking away her confusion.

Yosuke weakly laughed it off. “D-don’t scare me like that. Geez.”

Yu turned to Yosuke, who was putting his empty cup back on the table, and tilted his head. “Scare you?”

“Yeah. She just joined us yesterday. I don’t want an idol thinking I’m…” Yosuke glanced at Kanji. “You know.”

“Hey, why’re you lookin’ at me?”

Kanji’s question went ignored.

“My boyfriend?” Yu asked, without a trace of jest in his voice.

God, Yosuke hoped Rise would pick up on his partner’s sense of humor quick.

“Senpai’s boyfriend…” Kanji echoed to himself, lost in thought.

“S-stop that!” Yosuke stammered.

“Oh, no, it’s fine,” Rise said, shaking her head. She sighed and rested her elbows on the table. “I am kinda disappointed Senpai’s not single, though.”

Yosuke stood up and slammed his hands on the table, causing his empty cup to wobble.

“We’re not dating!” he croaked.

Yu, without missing a beat, said, “Yes, we are.”

Yosuke shot glances at Yukiko and Chie, silently begging them to help him. If they’d ever thought of him as a friend, or ever had any goodwill toward him at all, surely they’d jump in now. Defend him. Tell Rise what a kidder Yu could be. Change the subject. Talk about Chie’s dog, whatever his name was. Take Rise somewhere else. Do a distracting magic trick. Break into song. Anything.

But all he got was a confused “What?” from Chie.

They hate me, he thought, looking up into the sky as he felt his soul start to fade away. They really hate me.

The one time in his life something as great as meeting an idol happened, and now she thought he was not only gay, but taken.

Thanks, Partner.

 “Yosuke?”

Yosuke turned back down to his partner sitting beside him. His partner, looking up at him with this big-eyed, innocent ‘Why are you so upset?’ face.

Yosuke grabbed Yu by the forearm and dragged him to the far end of the food court.

“What’s wrong?” Yu asked.

What’s wrong? What’s wrong? How could he even ask that?

“I’m gonna die alone because of you!” Yosuke hissed.

“You have me.”

Is he planning on cockblocking me forever?!

Yosuke could already see it now.

It’s three years later. They’re in college. He approaches a cute girl from his chemistry study group.

Yu’s there.

‘Oh, hey. What’s your name? I’m Yosuke’s boyfriend.’

In fifteen years, they’re out in the world, living in small apartments, but getting by. A friend from work finally invited him to a mixer. There’s tons of cute girls, each just as beautiful and charming as the last. Before he can say anything beyond ‘hi’ the waiter walks in.

It’s Yu.

‘Yosuke, you didn’t tell me the party was here. What a surprise, Honey.’

Thirty years have passed since high school. His hair’s starting to turn gray, but it’s handsome on someone his age. He has a stable income and a house of his own. The secretary at work is a bombshell. Yosuke gives her a flirty greeting and a wink.

Yu calls his name from a nearby cubicle. He walks over with a smile and wraps his arm around Yosuke’s waist.

‘What’s up, Babe?’

Several years in the future, they’re eighty-something-years-old and living in a nursing home. There’s a woman a few rooms over. She’s not particularly beautiful, but at this point, neither is he. She’s cute in her own way, and makes adorable little cakes for her neighbors in her free time. They’re delicious, and always brighten Yosuke’s day. He scuttles over to her with his cane, about to tell her how good the strawberry cake from a few days ago was.

Yu rolls over in his wheelchair and pulls Yosuke into his boney lap.

‘Hey.’

Yosuke dies in his sleep at age ninety-seven. His friends and family gather together for one final goodbye before placing his ashes into his grave.

Right next to Yu’s.

“How far are you gonna take this joke?!”

“Joke?”

Yosuke searched his partner’s face for some kind of sign. Some hint that this was a façade. Some clue that there was a reason behind this behavior. Just… something.

There was nothing.

“You can’t be serious.” There was a hint of desperation starting to tinge Yosuke's voice.

The people around them were starting to give them weird looks, and Yosuke wasn’t sure if it was because of the soda stain on his pants or if it was because they were both hunched over a potted tree in the corner of the Junes Food Court.

And Yu, as dead serious as ever, said, “I am.”

Yosuke couldn’t believe his ears. “You’re… you’re serious about this? You’re really serious about this?”

A small frown appeared on Yu’s face. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“And what?” Yosuke asked, throwing his hands in the air. “You just decided this without even asking me?!”

“Oh.” Yu’s gaze dropped to the floor, and he stood there rubbing his neck with a bashful smile.

“’Oh,’ what?” The irritation in Yosuke’s voice was nearly palpable.

Meeting Yosuke’s eyes again, Yu let out a nervous laugh. “I forgot.”

“Huh?”

It was only then that the true weight of the conversation hit him.

He likes me.

He like, like-likes me.

The blood rushed to Yosuke’s face fast enough to make him dizzy. He gripped the safety rail to stop himself from toppling over.

Yu glanced at the rest of the IT still at the table, then turned back to Yosuke. He scratched his cheek, pink from the realization of his blunder. “So, uh, you wanna be my boyfriend?”

Chapter Text

“Chie, you gotta help me out here!”

Yosuke was pacing his bedroom floor, a phone pressed to his ear and a hand raking through his hair.

“What the heck, Yosuke?!” was the response that came blaring back at him through the speaker. He couldn’t blame her, since that hadn’t been the ideal way to start a phone call, but he was desperate and he didn’t have time for their usual back and forth.

“He asked me to be his boyfriend, Chie! How am I even supposed to respond to that?”

Yosuke passed the phone from one hand to the other and forced himself to sit on his bed so he wouldn’t wear a hole in the floor. The last thing he needed was his parents nagging on him for leaving the wooden equivalent of crop circles all over his bedroom.

“Well, how did you respond to it?”

Yosuke’s fingers toyed with the cord of his headphones as his knee bounced below.

“I…” His eyes flashed at the door. “I told him I needed time to think about it. He’s my best friend, Chie. My partner. I can’t just flat out reject him.”

There was a silence just long enough for him to swallow the knot growing in his throat.

“He seemed pretty bummed out when you guys came back to the table.”

“I know, I know,” Yosuke said, cringing to himself. “That’s why I’m asking for help.”

“Wh—” Chie halted on the word, but then blurted out, “Why are you asking me?!”

“Who am I supposed to ask, Chie?” Yosuke spat out. “Rise’s an idol and Yukiko would only make it worse.”

“What does being an idol have to do with anything?!”

“Would you tell an idol about your boy problems?!”

“I guess not. But what about Kanji?”

Yosuke’s knee bounced faster. He mumbled some inaudible non-answer into the receiver, his eyes glued to the bedroom doorway with paranoia.

“Yosuke!”

“I don’t have his number, okay?!”

“Why not?”

Yosuke dropped his headphone cord and rubbed his forehead.

“I don’t know. It’s like he’s always got this scary look on his face when I try to talk to him.”

“But he always looks like that.”

“No he doesn’t!” Yosuke blurted back. “Sure, he’s usually intimidating, but whenever I open my mouth he looks like he’s thinking about what needle to use to sew it shut.” Yosuke groaned and ran his hand through his hair. “He doesn’t look like that with you guys.”

“Maybe because you’re the only one that makes fun of him all the time.”

Yosuke dropped his hand to his lap.

“I don’t—” Yosuke paused to chew his lip while his brain scrolled through a slideshow of painful memories from the camping trip. “I mean, not all the time.”

“I’m just saying if you were nicer to him, maybe he wouldn’t glare at you so much.”

“I am nice to him!” Yosuke said, throwing his arm out and accidentally smacking his alarm clock hard enough to knock it to the floor. He swore to himself and slid himself off the bed and picked up the clock, looking it over to assess the damage.

“You’re constantly ragging on him, and you call that being nice?!”

“I-I bought him topsicles!” Yosuke made another arm motion for emphasis and the clock slipped out of his hand and landed right back on the floor. He scrambled to pick it up, seething a little when he saw the new crack that ran across the digital display like a lightning bolt.

“I can’t believe Yu actually likes you!”

“Come on, I’m not that bad!”

“Ugh!”

“W-wait, Chie—” Before he could finish his plea, the click of Chie’s phone slamming shut made it through the speaker and cut him off, leaving Yosuke alone with the drone of a disconnected call.

“Dammit,” he muttered, flipping his own phone shut before he found a way to break that too.

He leaned back against his bed and stared at the ceiling. He blinked and blinked again.

“Kanji, huh?”

“Hey Kanji, wait up!”

“What the—” Kanji looked over his shoulder, and then upon seeing Yosuke’s bright orange mop speeding toward him on his bike, he reeled around. “Senpai?!”

Seeing Kanji stopped on the road, Yosuke backpedaled into an unsuccessful brake that left him skidding forward until Kanji was forced to halt him by the handlebars just to avoid a collision.

“The hell, man? What’re you tryin’ to do?”

Once the feeling of impending death subsided, Yosuke wiped the nervous sweat from his brow and laughed through his labored breathing.

“I just wanted to talk to my favorite lug on the way to school.” Yosuke gave Kanji his best customer service wink, hoping it came off as friendly.

“You callin’ me a thug?”

“A lug, Kanji. You know, like a lovable... uh…”

“Thug,” Kanji finished for him, eyebrows, or rather, a lack thereof, leveled over unimpressed eyes. “And what’s with you gettin’ all buddy-buddy all of a sudden?”

“C’mon, dude,” Yosuke countered with a defensive edge on his voice that he tried to cover with a gentle, playful elbow jab. “We’re as buddy-buddy as anybody else around here.”

Kanji gave Yosuke a long hard stare, sizing up his words, and finally answering them with an unconvinced “Uh-huh.”

Before he could piece together a witty comeback, Yosuke’s face visibly fell as the previous night’s phone conversation echoed through his head. It lasted only a split second, but it’d been long enough to split through the shell of Kanji’s disbelief, too.

“Shut up, man,” Yosuke said with a forced, yet practiced cheerfulness that would’ve fooled anyone outside of the investigation team. “I mean, we’re teammates, right?”

“I guess,” Kanji mumbled with a shrug before starting to walk toward the school again, school bag slung over his shoulder. Yosuke followed, walking with his bike beside him and making small talk about the upcoming exams until the school gate came into view.

“Yu’s probably got this in the bag.” Yosuke groaned, making a show of shuffling his hair in frustration. “I’m so jealous.”

“Can’t you ask him to tutor you or somethin’?”

Yosuke looked at the ground, the hand in his hair slipping down to the nape of his neck.

“I’m not sure he’d want to. You know, after that… thing.”

“That why you’re talkin’ to me instead of him right now?”

“What?” Yosuke squawked, louder than he’d wanted to. “N-no, of course not. Geez, can’t a guy—”

“Can it. I know my house ain’t on your usual route, man.”

Yosuke shrunk back, eyes down and glued to his bike, and kind of wishing his bike was more solid, like a wall, so he could hide behind it.

“I mean,” he sighed, letting his hand fall down to his side. “I guess I did kinda… wanna ask you for some advice.”

“M-me?!” Kanji flinched back.

“W-well…” Yosuke swallowed the knot in his throat, and readied himself to run in case the next thing he said hit a sore spot. “You like dudes, r-right?”

“Wha—Y-yeah, but I ain’t never dated one!”

“Neither have I!” Yosuke blurted back, the idea of running exiting his mind instantly. “How do you think I feel?!”

“What the hell, man?!” Kanji swung his arm out, no intent to hit, but close enough to make Yosuke try to dodge. “This ain’t even about you.”

“He asked me out.” Yosuke leaned back into the argument, one hand on his chest and the other thrown back, leaving his bike to fall on the ground with a clatter. “It’s totally about me!”

Kanji took Yosuke by the collar and pulled him so close that he had no choice but to make eye contact. It was the kind of eye contact that made men bigger than Yosuke wet their pants, and Yosuke found himself feeling thankful he’d gone before leaving the house that morning.

“You ain’t the one that went home lookin’ like his dog died.”

“S-s-so w-what?” Yosuke stuttered as he dared to put a shaking hand on Kanji’s wrist. “I’m j-just supposed to—supposed to say yes?” He gulped. “Even if I don’t want to?”

“No,” Kanji said, releasing his grip and pushing Yosuke back. “But you could respect him enough to talk to him about it instead of the rest of us.” Kanji turned away, and scratched his head. “Thought you guys were supposed to be ‘partners’.”

Kanji passed one last glance at Yosuke, who was staring at his shoes and shuffling the dirt into a little mound between them, and then with a look to the school clock, he left Yosuke to his own thoughts.

Yosuke was crumpled over his desk, face down in his own self-loathing when Yu walked into the classroom.

“Mornin’!” Chie greeted Yu with a smile. Yosuke cringed to himself, remembering the cold shoulder she’d given him earlier.

“Good morning,” Yukiko said.

“Morning,” Yu echoed, pausing at his desk to stare at the heap of Yosuke slouched over the desk behind his own.

“Ignore him,” Chie said with a dismissive wave. Somewhere under his bowl cut, Yu’s brows came together.

“Did something happen?” he asked, taking his seat.

“I heard Kanji put him in his place this morning. Out in front of the school gates.”

Yu turned back to Yosuke, looking down on the part of his hair with a slight frown.

“By the way,” Yukiko said, pulling Yu out of his thoughts. “You were later than usual today. Is everything alright?”

“Yeah, I… I, uh,” Yu scratched his head. “I forgot something and had to go back for it.”

Yukiko and Chie passed glances to each other, but neither had the chance to say what was on their minds before the school bell rang.

Lunch passed slowly and painfully. Yu ate with the girls on the other side of the classroom, a location Yosuke was fairly sure they’d chosen so they could have some kind of secret Yosuke roast beyond his earshot but still within range to point and laugh. Yukiko and Chie kept laughing together, but they eventually settled into shared looks of concern when Yu didn’t laugh with them.

Yosuke was watching them all the while, only turning away when Yu lifted his head from his bento. When this happened, Yosuke turned his attention to picking at his food, wishing it’d magically become more appetizing. This pattern continued until Yosuke couldn’t find a time to look back at Yu, because Yu couldn’t find a time to look back at his bento. And so, instead, Yosuke would glance up occasionally only to meet Yu’s eyes and then instantly whip his gaze directly back down to his lunch, his face redder each time.

“What are you doing?”

“Nothing!” Yosuke squawked into the sandwich he’d bought from work the day before. Wiping all of the food debris and none of the blush from his face, he whipped around to glare at Kou for scaring him. “Seriously, what the hell?”

Kou shrugged and sat next to him. Daisuke walked over, his own lunch in hand.

“It’s weird to see you eating by yourself,” Daisuke said. Yosuke shoved his sandwich into his mouth to buy some thinking time and then tossed another glance toward Yu, which was cut short by the way Yu’s eyes were locked on him, just like the other glances. Like hopeless skeets shot down by a military grade laser.

“Yeah,” Kou agreed, sending a look of his own at Yu. “I thought you two were tight.”

Yosuke coughed up the ham he’d been trying to swallow.

“It’s—I-it’s not like that!” he sputtered, arm out in an unnecessary gesture that nearly propelled his lunch across the room.

Kou and Daisuke exchanged glances, worried and confused, respectively, and in the pause, Yosuke felt a part of his soul chip away when he realized just how far his mind had reached for that unwanted interpretation.

“You okay, man?”

Yosuke rubbed his forehead.

“Yeah, I…” He shook his head and looked back at his lunch. “Don’t worry about it.”

Across the room, Yu lowered his eyes.

The last bell rang, and before Yosuke could even reach for his bag, Yu had flung around and trapped Yosuke into a conversation.

“Can we talk?”

Yosuke hesitated, knowing it would be about that, because everything since it happened had been about that, but in his head, Kanji was still yelling at him, reminding him that he was coward who couldn’t even hold a conversation with his best friend.

Yosuke sighed.

“Yeah,” he said, then shook his head. “Not here though.”

Yu nodded.

“The riverbank?”

Yosuke closed his notes from class and rubbed his neck.

“Actually, is your place okay?”

Yu blinked, surprise clearing his serious expression.

“Yeah,” he said, almost as if it was a question, and then more confidently added, “Sure.”

Yosuke gave him a weak smile.

“Thanks.”

The two of them walked to the Dojimas’ house together. The start of the trek home had been filled with awkward small talk on Yosuke’s end, as he grasped for anything to fill the silence, but Yu wasn’t saying much, only nodding and grunting, with the occasional noncommittal shrug. Slowly, Yosuke’s fountain of shallow topics dried up and he was forced to endure the quiet Inaba afternoon with only Yu and his footsteps to keep him company. It wasn’t a long walk, per se, but not knowing if Yu would still be his best friend after their talk only made the walk longer.

Kanji’s words were still echoing in his head, and he’d been doing well to ignore them until the silence had set in. Yosuke looked over to his best friend, and saw him walking as he often did, a hand in his pocket and his school bag over his shoulder. But he also saw the unusually tight way Yu’s arms were held to his body and how stiffly he walked. It was a stark contrast to their usual comfortable walks together. Yosuke's gaze fell to the sidewalk.

Kanji was right. Yu deserved better.

They approached the front door. Yu pulled the key from his pocket and looked it over. He took a deep breath and turned to Yosuke.

“Are you okay with this?”

Yosuke nudged him with a forced playfulness.

“Dude, I’ve been in your house before.” The cheerful tone was fake, and Yu could tell, and because of the insecure way Yu’s eyebrows pressed down over his eyes, Yosuke could tell that Yu could tell. “I mean, it’s… it’s…” Yosuke racked his brain for something that could save the moment.

“It’s not the house you’re worried about.”

“I didn’t say that.”

Yu turned the key in his hand and took in a quiet sigh that he breathed out through his nose.

“I didn’t—” Yosuke shook his head and snatched the key from Yu’s hand. “Stop making it weirder than it is and just—” He shoved the key into the lock and pushed open the door. “—just go in already!”

Yu watched him for a few seconds, frowning all the while, but then went in, Yosuke not far behind him. They took off their shoes and headed upstairs to Yu’s bedroom. The desk was covered in study materials, which was no surprise given the upcoming tests. A bit stranger though, were the paper cranes scattered about the room. Two or three was the usual, but at least twenty were tucked away in various nooks and crannies of the room, filling every space that Yu normally left clean.

“Nanako will be home soon.”

Yosuke nodded, nerves making his foot tap against the wooden floor.

“You’re really hitting the origami lately, huh?”

Yu glanced at a couple of the paper birds, then picked at his fingernails.

“You can sit down.”

“Oh.” Yosuke gave another stiff nod. “Right.”

He took a seat on Yu’s couch, and Yu sat in front of the work table on the floor, opposite from Yosuke. Yosuke started to move to sit at the same level, but Yu lifted his hand and motioned him back.

The clock ticked, and the edge of Yu’s mouth twitched as he looked everywhere except at Yosuke, who just then could have sworn that for the first time in history, Yu was more uncomfortable than he was.

“About the other day,” Yu started, but then hesitated, eyes searching the floor as if he’d dropped his thoughts. “I think… I imagined it too hard.”

Yosuke searched Yu’s face, top to bottom, left to right, backwards and over again.

“You… you what?”

“I’ve actually liked you for a really long time.” Yu chanced a look up only to see Yosuke blankly staring back. “So I, um…” Yu looked back down at his fidgeting hands. “I thought about asking you out a lot.”

A silence that felt longer than it actually was stretched between them as Yosuke’s brain tried to process the words being fed into it.

“So…” Yosuke raised his hands up in front of him, slowly pointing to Yu. “You,” he said slowly, curling his hands in to point back at himself. “Imagined asking me out?”

Focused on his own hands, Yu gave a meek nod.

“Wait, so, that means…” Yosuke frowned, dropping one hand to his lap and letting the other point back at Yu. “That means you imagined me saying yes?”

Yu brought a hand up and rubbed his neck.

“It might have been a dream,” he admitted, eyes on the table.

“Dude…” Yosuke ran a hand through his hair and looked away so he wouldn't feel even worse about the downtrodden look on his partner’s face.

Yu kept his eyes down and continued.

“Sorry. It does sound kinda creepy, now that I've said it.”

There was a part of Yosuke that was inclined to agree, but he’d never seen Yu like this before, uncomfortable and vulnerable and…

Yosuke glanced over—oh god, are his hands shaking?

“W-well wait, it's… it's not that creepy.” Yu lifted his head, his face questioning, and Yosuke continued, “I mean, an attractive guy like you after me? That's kinda flattering, you know?”

Something flickered in Yu's eyes.

“You think I'm attractive?”

“That’s what you pulled out of that?” Yosuke made a face, but he dropped it as soon as he noticed that unfitting uneasiness taking over his partner again. “I guess, what I'm saying is, I thought about it, and…”

Yosuke crossed his arms and looked down at his knees.

“I mean, if I had to pick a guy...”

“Thanks, Yosuke.”

“Huh?”

“I'm glad we can still be friends.” Yu rubbed his neck and smiled at the table. “The way you were acting today, I thought I'd really messed up.”

“What?” Yosuke’s arms dropped and he leaned forward. “I mean, duh, of course we're still friends, but I, um…”

For a split second, he considered dropping his plan, since Yu seemed relaxed again, back to normal, but his conscience was still reciting Kanji’s words about respecting his friend more in his ear, and, as more seconds passed, Yu was looking at him expectantly, waiting for him to finish a sentence he kind of wished he hadn’t already started.

“I, uh… I thought… like, it's just you, right? So why not, you know?”

Yu stared at him, his face unreadable, and Yosuke, wiping his hands on his pant legs and wondering why he was the nervous one all of a sudden, couldn't bear to look at him.

“I mean, like, we’re together all the time anyway. It's not like… like…” It's not like what? Yosuke asked himself, before Chie’s voice came back to him, booming through his ears, questioning why Yu would ever like someone like him. Yosuke clenched his fists and straightened his back, and summoning a newfound bitter resolve, he said, “Look, if there's a guy I’m gonna like, it's gonna be you, so we might as well give it a shot.”

Yu was still staring at him in bewilderment, but Yosuke’s voice had fled for the hills and left the two of them to their tense silence.

Yu shifted himself until he was sitting on his knees, back straight.

“So… is that a yes?”

Yosuke nodded quickly before he could take it back.

Yu looked at the table and scratched his head.

“Alright.”

Yosuke blinked and turned back to face Yu.

Wait? That's it? Just 'alright’? Somehow, that kind of lukewarm reply was far more disappointing than Yosuke ever expected it to be.

“Are you sure?”

“Of course I'm sure!” Yosuke said, the words bursting out of him before he could think about what he was saying. “What kind of friend would I be if—” His brain caught up with him just in the nick of time, and though he paused and stammered awkwardly, he finished, “—if I lied about something like this?”

Yu smiled again, more warmly, glancing bashfully up to Yosuke.

“Really?”

“R-really.”

Trying to ignore the intense heat in his face, Yosuke forced himself to look at his partner, who was smiling shyly down at the table.

Yosuke smiled back and laughed, hoping his nerves couldn't be heard through his laughter.

…Crap.

What have I gotten myself into?

Chapter Text

Being Yu’s boyfriend, much to Yosuke’s surprise, wasn’t much different from being his best friend. They still did the same things they did before. They still walked to school together, ate lunch together, walked home together, studied together, and got distracted by completely trivial conversations together. They were doing these things together more often than before, he supposed, but if he was being honest, he rather liked the attention.

For the most part though, things weren’t as different as Yosuke had expected them to be. Somehow he’d thought it’d be mushier, more embarrassing, more… affectionate?

They’d reached the ‘study together’ part of their routine. They were at the Dojima house that day, cramming for their upcoming exams, and Yu seemed determined to continue quizzing Yosuke until he’d memorized every word in the English language. They finished one ring of flashcards and Yu picked up another.

Yosuke flopped down over the table. “Can’t we take a break?”

Yu looked down at the cards in his hand, then up at the clock. “I guess we have been at this for a while.”

“My brain feels like it’s gonna explode.” Yosuke stretched his arms out in front of him. “I don’t think all those words are gonna fit in there.”

Yu rested his head in his arms on the table so that he was at Yosuke’s eye level, softly smiling at him. “You know that’s not how it works.”

“I know,” Yosuke sighed. “That test is gonna kick my ass.”

Yu lightly shook his head. “I believe in you.”

Yosuke gave a weak laugh and nudged Yu’s elbow with his own. “That makes one of us.” He took a deep breath and let it out. “Thanks.”

Yu smiled a little wider and put his hand on Yosuke’s arm, causing a strange tingling sensation to bubble up from the site of contact.

That was the first thing Yosuke had noticed had changed.

“You want something to drink?”

“Um, yeah. Yeah. Sure.” Yosuke’s nerves pushed another laugh out of him and it took all of his willpower to drag his eyes from Yu’s hand to Yu’s face. “Water’s fine.”

Yu patted Yosuke’s arm and stood up to stretch. Yosuke’s eyes fell back to the sparks dancing under his skin.

“You sure? We’ve got soda.”

“Huh? Oh. Yeah.”

Yu frowned and scratched his head. “Alright.”

Yosuke sat up and leaned back. He stretched his arms back behind his head as Yu headed to the kitchen. Yosuke relaxed against the sofa behind him while he watched Yu take the glasses out of the cupboard.

“Say, Partner?”

Yu glanced back in acknowledgment, then turned his attention back to the ice tray he’d pulled from the freezer. “Hm?”

“English is your best subject, right?”

“Yes,” Yu answered, in English, with such an exaggerated accent that Yosuke couldn’t help but laugh at it.

“How’d you get so good at it? You watch a lot of foreign flicks or something?”

Yu brought back their drinks and set them on the living room table. “Foreign exchange student.” Yu sat back down. “We both had trouble making friends, so we hit it off pretty quick.”

“Kinda hard to imagine you having that problem.”

Yu curled his fingers around his glass and shrugged. “I was transferred there in the middle of the year.”

“So?”

Yu made a face at his glass as he silently turned it around in his hands. A few seconds passed, and then Yosuke shrunk back and took a long sip of his water as he tried to think of a way to change the subject.

“So… was it a guy? Girl?”

“Girl.”

“She cute?” Yosuke winked.

Yu shrugged. “Yeah, I guess.”

“You guess?”

Yu shrugged again and turned his attention to the window. The sun was still out, but well on its way to the horizon, and as the sun sank, so too did Yosuke’s realization of what he’d said.

“I mean, not that it’d matter if she was,” Yosuke rushed to say, sitting up at full attention. Yu looked back at Yosuke and opened his mouth to say something, but before he could, more words came spilling out of Yosuke. “Because I’m--” He took Yu’s hand in his own, and the tingling sensation returned with such a fierce intensity that it erased the rest of the thought from Yosuke’s brain. “I’m… uh...”

Yu’s lips parted further as his eyes settled on the two of Yosuke’s hands clasped around one of his own, and then they came back together into a small smile.

“Thanks, Yosuke.”

Yu brushed his thumb across Yosuke’s fingers, and Yosuke’s face grew hotter and hotter as he realized what they were doing. He stared at their hands, and with a nervous wobble of a smile, he mumbled, “Y-yeah, no problem, Partner.”

When the tingling began to subside, Yosuke noticed the callouses on Yu’s palm. He moved his fingertips along them, gently pressing each one, more out of nerves than curiosity, until a clicking came from the front door and Yu pulled his hand away before the door swung open.

Dojima walked in with his usual tired after work expression, the one that said he’d spent entirely too much of the day dealing with questions rather than answers. “I’m home,” he said, kicking off his shoes and dragging himself into the kitchen.

“Welcome back,” Yu said, watching his uncle in such a way that Yosuke thought maybe he should, too.

Dojima took a couple steps toward the refrigerator, then paused as he noticed the two pairs of eyes locked on him. “What are you two looking at?” He turned to Yosuke. “And what are you all red for?”

Yosuke opened his mouth to answer, but Yu cut him off.

“We were seeing how long we could hold our breath."

Dojima pulled a drink from the fridge. “Don’t hurt yourselves.”

“We’ll be careful,” Yu assured him with a subtle yet relieved smile.

That was the second thing that had changed. Yosuke had never noticed it before, and maybe it was only because he’d never known to look for it, but with each day they spent as a couple, it became increasingly obvious to him who Yu was and wasn’t out to.

So Dojima doesn’t know, huh?

It was also increasingly obvious that Yu’s ability to lie was questionable at best. His straight-faced jokes were often more convincing than his lies, but he always seemed to get away with it somehow. Maybe because he was trustworthy, or maybe because the lie wasn’t harmful, or maybe just because he had a pretty face.

Wait… did I really just think that?

Yosuke spared a glance to that face. The thought didn’t allow him to cool down at all, and he found relief in the fact that Yu had already covered for his red complexion.

What am I freaking out for? Anyone with eyes would think that. And if Yosuke was honest with himself, he was glad to at least be in this situation with someone attractive. Glad that if anyone found out he was ‘dating’ a guy, that it was someone that their classmates would think: ‘For him? Understandable.’

It was a petty thought, but it brought Yosuke a small level of comfort.

Dojima took a seat on the couch behind Yosuke. “I suppose it’s that time of year. You kids have any plans to go to the beach?”

“It is that time,” Yu said, aiming a pair of particularly bright eyes in Yosuke’s direction, making Yosuke wonder if Yu was really looking forward to seeing him in swimwear again that much. Though a part of Yosuke wanted to be annoyed, he was enjoying the ego boost.

The phone rang. Yu volunteered to answer it. The conversation was short, and after a few nods and simple acknowledgments, Yu had hung up and was making his way back to the living room table.

“Nanako said she’ll be late, but that her friend’s mom will bring her home before bedtime.”

“Alright.” Dojima laid back against the couch with a resigned sigh. “Is it okay if I watch the news?”

Yosuke was about to answer, but Yu beat him to it again.

“Sure.” Yu started collecting the study materials. “My room?” he offered, making a motion toward the stairs.

“Uh, y-yeah. Sure thing, Partner.” Yosuke got up and picked up his own things. One arm over his head in a stretch, he followed Yu up the stairs trying to look as nonchalant as he could about the whole thing, like they were going up there as friends instead of boyfriends.

They hadn’t been alone together in one of each other’s rooms since the day they’d become a ‘couple,’ and as the two of them ascended the stairs, so too did Yosuke’s heart start its ascent into his throat. His mind was reeling with thoughts of all the things Yu might want to do with him, to him. They hadn’t been dating that long, but Yosuke had no idea how fast Yu worked. Yu was an attractive guy after all; he was probably used to girls (and probably guys, too) throwing themselves at him. When Yosuke thought about it like that, he was kind of surprised his best-boy-friend hadn’t tried to bed him already.

The two of them settled around the work table in Yu’s bedroom.

“Maybe we should take a break from English.” Yu rearranged his papers. “How are your math grades looking?”

“Not great,” Yosuke said with a wink and nervous chuckle. Yu smiled back at him and flipped open his textbook.

And then, for the next two hours, as the sun sank under the horizon, nothing happened.

Yosuke lifted his head from his work and watched Yu for a couple minutes, scrutinizing even the tiniest twitch of his partner’s pencil. Yu was too far buried in his practice problems to notice how Yosuke was looking him over, searching for some sign, some explanation as to why he hadn’t made a move yet.

Of course he hasn’t tried anything, Yosuke scolded himself. He’s still my best friend. He’d have more respect for me than that, right? And just as that thought had begun to calm him, a new alarming one rose to the top of his mind:

What if he just doesn’t find me that attractive?

Yosuke physically shook the thought from his mind. He was the one that asked me out, he reminded himself, his frustrated determination seeping onto his face. Well, not really asked, so much as—UGH. WHATEVER.

He shuffled his hair, the frustration clearly showing through all his features. He forced himself to take a deep breath and eased the anger out through his nose. He wasn’t even really sure why he cared. It wasn’t like he wanted to do that stuff with a guy. Sure, if it was Yu, it probably wouldn’t be that bad, but…

It bothered him. Yosuke didn’t know why, but it bothered him. It was like he’d given Yu a free pass and Yu was squandering it on math homework. Which was a weird thing to think, and Yosuke knew that, but instead of feeling the relief he knew he should’ve felt, he grew more and more irritated by the second.

Maybe Yu just needed a little prodding, he decided, doing just that, nudging Yu’s foot under the table with his own. The first nudge only made Yu shift himself to give Yosuke more space, but the second, pressed firmly into Yu’s heel with purpose, got his attention. Yu lifted his eyes from his book to meet Yosuke’s determined gaze, and without a word, he did what anyone in his position would do.

He dug his toes into Yosuke’s arch.

And though the power behind it caught Yosuke off-guard, Yosuke quickly recovered, sliding his foot to the side and then pushing Yu’s foot down under it. Yu pushed back until their arches were crossed, almost as though they were arm wrestling with their feet.

Yosuke entertained the thought of calling it ‘leg wrestling’ until deeming it embarrassingly like something Chie would be into.

As they realized they’d reached a stalemate, Yu eased up.

“C’mon, Partner, don’t--”

Yu brought his foot upright, aligned with Yosuke’s, and, using his larger shoe size to his advantage, he curled his toes over Yosuke’s gently squeezing them and completely wiping out the rest of whatever Yosuke had been saying. Yu sat there, innocent as could be, his pink face smiling softly as he rocked their feet back and forth.

Yosuke lit up, his blush hitting him hard and all at once with such an intensity it made him glow. His foot was overcome with that same tingling feeling that usually came with Yu’s touch as of late.

And Yosuke’s brain, likely deciding that either the silence too much or the embarrassment was too little, sent the following message to his mouth: “You know what they say about big feet, right, Partner?”

The smile fell from Yu’s face, leaving a blank, though still pink expression in its place.

“Yeah?”

“Oh.” Yosuke turned away and rubbed his nose, trying to cover up his blazing red face. “Cool. Guess I don’t have to explain it then.” Yosuke wasn’t sure what he’d expected that comment to yield. Even if Yu had said no, it wasn’t like he’d be able to explain it with any less mortification than he was already experiencing.

Yu’s eyes fell back to his paper. He scratched the back of his head, and raised his eyes again. “Uh, yeah. I looked it up in middle school.”

“Yeah, yeah, um, same.”

Seconds passed silently, until Yu let out a tiny sigh and pulled his foot back out of Yosuke’s personal space. “Sorry.”

Yosuke straightened up. “What? Dude, no. I started it. Besides,” he paused to think, resting his elbow on the table and drawing circles in the air with his hand, trying to draw out his idea. “We’re supposed to be like… you know, you know?”

Yu gave him a weak smile that faded quickly as he picked up his pencil and his eyes sank back down to his textbook.

The silence stretched out long and tense between them, or at least it felt tense to Yosuke, who was mentally kicking himself.

Crap, crap, Chie was right. I am a terrible boyfriend. Yosuke dragged his hand down his face. Yu glanced up at him, but said nothing and returned to his work. Yosuke shoved his hands up into his hair and fell backwards onto the floor.

“You need help?” Yu finally asked, eyes still glued to his work.

“I shouldn’t have even brought that up. That was stupid. Stupid.”

Yu looked over at Yosuke, and then slowly lifted his head. “Yosuke?”

“Haha, I think I’ll kick my boyfriend under the table and then I’ll start making assumptions out loud about his dick. Great idea, Yosuke. Why don’t you write that one down and trademark it?” Yosuke grabbed a book from Yu’s shelf and laid it over his face to cover up the shame, but then instantly regretted it when his senses were overwhelmed by the scent of old paper. Yosuke endured it as long as he could, then lifted the book back up and looked over its pages. “Is this a bug catching guide? You seriously own a bug catching guide?”

When Yosuke tossed the book aside and turned to his partner expecting an answer, he instead saw Yu, face red and eyes glazed over, staring right at him.

“Partner?”

Yu broke into a bashful grin and shook his head. “It’s nothing. Thanks.”

Yosuke raised an eyebrow. “For...?”

But Yu only shook his head again and tapped the end of his pencil against his notebook. “We’ll have to go bug catching together sometime.”

Yosuke picked the book back up and flipped it open with a smile. “Can’t wait to see the master bug catcher at work.”

The rest of the night passed, uneventful. Yosuke remained unbedded, though he finally managed to feel good about it. He didn’t know why, but Yu kept glancing up at him, smiling at him, and that had to be a good sign, right?

Eventually though, thanks to the looming stress of upcoming exams and the static fear it plants in one’s mind, both of them were able to focus on their studies.

“Oh, shoot. It’s pretty late,” said Yosuke after seeing the clock. Yu’s face was still buried in his textbook, though on closer inspection, Yu’s hand had stopped sometime between then and the last time Yosuke had looked. Yosuke somewhat hesitantly tapped Yu’s shoulder, chewing on his lip to ignore the tingling. “Hey, you awake?”

Yu was not awake, it turned out. Yosuke got up and pulled Yu back up from behind, the textbook page reluctantly peeling off of Yu’s cheek as Yosuke carefully raised his head. Yu lolled backwards, nearly falling until Yosuke caught him and steadied him against his leg.

“Dude, really? Are you really doing this to me?” He tapped Yu’s face in hopes it would wake him, but to no avail. Yosuke sighed melodramatically and rubbed his neck. “Looks like I’ve gotta do everything around here.” He smiled to himself, despite his complaint, and after leaning Yu against the sofa, he pulled out Yu’s futon.

“No stash here, huh?” he said, half disappointed because he hadn’t found anything, and half disappointed because he hadn’t gotten any kind of rise out of Yu for saying it. “C’mere, Partner.” He gently tugged Yu over and laid him out on the futon, doing his best not to touch Yu anywhere weird, though with the way his body seemed to have been recently hardwired to react to touching Yu anywhere, it was hard to tell if anywhere wasn’t weird.

Yosuke pulled the duvet over Yu, then looked down at his partner. Yu’s sleeping face wasn’t one Yosuke was used to seeing. It wasn’t like he hadn’t seen it before (the night of the camping trip hadn’t exactly been restful), but kneeling over him with the lights on, seeing his features so plainly, with no emotion or facade painted over them, it was a rare and strangely magnetic sight.

He wanted to touch it. He wanted to touch it so bad. Even just a small poke.

He didn’t.

But he wanted to.

God, did he want to.

Instead he tore a small piece of paper from his notebook and scribbled out a note thanking Yu for the help and saying he’d see him at school tomorrow. He paused at the end of the note, making a face at it as he thought about what kind of note a good boyfriend might write.

The words themselves, he decided, were fine, but the note still needed something.

He tried to imagine the kind of note he’d hope a girl would leave for him, and came to the conclusion that what was missing was some kind of picture or doodle, something cute and personal that would make him smile no matter how mundane the note was.

A heart should be fine, he thought. Simple. Cute. Effective.

But as he put the lead back to the paper and found his fingers unable to move and his face hot, he realized it was also embarrassing as hell.

And so instead, he spent five minutes sketching out a very elaborate, though not particularly good, winking stick figure. He gave himself a glance in Yu’s mirror to check the stick figure’s resemblance to its creator.

Eh… close enough.

Yosuke stuck the note on the desk where Yu couldn’t miss it, packed up his things, turned out the light, and headed downstairs.

Dojima had since moved from the couch to the kitchen table, and was looking over the newspaper. He looked up when he heard Yosuke’s footsteps descending the stairway.

“Just you?” he asked.

“Yeah. Yu dozed off.” Yosuke laughed, more nerves than humor as he remembered what Yu hadn’t told his uncle. “Doesn’t really seem like him, right?”

“That explains why he’s not seeing you off.” Dojima folded up his paper and set it on the table. “By the way, I’ve noticed you two have been spending a lot of time together lately.”

Yosuke felt a small chill go through him, and he forced out another nervous laugh. “You know, exams.”

Dojima’s brows came together, and he echoed back, words drawn out by doubt, “Yeah. Exams.”

“Well, I better get going,” Yosuke said quickly, rushing to put on his shoes.

“Listen, Hanamura.” Dojima gave him a hard look, stopping Yosuke in his tracks. “I’m glad he’s making friends, but you two better not pull anything like you did with the swords at the food court ever again, got it?”

Yosuke gripped the strap of his bag over his shoulder and swallowed. “Understood, sir.”

“Good.” Dojima’s face softened, and he picked up his paper again. “You better head out. It’s a school night.”

Yosuke tried to laugh again, but it came out more like a scared whine. “Yeah. See you around.”

He scrambled out the door before Dojima could answer him. As he rushed down the street away from his uneasy conversation with Yu’s uncle, he muttered, “See you around? What the hell, self?”

Chapter Text

Morooka was dead.

Since his body had been found, it was like everything had become a reminder. Yosuke had never quite realized the impact that man had on their lives until the noise in the halls, at Junes, on the news, and around the entire town had become nothing but static rumors about the teacher’s death.

The biggest reminder, however, was the woman sitting at the front of their classroom, too absorbed in her compact mirror to notice the student in the front row trying to ask her to remove her high heels from his desk.

And despite all the major effects of Morooka’s death, a postponement of their exams had not been one of them.

Yosuke was doing better than he’d expected to, probably thanks to all of Yu’s tutoring. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d filled out an answer sheet with so much confidence.

When Yosuke turned his test over and lifted his head, he noticed Yu was having much more difficulty. Yu’s head would sink, then jolt back up every couple of seconds, his pencil mirroring the movements of his head almost exactly.

Just as Yu seemed to be losing the battle, Yosuke kicked the leg of his partner’s chair. Yu jumped back up with a tiny noise that forced Yosuke to stifle a laugh into the back of his hand. Yu turned his head around to give Yosuke a short glance, then returned to his test.

This happened a few more times throughout the morning. Though Yosuke wasn’t quite sure why, each time his partner popped back up into the land of the wakeful was more amusing than the last. By the time lunch rolled around, Yosuke was entertaining thoughts of his favorite band breaking up just to contain himself.

Chie, however, was far less amused.

“Geez, Yosuke,” she muttered, frowning at him. “You mind telling me what was so funny?”

Hiding a grin behind his fist, Yosuke snrk’d and pointed to Yu’s bobbing head.

Within moments, Yukiko joined Yosuke, giggling to herself. “Y’know, Chie, it is kinda funny...”

Chie let out an exasperated sigh. “Really?” She stood up. “I guess it is kinda weird for him.” She tapped Yu on the shoulder, and he sat back at attention. “You alright?”

Yu blinked slowly. “What day is it?”

“Still Tuesday,” Yosuke said, his grin only shrinking slightly. “You gonna make it through the rest of the week?”

Yu turned around to face Yosuke. “You might have to keep kicking me. Thanks, by the way.”

“You’d never live it down if you got a lower score than me.” Yosuke winked.

Yu laughed bashfully and turned away. “Yeah.”

Chie passed glances back and forth between the two boys, brows together and arms crossed.

Yukiko tapped Chie’s elbow. “Something wrong, Chie?”

Chie relaxed her eyebrows, but her frown remained. “No, it’s just...” She shook her head, then gave pause as her eyes landed on the sight of the boys’ pinkies interlocked on Yosuke’s desk. “It’s nothing. Let’s go eat lunch.” Chie took Yukiko by the wrist, pulling her best friend up and leading her out of the room as she questioned why they weren’t eating in the classroom. Yu and Yosuke, with eyebrows raised, watched them take off.

“What’s with them?” Yosuke asked with a lopsided frown. Yu merely shrugged. Yosuke turned back to Yu. “And what about you? What’s got you all tired out?” He tapped his desk, taking Yu’s hand along with it. Yosuke looked down at their hands and went stiff when he saw their position. The tingling sensation that had become all too familiar to Yosuke as of late shot up his arm fiercely enough to make him whip his hand back. “Oh, uh...” He cast his eyes downward as he tried to ignore the heat rushing to his face. “Sorry, Partner.”

Yu’s expression faltered, but then he laughed weakly. “It’s alright.”

‘It doesn’t sound alright,’ Yosuke thought. Suddenly his head was filled with all the possible reasons his partner might be mad at him, and wondering if Yu had sounded so bothered by it because he wanted to keep his secret or if he was annoyed that his boyfriend wouldn’t proudly hold his hand.

“So…” Forcibly putting those thoughts aside in favor of thinking Yu might just be grumpy from lack of sleep, Yosuke leaned in and pointed to the bags under Yu’s eyes. “What’s this all about? You spend all night wrapped up in that bug catching guide of yours, or what?”

“Studying,” Yu mumbled, his eyelids already starting to fall again.

“Dude, are you serious?” Yosuke gave Yu’s face a gentle slap. “Stay with me, Partner.”

Yu dragged his head back up. “Yeah… yeah.”

“Even after all that studying we did together, you still did more? Yeesh.” Yosuke leaned back into his chair. “And all this time I thought you were naturally good at this stuff.”

“You flatter me, Yos...” Yu’s head drooped, then shot back up. “Yosuke.”

“Yeeeeah… Let’s get some food in you, Partner.”

The next day came, bringing more tests, but, as Yosuke observed from his seat, seeing Yu hunched over his paper and Yu’s pencil stock still in his hand, apparently not any more rest for his partner.

For the first hour or so, kicking Yu’s chair worked, but as the morning wore on, it became about as effective as kicking a wall.

‘C’mon, Partner. Wake up! Wake uuuuuuhp!!’ he thought, giving the chair a series of irritated shoves.

Yosuke chewed on the end of his pencil as he prayed to God or whoever or whatever was up there that Yu wouldn’t start snoring. He gave the chair one more good hard kick, and it skidded forward with a harsh screech against the floorboards.

And Yu was up again. He had drool on his chin and arm, and a look of mild alarm in his eyes, and he let out a small yelp that definitely got the attention of the teacher, but he was up. He snatched his pencil and started scribbling in answers.

As soon as lunchtime rolled around, Yu spun around in his chair, and with exhausted yet intense eyes, he said, “You saved my life.”

“Dude, don’t say something like that so easily.”

Chie turned to them. “Yu, are you sure you’re doing okay?”

“You look worse than yesterday,” Yukiko said. “You should rest tonight.”

She was right. Yu, having declared Yosuke his savior, lost the intensity of his expression. His eyes were glazed over, and he was slowly wobbling back and forth like a buoy in a calm sea.

“Yeah, seriously, Partner.” Yosuke crossed his arms. “I thought I told you to cool it with the studying yesterday.”

“Not studying,” Yu murmured, squeezing his eyes shut and then forcefully opening them. “Cat.”

His three friends’ expressions all morphed into different variations of the same disappointment.

Chie sighed. “No offense, Yu, but that’s not a good reason to sleep through your exams.”

Yu shut his eyes again, and his head lolled to the side. “But she was so loud.”

“Ohhh...” Yosuke’s frown cleared. “So it’s not like you were out petting it or anything.”

“No, I… I definitely pet her...”

Yosuke’s jaw fell open, and then, incredulously, he said, “All night?”

“Well...”

Yosuke rubbed his forehead. “This isn’t something that should start with ‘well,’ Partner.”

While the two of them had been talking, Yukiko and Chie had pulled out their bentos, and without looking up from her food, Yukiko said, “For once, Yosuke is right.”

Yosuke gave her a flat look. “What do you mean ‘for once’?”

Yu rested his head in his arms on Yosuke’s desk. “She was hungry. I had to do something.”

Yosuke’s face softened. “Yu...”

“So I got my fishing rod and--”

Then hardened again in an instant. “Yu! What the hell?”

“No food in the house,” Yu mumbled into his arm. “Stores closed.”

“You know cats hunt, right?” Chie said, pointing her chopsticks at him.

“A carnivore like you would know all about that, huh, Chie?”

“Can it, Yosuke!” Chie turned away from him with a pout.

Smiling to himself, Yosuke lowered himself to Yu’s level, resting his head in the crook of his elbow. “Looks like I angered the beast.”

“I heard that!” Chie called over.

In spite of his closed eyes and slow breathing, Yu cracked a smile. Yosuke chuckled and brushed Yu’s bangs aside. “Maybe next time worry about your own needs before the cat’s, alright, Partner?”

“Mm.”

Yosuke reached for his school bag. “You want the other half of my sandwich?”

“Mmhm.”

Just beyond them, Chie was focused on the two of them, lips and brows pursed together in thought.

Day three of exams, and if Yu had been swapped with Morooka, it wouldn’t have made a difference. Regardless of how many times or how hard Yosuke kicked Yu’s chair, Yu, face flat on his test, didn’t move a muscle.

Yosuke gave the room a quick once over, checking that his classmates and teacher were occupied with other things, then tossed his eraser at Yu’s back. It hit Yu’s neck and bounced down between his arm and his collarbone. Yu didn’t even twitch.

‘Aaaaaaand nothing.’ Yosuke facepalmed.

Looking over the scene in front of him, he did notice one last option.

And so, slouching down in his seat, Yosuke did something he’d honestly thought he’d never have the need nor opportunity to do: He kicked Yu’s ass.

Yu bolted up like young deer that’d been struck with a taser, standing, hunched over his desk, butt in the air, in literally the uncoolest form Yosuke had ever seen him. Had they not been surrounded by now staring peers and a very irritable looking teacher with their grades on the line, Yosuke might have laughed.

“Mr. Narukami, is there a problem?”

Yu tossed uncomfortable glances to the classmates around him, more than a few of which were aimed at Yosuke. Then, rubbing his backside, he slowly sat himself back down. “No, Sir.”

Yosuke stood up, and started boldly, “Excuse me, Mr. Yamada?” And ended, unfortunately, with his nerves cracking his voice at the end of their teacher’s name.

“What is it, Hanamura?”

“It’s…” Yosuke tried to lift his eyes, but couldn’t keep them up after seeing the stares of their classmates. “It’s my fault. I, uh, noticed he fell asleep, and I didn’t want him to fail the test, so I ki—I mean, I, um, I threw my eraser at him.”

Yu picked up Yosuke’s eraser and placed it back on Yosuke’s desk with an awkward yet thankful nod and a tiny nervous smile.

Mr. Yamada hesitantly nodded, took a breath and raised his eyebrows. “Well, okay then...”

As Mr. Yamada walked away, Yosuke shakily took his seat. He slouched down into his seat again, and gently prodded Yu’s foot. Yu acknowledged it with a small nod in Yosuke’s direction. Their feet remained side by side for the rest of the morning, much to the inconvenience of Yosuke’s lower back.

“Alright, Partner,” Yosuke began with a sigh, accepting a pair of disposable chopsticks from Yu. “What’s your excuse today?”

Yu set down his can of coffee. “Up all night thinkin’ about you.”

The bento between them wasn’t even open yet and Yosuke managed to choke. “Excuse me?”

“Kidding.” Yu slid the top from the box revealing an assortment of small dishes. “You’re cute flustered.”

Yosuke coughed into his hand, trying not to think about that image, even if it was… oddly flattering. “I guess I deserved that.”

“Thanks for not letting me fail, though.”

“No problem.” Yosuke pulled his chopsticks apart. “I hope this bento isn’t what kept you up all night.”

Yu chuckled weakly. “Actually...” He took another sip of his coffee, shook the can, then pulled out another can from his bag. “My uncle got home real late last night and...” Yu clicked the top of the second can open and stared into it.

“And…?”

“He was on the phone with Adachi and--” Yu sighed, pulling his own chopsticks apart. “I really shouldn’t be telling you this.”

Yosuke echoed a tired sigh back and leveled his eyes with Yu’s. “Listen, Partner. What’s the point of us...” He made a hand motion between their chests, and lowered his voice, “...of us doing this, if we can’t talk about anything?”

Yu took a long sip of his coffee, holding the can up longer than the drink actually took. After a few seconds passed, he finally set the can back down with a dull clack. “They were discussing the spot where the body was found.”

“King M-- I mean, Mr. Morooka’s body?”

“Yeah.” Yu sighed through his nose. “What did we miss?”

Yu sat there silently, tapping his chopsticks on his fingers.

Yosuke watched him for a few seconds, then picked up an octopus-shaped wiener from the bento with his chopsticks and held it in front of Yu’s face. “Cheer up and eat something, Partner.”

Yu blinked away the mild shock, then settled into an amused smile. “So you’re okay with doing stuff like this in public, but won’t call it what it is?”

Yosuke went pink and frowned. “Shut up and eat the wiener.”

Yu began to shake with laughter, his smile cracking open.

Yosuke looked around, frown growing deeper. “What?”

“You--” Yu managed to get down to a weak giggle. “You want me to eat your wiener, Yosuke?”

With that, Yosuke, beet red from the neck up, was sputtering sounds that never quite made it to words, until finally he just shoved the meat into Yu’s mouth. It was satisfying in its own right, having wiped the smile from Yu’s face and also having forced him to eat. Or at least, it was, until Yosuke’s mind thought it right to ruin that short moment of satisfaction by sending the following sentence to his mouth: “Y-you’ll be lucky if I ever offer you my wiener at this rate.”

Yu, a matching shade of crimson, eyes glazed over and jaw slack, looked as though he’d forgotten how to chew. It took to the count of three for it to click in Yosuke’s mind just why Yu would ever forget something so vital. When it did click, Yosuke could’ve sworn a piece of his soul chipped away, lost forever to the void of mortification. He hunched over, hiding his face in his arms, groaning.

“Cheer up and eat something, Partner.”

Something about hearing the word ‘partner’ in Yu’s voice sparked a fluttery feeling in Yosuke’s gut.

Yosuke looked up to see a block of dashimaki unnervingly close to his nose. He followed the chopsticks up to Yu’s arm, then Yu’s face. Yu was still burning red, but smiling nonetheless. Yosuke sighed and accepted the food with a chomp.

Yosuke lifted his head up, still chewing. Voice muffled with food, he asked, “You always this giggly when you’re tired?”

“Not always,” Yu said, looking thoughtful as he pulled another can of coffee from his bag.

“Dude, how much coffee you got in there?”

Yu popped the third can open. “A few. Word travels fast in a small town, I guess. This is my uncle’s idea of helping me get through exams.”

“Well, it’s the thought that counts, right?” Yosuke winked again, and Yu ducked his smile behind his coffee can. “But dude, if you drink all that during lunch, that’s gonna come back to bite you in the ass.”

“I think if we’ve determined anything today, Yosuke, it’s that my ass can take it.”

“Sorry, I won’t kick you a--” Yosuke paused, then squinted at his partner, who only answered him with a jittery (from nerves or caffeine, Yosuke couldn’t tell) smirk. Yosuke did his best to match it, though his mild irritation came through. “Not improving your chances, Partner.”

Yu shrugged and turned his attention to his food. “You want a coffee?”

“Pass. You need it more than I do.”

“You were just telling me how I shouldn’t drink it all.”

“Well, yeah, but...” Yosuke scratched his head. “I meant like, not all at once. And besides the whole Morooka thing, I’ve been sleeping pretty well for an exam week.”

Yu swallowed a bite of rice. “You slept pretty well during the last exams.”

“That’s completely different and if anyone in this classroom should know that, it’s you.” Yosuke leaned forward and pointed at Yu. “You should be grateful. I don’t remember anyone keeping me awake.” Yosuke sulked back down with a pout, picking at some pickled veggies in the bento with his chopsticks.

Yu leaned down. “Thank you, Yosuke.”

“Make sure to remember your high school sweetheart when you get into that big shot college,” Yosuke said, stirring the veggies around. He glanced up only to see Yu looking like a lobster, bright red and nervously clicking his chopsticks together.

Yu cleared his throat, and without looking at Yosuke, he asked, “Did our study sessions help?”

Yosuke perked up. “Yeah, definitely. I think I can confidently say I passed this time.”

“Only passed?” Yu asked with a soft laugh.

Yosuke shrugged. “I don’t wanna set my hopes too high, you know?”

Yu tapped the desk. “Maybe you’ll get into that big shot college too.”

“I said I don’t wanna get my hopes up,” Yosuke said, chuckling through it. “You gonna be able to stay awake tomorrow?”

“I don’t wanna get my hopes up.”

Yosuke gave Yu a playful push. Then, his smile fell a couple notches. He leaned in close, locked eyes with Yu, and in a low voice, he said, “At least promise me you won’t stay up all night worrying about what we coulda-shoulda done, alright?”

With a small frown and averted eyes, Yu grunted softly.

“Alright?” Yosuke said again, more strongly. Yu chanced a glance back, only to get caught in Yosuke’s eye contact until they both broke into giggles.

“Alright, alright,” Yu conceded. “You win.”

“Good to hear, Partner.” Yosuke patted Yu’s arm with a grin. “So… You’ll be awake during tomorrow’s exams, right?”

Yu shifted in his seat. “My butt sure hopes so.”

Something tugged at Yosuke. At his chest? His face? He couldn’t tell. His body yearned to lean forward, and he began to, until he realized what he was doing, and that he had no conscious reason for it.

“Yosuke?” Yosuke didn’t hear his name, but saw it in the motion of Yu’s lips.

“M-mine does too,” he quietly stammered as he pushed himself back.

Yu laughed. “What?"

Blush creeping up his face, Yosuke shook his head. “Nothing, Partner.”

Chapter Text

Yosuke leaned over slowly, peering around the corner of the hall and into the entryway.

The coast was clear.

He looked around, then, note in hand, quietly made his way to Yu’s shoe locker and slipped the paper in through the slit.

“Yosuke?”

Yosuke jumped a good foot in the air as he yelped, “It’snotwhatitlookslikeIswear!”

Then he turned around to see Chie with her eyebrow raised.

“And what exactly is this supposed to look like, Yosuke?” she asked, motioning to the scene before her.

“Oh, c’mon, Chie!” he said with a roll of his eyes that was too dramatic to be believable. “Can’t a guy give his friend a note?”

Chie narrowed her eyes. “A guy can, but why would he have to sneak it into his shoe locker like that? What are you, a secret agent or something?”

Yosuke opened his mouth, ready to deliver a loud and overly defensive piece of his mind, but then stopped himself, slid his sweaty hands into his pockets, and gave her a stiff shrug instead. “So what if I am?”

“Yosuke!” she groaned.

Catching a glimpse of Yu down the hall caught up in a conversation with Kanji, Yosuke put a finger to his lips and urgently shhh’d at Chie only to have her take him by the arm and pull him into the nearest empty classroom.

“Chie, what the hell? People are gonna talk if they see you dragging me into rooms--”

“Who cares?!”

“I’ll tell you who cares, Chie!” Yosuke pointed to the hall. “My partner, Yu Naru--”

“Oh really? And why exactly would Yu care?”

“Be… cause.” Yosuke’s arm dropped to his side. “Because…” He lifted his hand, shaking it to stir his thoughts, and then finally pointing definitively at Chie, he said, “Because it would affect the dynamic of the Investigation Team.”

Chie crossed her arms.

“And--” Yosuke paused, then stammering, he continued with a vague motion of his hand, “And there was that thing, you know, a couple weeks ago? It’s just bad timing.”

Chie raised her eyebrows until they dug into her forehead. “That thing, Yosuke?”

“Y-yeah. You know? That… that thing.”

“Gee. I don’t know, Yosuke. What thing?”

“Y’know… the whole… confession thing?”

“Ooooh, right,” Chie said, the realization bordering on condescension. “That time you rejected him.”

“Whoa, whoa, I didn’t… reject him, I just...”

“What? Let him down gently?”

Bouncing his foot and looking at everything except Chie, Yosuke sucked in air through his teeth. “Well...”

Chie’s frown faded. “Well?”

Yosuke’s face tightened for an instant, and then he tapped his wrist and turned to the door. “Would you look at that? I’m gonna be late for work.”

Chie grabbed his wrist. “You’re not even wearing a watch.”

“You don’t know that,” Yosuke shot back. Chie showed Yosuke his own arm, and Yosuke shrunk back. “O-okay, maybe you do.”

Chie’s face softened, and she loosely crossed her arms over her chest. “Yosuke, did you…?”

Yosuke chewed his lip and tossed a worried glance out the classroom door window. “I couldn’t reject him, okay?”

“Yosuke...” Chie sighed.

“You shoulda seen him, Chie. I couldn’t say no to that face.” Seeing the doubt in Chie’s eyes, he raised his hands up between them. “Before you tear me a new one, I want you to know I’m doing the best I can. If my partner wants a boyfriend, he’s gonna have a good one, okay?”

Chie’s eyebrows slowly drew close, and as she pieced her thoughts together, she raised her head. “You’re not just leading him on?”

“C’mon, Chie. Are you serious?” Yosuke’s face fell into a pained frown. “Do I really seem like that kind of guy?” He pointed toward the door. “That note out there? It’s a little something I put together to celebrate getting through exams. It’s mushy and gross and embarrassing, but dammit, he likes that crap and he deserves it.” He took a step closer to Chie, and continued with a low voice, “He stuck the last note I gave him in his wallet, Chie. His wallet. He sees my stupid self-portrait doodle every time he buys a soda.”

Chie looked Yosuke over, and then, ever so slightly, the corner of her mouth quirked into a smile.

Yosuke’s own face, however, went blank. “...What?”

“You’re actually into him, aren’t you?” she said, her smile gradually cracking wider.

Yosuke nearly choked on his own tongue. “W-wait a minute, I never said—Hold on, we’re not done here!”

Her smile growing into a full blown grin, Chie had walked over to the classroom door and slid it open. “Good luck, Yosuke!” she called back with a wave. Yosuke bolted to the door, reaching to stop her, but by the time he caught up, she was already halfway down the hall at Yukiko’s side.

As he once again approached the entryway, he laid eyes upon Yu, standing in front of his locker with the note in his hands, and the only way Yosuke could think to describe his partner just then was ‘bright.’ Bright eyes, bright smile, bright red, just… bright.

Something hot in Yosuke’s chest fluttered. He brought his hand up, clutching at it through his shirt.

Chapter Text

Yu wasn’t getting up.

He was on the ground, his sword just beyond his reach and his body unable to close the gap between them.

Yosuke hadn’t been faring much better. He’d been knocked down by the same blow. He’d only managed to hang on to one of his kunai in the fall, and the other was somewhere behind him. After pushing himself up and confirming that he was still alive, he dragged himself to Yu’s side.

A hand to Yu’s mouth, then his nose. Still breathing. Yosuke heaved a relieved sigh. Yu was roughed up, sure, clothing torn at the edges, small bruises and scratches tarnishing his skin, but it was nothing Yukiko couldn’t fix later.

“Hang in there, Partner.” Yosuke tried to focus on the blue card in his mind, but it wasn’t coming together. The space inside his mind glowed faintly. The weak light shimmered and faded. He tried again. Same result. “Oh, c’mon. Really?” He rolled his eyes, then scanned the room.

The others were still chipping away at the enemy’s defenses. A good sign.

“Yukiko, can we get some help here?” He called out. He pushed himself up and grabbed the sword and his other kunai. When he returned, he secured the sword in Yu’s scabbard and then the scabbard haphazardly under Yu’s belt. Yosuke smiled to himself. “Better not lose this, huh, Partner?”

An instant later, Rise’s voice invaded their thoughts, screaming, “Senpai, get outta there!”

As the blocks of armor cracked and tumbled away, an embryo hovered at its core, eyes aglow.

Aglow in their direction, Yosuke noted with a short whine. He shook Yu’s shoulder. “C’mon, get up, Partner!” Yosuke scrambled back to his feet. He stumbled on his way up, but caught himself. He hooked his arms under Yu’s and pulled only to have something yank back.

No claws, chains, or tentacles in sight.

Deep in his gut, Yosuke felt another brick add itself to the dread pile.

Another yank. Yosuke’s shoes skidded across the floor. “Shit,” he muttered as both he and Yu were drawn closer to the shadow. “Shit, shit, shit, shit--”

The others were rushing toward them, attacking the shadow, and Yu, he was slipping, slipping--

Yosuke reinforced his hold on Yu’s arms and gripped the collar of Yu’s shirt. “I swear to God, if I lose my best friend to an embryo of all things--”

The team latched onto their leader one by one, tugging him back, slowly succeeding.

The shadow’s eyes grew wide with rage. Then it pressed them shut, and screeched. A wave shot through the room, blowing the team apart.

The shadow reeled Yu in.

Yosuke chased after him.

Yu’s limp body disappeared between the cracks of the shadow’s shell.

Everything in Yosuke’s body ached and pulled back against him, but he pushed his limbs to move. The others called after him, but his brain didn’t process the words as he stabbed his kunai into the shadow’s broken shell and flung himself inside.

Yosuke woke up in the shade of the gazebo on the floodplain.

He shot up, head turning frantically in every direction. A tug at his gut made him jump, but his hands found an arm, and his eyes found Yu lying at his side. Yosuke placed a hand to his heart and sighed in relief.

Yu stirred. He cracked an eye open and murmured blearily, “Hey… You alright?”

“Yeah, heh...” Yosuke laughed halfheartedly. “I just had the worst dream, though.”

“Did Nickelback break up?”

Yosuke’s smile fell into a wry smirk and he mussed Yu’s hair. “Dude, don’t even joke about that.”

Yu chuckled to himself. He squeezed Yosuke’s waist. “C’mere.” Yosuke didn’t move right away, so Yu said it again, and with a small sigh, Yosuke let himself fall back into the indent he’d left in the grass at Yu’s side. Yu brought a hand to Yosuke’s face, and started to hum a familiar song, until finally singing softly, “You’re never gonna be alone. From this moment on, I’ll hold you till the hurt is gone.”

Yosuke snorted. “That’s not how that song goes.”

“It’s how it goes now.”

Yosuke brought his hand up, wrapping his fingers around Yu’s hand and holding it there against his cheek. “I am flattered that you took the time to look them up.”

“What kind of boyfriend would I be if I couldn’t butcher all your favorite songs?”

Yosuke’s smile faltered. Yu’s soon followed suit.

Yu stroked Yosuke’s cheek with his thumb. “Sorry, does it bother you?”

Yosuke shook his head and put on a transparent smile. “Nah.” He gave Yu’s hand a pat, then slid it from his face. “It’s getting kinda late. We should probably head out.” Yosuke got up and brushed the loose blades of grass from his clothes.

Yu sat up, resting an arm on his knee as he watched Yosuke pat himself down. Yosuke offered Yu a hand, which he accepted readily. Yu bumped into him on his way up, and they exchanged awkward, fleeting smiles.

Yu stuffed a hand in his pocket and scratched the back of his head. “So, um… You wanna come over for a bit?” He was looking at something on the ground.

“Maybe not tonight. Ted’s been pestering me all week about having a movie night.” Yosuke rolled his eyes, but his smile was sincere. “Apparently he heard my parents talking about some old movie from the seventies and now he wants us to watch it together.”

“Oh.” The hand in Yu’s hair went still. “Some other time then.” His mouth quirked up into a weak smile that was swiftly erased by quiet sigh.

That sigh sent a cold feeling prickling over the edges of Yosuke’s chest, and before he knew it, his mouth was stammering out, “B-but I’m sure Ted wouldn’t mind if you joined us. He always buys too many snacks for just the two of us anyway.”

Yu lifted his eyes and spent a moment looking Yosuke over. “You sure?”

“Yeah, of course.” Yosuke winked, and as usual, Yu’s face turned a tad pinker. “Besides, it’s your turn to come over to my place, right?”

Yu’s face lit up ever so slightly, and he nodded.

As they started walking, Yosuke fished his mp3 player from his pocket and scrolled through the songs.

“Hey, Yosuke?”

He kept scrolling, down to the artists that start with N. “Yeah?”

“Do your parents know?”

“Know wh—” Yosuke drew in a breath as it clicked. “Oh, that.” He made a pained face, sucking air in through his teeth. “I know you, like, prefer to tell people on your own terms, but… Well, you know Ted.”

Yu glanced away with a resigned smile. “Yeah.”

“Yeah,” Yosuke echoed back apologetically. “It’s not his fault. He didn’t get that it was a sensitive topic until my parents started interrogating me about it. I should’ve told him it was a secret.”

“So...” Yu bumped shoulders with Yosuke. “How did it go?”

Yosuke cringed. “Not… great.” He raised his hand out between them. “I mean, it definitely could’ve gone worse.” He turned his hand with his words. “But now they keep trying to like, relate, or whatever? The other night Mom asked me if I thought Tsuyoshi Kusanagi was hot.”

Yu raised his eyebrows. “Do you?”

Yosuke gave Yu a gentle shove and countered, “Do you?”

Yu shrugged. “He’s not bad.”

“Dude!” Yosuke wrinkled his nose. “Isn’t he like, your uncle’s age?”

“That’s when some men peak.”

“No, nope. We’re not talking about this anymore. Conversation over.”

Yu chuckled to himself, poorly hiding it behind his hand.

Yosuke leaned over with a judging squint. “Oh, you think this is funny, do you?”

Yu turned to Yosuke, his face straining slightly to hold back his laughter. “Yeah, I do.”

“Geez...” Yosuke shook his head, smiling in spite of himself, and turned back to his mp3 player. He tapped Yu on the shoulder and stopped. “Hold up, Partner,” he said, and Yu stopped next to him. Yosuke lifted his headphones from his neck. “I might not be able to fix your taste in men, but I can help you get this song down.”

Yosuke pressed play and dropped the player into his pocket. He slid his headphones down over Yu’s ears, one hand cupping each side, and Yu, laughter slipping away to silence, lit up like a stoplight.

As soon as he noticed it, Yosuke’s own face grew warm. He let go of the headphones and cleared his throat. “R-right. My house.” He started walking again, until the headphone cord tugged him back. “Yu?”

Yu broke from his stupor and nodded. “Right.” He made his way to Yosuke’s side, and the two of them walked on. Hands at their sides, their knuckles bumped together, once, then twice, and once more, until Yu took hold of two of Yosuke’s fingers, hooking their hands together. “Yosuke?”

Yosuke, desperately trying to ignore the sweat accumulating on his palms, kept his eyes on the road. “Yeah?”

“What’s wrong with my taste in men?”

Yosuke turned back to see Yu grinning through his bashful flush. Yosuke flashed him a nervous smile in return, and continued forward.

“Dude, what do you mean you don’t have a yukata?”

Yu looked away and rubbed his neck. “I have one. I just didn’t bring it to Inaba.”

Yosuke dropped the T-shirt he was folding back on the table and took Yu by the hand, leading him through the clothing racks. “I can’t believe you didn’t bring it. Did you not plan on having a summer romance at all?”

Yu blinked. “Do… do you need a yukata for romance?”

Yosuke released Yu’s hand and shook his head. “Partner, Partner, Partner...” He held out his hands to his sides in a broad, sweeping shrug. “It’s a good thing you have a nice face, because if people knew how clueless you were, your popularity would be shot.”

Expression unchanging, Yu’s face grew pink. He tossed a short glance over to the nearest mirror.

Yosuke continued on, motioning to the men’s yukata display. “It’s about letting your special somebody see all the seasons of you.”

Yu pondered it, then frowned. “What’s wrong with this season of me?”

“Nothing, but...” Yosuke took a forest green yukata from the rack. He put his arm around Yu and squeezed Yu’s shoulder. He pulled his partner in close so he was directly in front of the mirror. “Imagine you’re at the summer festival at night, surrounded by all the stalls and she—Excuse me, he’s beside you. You’re holding hands, sharing coy meaningful glances. You slip away together to be alone for the fireworks. You go in for a kiss. The kisses get heated, and then--” Yosuke laid the yukata over Yu’s front. “He’s clutching the cotton at your collar, and your sleeve slips off. He kisses your n--”

“I’m starting to see where Teddie gets it from.”

Yosuke scoffed, pulling away and holding his hand to his chest in mock offense. “I’m trying to help you, Partner.” He relaxed and started sifting through yukata on the rack again. “And as much as I hate to admit it, sometimes the bear knows what he’s talking about. His problem is that he blabs about it in front of the girls.”

With the tiniest grin, Yu nudged Yosuke with his elbow. “You know, Yosuke… I was kinda hoping you’d be the guy at the festival with me.”

“Well then,” Yosuke paused, squaring his shoulders and holding out a different, deep red yukata, definitely not to camouflage his own red face. “I guess it’s up to you if we’re going as best friends or boyfriends.”

“You really wanna see me in a yukata that bad, huh?”

Yosuke frowned slightly, and shrugged. “It would be nice, yeah.”

“Are you gonna make good on those neck kisses?”

Yosuke’s frown grew deeper. “Partner.”

“Kidding,” Yu said with a weak chuckle that tapered off unusually quickly. “Are…” He turned away with a hand on his neck. “Are you gonna wear one?”

Yosuke narrowed his eyes and leaned in with a smirk. “See, Partner? It’s only natural to want to see your special someone in a new outfit.”

A faint blush on his face, Yu made a small noise in his throat.

Yosuke gripped Yu’s shoulder and shook Yu from his thoughts. “I’ll wear one if you wear one.”

Yu smiled and nodded. “Deal.”

“Hanamura!” Yosuke jumped at the sound of his name. The two boys turned around to see one of the assistant managers behind them. “Quit messing around. We need you over in electronics.”

Yosuke’s brows came together in irritation. “I’ll have you know I just made a sale over here.”

“You used me,” Yu said.

“You’ll get over it when you see me at the festival.” Yosuke winked, and Yu’s blush grew stronger over his smile.

“Hanamura!! Quit flirting with your boyfriend and get over here.”

Both of them winced. Somewhere behind them, Yosuke could hear the sound of his coworkers snickering. He cleared his throat, removing his hands from Yu’s person and stepping back. Their eyes met as Yu’s made their way to the floor.

Something tugged at Yosuke’s chest.

“Are you coming or not?” the assistant manager asked, starting to tap their foot impatiently.

“Coming, coming,” Yosuke groaned. “Don’t have a cow.” He gave Yu a pat on the back, and leaned in quick to whisper, “Pick out something nice, Partner.”

And then he left.

“Hey, Hanamura, is it true? You’re screwing that bowlcut guy?”

Yosuke choked on his soda, coughing most of his sip out on his work smock. Two of his coworkers stood opposite of him, hiding giggles behind their hands. Yosuke set down his drink on the break room counter and rushed to take off his smock before the soda soaked through to his clothes. “Don’t you girls have anything better to do than make up rumors about me and my partner?”

“Partner, huh? So you two are pretty serious?” asked the first, wearing too much perfume.

“Are you two gonna get like, married?” asked the second, who apparently had no sense of smell.

“We’re not--” Yosuke paused, coughing the on the air and waving the first girl’s scent away from his nose. He made a mental note to ask his dad about what the company dress code said about perfume. “That’s just what I call him. Quit making up crap.”

“Yeah, right,” the second snorted. “He’s in here all the time just to see you.”

Yosuke shrunk back.

“Right?” the first agreed. “The way he looks at you is soooo obvious, too. Does he have a fetish for your Junes uniform?”

“Oh my god, what if he does?”

“Seriously?!” Yosuke straightened his back, trying to command what little respect he could. “Who would have a fetish for th--”

The first gasped. “I bet they’ve done it in the store!”

“This is literally the last place I’d ever--” Yosuke started to say, then got cut off again, this time by his phone. He pulled it out only to have it snatched from him. “Hey!”

“Ooooh, the caller ID says ‘Partner.’ It must be Bowlcut!” said the first. The second giggled excitedly.

Yosuke braced his nose, then stepped forward, one hand on his hip and the other held out. “Haha, very funny. Give it back.”

“Aw, he says he’s looking forward to seeing you after work. That’s cute. I’m kinda jealous.”

Yosuke let out a small irritated sigh. “C’mon. Hand it over already.”

The phone went off again, and Yosuke felt his chest grow tight. He made a reach for the phone, but the second girl took it.

“Oh, look at this!” said the second. She continued in what had to be the worst impression of Yu that Yosuke had ever heard, “‘Let’s get steak skewers on the way to your place.’”

“Is that code for--”

“It’s not code for anything!” Yosuke made another swipe for the phone. The second girl dodged and started texting something out while the first girl held Yosuke back. “Oh, hell, are you trying to suffocate me?”

“Excuse me?”

The second girl hit send, then tossed the phone back at Yosuke. “Ignore him. He probably only likes manly odors. Break’s almost over, we better get back.”

The girls left. Yosuke watched them leave, then flipped open his phone and went to the sent messages.

Yosuke: u can skewer my steak anytime partner ;)))

He shuffled his hair and bit his lip. It could be worse, he told himself. It could be so much worse.

Another message from Yu came. He opened it.

Partner: you’re not just a piece of meat partner

A small wave of relief washed over him.

Yosuke: sry these grls @wrk stole myphone

Yosuke leaned back against the counter and picked up his soda again, staring at his phone all the while. He absently sucked at the straw as he waited. And waited. And waited.  A full minute passed without a response. One of, if not possibly the longest minute in his life. As his cup emptied, his brain filled up with worry that maybe Yu was actually upset about the steak comment, or about these rude girls he barely knew knowing that he was gay, or even possibly about him not actually wanting Yu to skewer him. Soon his soda was gone, but he left the straw in his mouth just to have something to chew on while he thought up more plausible reasons Yu might not answer right away.

Yosuke’s phone buzzed, and he jumped on that message in a heartbeat.

Partner: glad i decided against the heart emojis

Yosuke laughed. Weakly, then weaker.

The day of the festival, Yosuke left his house feeling more self-conscious than usual. He hadn’t worn a yukata in Inaba since moving there, and he knew he’d probably get looks and comments from the locals. He had to hold up his end of the deal though, even if his headphones looked ridiculous on top of traditional wear.

Nearing the halfway point between their houses, he spotted Yu at the street corner. Yu was watching his reflection in the street mirror, making small faces at it and occasionally adjusting his hair. He spotted Yosuke in the mirror before Yosuke could manage to sneak up on him. Yu waved to him with a smile, and Yosuke waved back. Yu tried to laugh off the fact he’d been caught, but looked a bit embarrassed all the same.

“I see you went with the green one,” Yosuke said, lifting Yu’s sleeve and looking him over. “Not bad, not bad.”

“You’re looking pretty good yourself.” Yu’s eyes traveled up and down Yosuke’s figure. It took a couple seconds, but eventually it clicked in Yosuke’s brain that he was being checked out. It was a strange realization for him, in that his heart was fluttering warmly while his mind was screaming. In spite of the entire scenario he’d described to Yu at Junes, he wasn’t entirely sure what there was to check out. The yukata flattened and hid his figure if anything. N-not that it matters, Yosuke reminded himself.

A group of their underclassmen walked by, talking in hushed voices, staring right at them. Yu hunched forward and bumped Yosuke with his elbow. “We better get going.”

Yosuke bumped him back. “The festival’s not going anywhere.”

Yu nodded toward the group. Yosuke looked over to them. One of them snorted and the others stifled giggles.

Yosuke turned around, crossing his arms, and voice raised, he posed the question, “Don’t you guys have anything better to do?”

One of them stepped forward with a cocky smirk. “We don’t get entertainment like this out here in the sticks very often.”

“We’re not some sideshow for you to—”

“Let’s go Yosuke,” Yu said, grabbing Yosuke by the elbow and nearly dragging him down the street, their wooden sandals clacking against the asphalt.

“W-wait,” Yosuke sputtered as he stumbled back. “Dude!”

The group burst into a dagger-like laughter.

The crowds grew thicker as they drew nearer to the festival. Yosuke found himself wondering if Inaba always had this many people. He certainly didn’t recognize most of them. “Hey Yu, you see anyone we know here?”

“Not yet. My uncle said he and Nanako would come later though.” Yu didn’t look at Yosuke even once as he said that. He’d zoned in on the nearest taiyaki stall and was already inching toward it.

Yosuke smiled knowingly and took Yu’s hand. “You want one? I got paid.”

That got Yu’s attention. He turned and nodded eagerly, expressionless save for the excited sparkle in his eyes.

They headed toward the stall, hand-in-hand. They walked with a cheerful, brisk pace at first, the anticipation of a fun day together pushing them through the crowd. But with each pair of eyes they passed, each tight-lipped frown aimed in their direction, their pace slowed until they came to a halt half a stall back from their destination.

Yosuke took a deep breath, both to calm his racing heart and to prevent himself from making any unnecessary comments on it. Yu’s hand was clammy, and, at that point, sticking to Yosuke’s hand more than it was actually gripping it. As he let his breath out, Yosuke looked over to his partner, silently noting the way Yu’s eyes were darting around the crowd.

“Everything alright, Partner?”

Yu’s eyes came to him next. Yu’s expression was tight, anxious, yet somehow still confined to his eyes. “Yeah,” he eventually said. “Yeah...”

“You sure? You seem kinda spooked.” Yosuke let out a nervous chuckle that faded into something like a whine. He turned his head around out of paranoia that someone from school might sneak up on them.

Yu didn’t respond to that, choosing instead to frown at the ground, casting an occasional glance at the crowd around them.

“H-hey, lighten up!” Yosuke pushed a smile through his nerves and squeezed Yu’s hand. “I mean, who cares what other people think? We don’t even know those people. B-besides, you know who stares at couples? Perverts.” That last bit was a stretch, and Yosuke was starting to wonder exactly who he was trying to convince.

But it’d amused Yu enough to put a smile on his face, so maybe it didn’t matter. “Thanks, Yosuke,” Yu said, squeezing Yosuke’s hand back.

They approached the taiyaki stand. The stall owner wordlessly looked them up and down, rather than greeting them the way he’d greeted the other customers. Yu’s hand went limp, and upon looking over, Yosuke saw that Yu had locked eyes with the owner.

Yosuke nudged Yu with his elbow. “Look, there’s different flavors!” he said with a forced cheerfulness that sounded entirely too much like the voice he used with Junes’ more irritating customers. Yu snapped out of it, nodded to the owner, and leaned to join Yosuke as he looked at the menu.

Trying not to think about the line of people probably forming behind them, Yosuke asked. “So what are you feeling today? You seem like a classic red bean paste kinda guy, to be honest.”

Yu looked back up at the owner, then let his eyes slowly fall back on the menu. “I’m not that hungry.”

Yosuke sucked in air through his teeth as his panicked mind tried to think of what a good boyfriend might say in this situation. It felt like it took him forever as the weight of the townspeople’s stares pressed down on his mind, but he managed to come up with, “We can split one.”

“What’s taking them so long?” said a voice behind them.

Yosuke clenched his fist at his side.

“Yosuke, it’s fine, let’s go--” Yu said in an urgent whisper.

“Are they holding hands?”

“In public? Seriously? There’s kids here.”

Yu tugged his hand away.

“You two gonna order or not?” asked the owner.

Yosuke slammed his fist on the counter. “Do you even want my money?!” The people around them quieted, and Yosuke continued, with a venom to his voice that he hadn’t heard since his shadow, “It’s no wonder the shopping district went under.”

Something hit him square in the jaw. The next few minutes were a blur, but Yosuke eventually came back to his senses on a bench at the far end of the festival. He pushed himself upright, clutching his face the whole way up.

“Ow,” he said, and then, because moving his jaw pained him more, he said it again, “Ow. Ow. Oooow.”

“Sorry. I panicked.”

“That’s, uh… one hell of a right hook there, Partner.” Yosuke leaned back against the bench. He watched Yu, waiting for him to laugh, or even smile, but he didn’t. “Hey, um, next time?” Yosuke touched his headphones. “Just pull these over my ears, okay?”

Yu nodded without a word.

“Um… great. That’s settled then.” Yosuke pushed out a laugh, but it died quickly as he noticed that Yu was sitting as far as possible from him on a bench made for four. Yu had made himself small, legs crossed, elbows in, hands folded tightly in his lap, and, to Yosuke at least, the person on the far side of the bench didn’t really look like the Yu he knew. Yosuke slid over closer. He placed his hand on Yu’s shoulder, only to have Yu jump under his touch.

Yu gave him a weak smile and politely brushed Yosuke’s hand away. “Maybe we should forget about this.”

“Huh?” Yosuke blinked once, twice, then shook his head. “C’mon, dude. You’re not gonna go home and miss the festival just because some crusty old fossil didn’t want to sell us his soggy fish pastries, are you? They probably taste like ass anyway.” He paused, watching Yu and growing frustrated that Yu was staring at his thumbs instead of reacting. “You’ve been looking forward to this, right?”

The cicadas screeched loudly over the dull roar of the crowd.

Yu sighed. “Not the festival, Yosuke.”

Yosuke gave Yu a slight squint and a confused frown. “What do you mean?”

Yu lifted his head, casting a discouraged look over the crowd, then let his eyes sink back to his fidgeting hands. “I don’t know.”

Yosuke’s frown deepened. “What do you mean you don’t know?” He waited for Yu to answer, but as the pause became uncomfortably long, Yosuke shook his head. “Yu, are you seriously gonna let this bring you down? What happened to our big, tough leader, huh? You know, that guy who defeated my shadow all by himself?” Yosuke gave Yu a soft punch to the shoulder and an encouraging smile. “He could take on this whole town on his own if he wanted to.”

 “We’re not inside the TV, Yosuke.”

Yosuke wasn’t sure why, but he hesitated. “W-well, no, but…”

Yu stood up, waving down Yukiko and Chie. Yosuke watched on as Yu and the girls engaged in a lively conversation as though their encounter at the taiyaki stall had never happened. The girls laughed. Yu smiled with them. Chie noticed Yosuke on the bench, and called him over with a cheerful yell that was five levels too loud.

And Yu, despite the grin on his face, remained two girls width apart from Yosuke for the rest of the festival.

The summer passed, too hot, too quiet, too many hours at Junes.

Yosuke: hey prtnr hvnt herd frm u, wanna hang sumtime?

He’d sent a variation of that message every day since the festival. Still no response.

He’d also thought of sending more, but Yu was a popular guy as it was. He probably didn’t need more texts to sift through.

But God, was it killing Yosuke to stare at one unanswered text after the next, day after day, hour after hour. He’d thought about calling, but he had no idea what to say.

‘Sorry this shithole town is so boring. Please hang out with me so our prison sentence in this dump doesn’t totally suck,’ he thought with a pained frown. Yeah. Real convincing, Yosuke. Why not just let your shadow talk to him?

Yosuke continued to stare at his phone with a low, irritated groan, until he heard a familiar voice.

“Doesn’t one hundred-twenty crayons seem kind of excessive?”

Yosuke lifted is head to see Yu, in the flesh, right there in front of him, talking to his over-perfumed coworker amidst shelves of stationery and school supplies. He snapped his phone shut and headed over.

“Well, yeah, but like, they’re on sale right now?” she said.

“Hey, Partner! Feels like I haven’t seen you in forever.” Yosuke asked with a wave as he plastered on his best fake smile and tried to pretend he couldn’t smell the girl beside them. She scrunched up her face at him, as if he was the one who was the walking stink bomb.

Yu gave a tiny jolt, and with a sheepish smile, he looked up from the crayons in his hand to the Yosuke in front of him. “Hey.”

Yosuke patted Yu’s shoulder. “You free later?” He leaned in, his grin slowly growing more genuine. “It’s raining today. Maybe we could stop at Aiya and get that beef bowl you like.”

Yu looked back down at the box of crayons, turning it over in his hands. “Today’s no good.”

Yosuke shrunk back. “Oh, uh...” Then he stepped back up. “What about later this week? I’ll pay.” It came out a little overeager, but Yu wasn’t the type to be stuck up about that stuff. Or at least, Yosuke didn’t think he was. Yosuke topped off his offer with a wink, and like a charm, it made Yu’s face light up pink as usual.

“Thanks for the offer, Yosuke.” Yu took a deep breath that felt like it took an eternity to pass. “I’m really busy right now.”

“O-oh.” Yosuke took his hand back and rubbed his neck, sharing embarrassed glances with the items on the shelves and doing his damnedest not to look at his coworker as she reorganized the pens by color. “Well, call me whenever your schedule opens up, alright?”

Staring at the crayons, Yu gave him only a simple, taciturn nod.

After a long silence, Yosuke pointed to the box in Yu’s hand. “These for Nanako?”

“Yeah.” Yu gave the box a small rattle. “I better go pay for these.” He turned around and walked away.

“Later!” Yosuke called after him a little late. Without turning back, Yu answered him with a small wave. Though Yosuke wasn’t sure why, his heart felt heavy inside his chest.

And then the scent assaulted him again. “Your boyfriend mad at you or something?”

Yosuke groaned as he spun around. “I told you, we aren’t dating!”

Yu stopped.

“That’s not what I heard.”

“Yeah, well,” Yosuke said pointedly. “You heard wrong.”

Yu tapped the box against his palm.

Then he left.

School came before Yu’s phone call.

And quite frankly, Yosuke was pissed. Not that Yu needed to be told, not with how Yosuke’s index finger was prodding him between his collar bones.

“You’ve got some nerve ghosting me all summer,” Yosuke hissed.

Despite the way Yosuke was inches from him, Yu was avoiding eye contact at all cost, silently letting every angry word hit the side of his face.

“Like what the hell?! What did I do to get the silent treatment?” Yosuke stepped away, hands on his hips, making some short paces in front of his partner before stopping and throwing his hands up. “You know, if this had happened a few months ago… Like, I get it, okay? People think I’m annoying.” He leaned in, and continued in a hushed whisper, “But we were freaking dating and you just? What? Suddenly needed some space?”

Yu’s eyes darted to Yosuke.

“You did this complete 180 and went from making time to hang out every day to radio silence. What are you even thinking, Partner?” Yosuke crossed his arms and fell back, shoulders drooped as his frustration gave way to a worried, tight-lipped frown. “Or is… is this your way of breaking up with me?”

“You said we weren’t,” Yu said.

“What?”

“At Junes. When Miki asked. You said we weren’t.”

Oh, of course he’d remember that smelly chick’s name but not to text his partner back, Yosuke thought bitterly. “Are you serious? This isn’t even about that. You started ignoring me waaaay before that,” Yosuke shot back. “A-and even if it was, what was I supposed to do? Out you to my coworkers? Hop on the Junes intercom and tell the whole store that hey, attention shoppers, get a load of this: Yu Narukami likes men?”

Yu made a small flinch at that.

“Well?” Yosuke asked again.

Though they’d hidden themselves under the stairwell, their hushed fight was starting to catch the glances of their passing classmates.

Yu’s eyes shifted between Yosuke and the passersby behind him. “You’re right, but...” He met Yosuke’s eyes again. “I don’t want to force you to be with me either.”

“You’re not--” The words started out strong, but then dwindled into a sheepish, eyes averted mumble. “You’re not forcing me to do anything.”

Yu sighed. “Yosuke...”

Face and hands and motions all afluster, Yosuke blustered out, “C’mon, you’re like the coolest guy I know. It’s not like I need to be convinced to hang out with my best friend.”

“Yosuke,” Yu said again. “You know that’s not what I meant.”

“Then.” Yosuke took a deep breath and let it out. “What do you mean?”

Yu sent up a short, pleading look toward the ceiling. “Yosuke, you’re not even gay.”

“What,” Yosuke said. It was more of a flat croak than a question, and if he was honest with himself, he wasn’t even sure why he was so shocked.

“Yosuke, I get it. I feel bad too when people stare or whisper behind our backs. It’s normal,” Yu said. He gave a small shake of his head. “You shouldn’t have to go through all that.”

Yosuke backed away, then, wracking his brain and working his jaw he bumbled out, “But, Yu...”

“Thank you. Really, thank you.” Yu pushed his bangs aside, more out of nerves than necessity. “And--” He took a breath and let it out in a quick sigh, gaze locked on the floorboards. “And I don’t want to pursue a dead end either, so...”

“Dead end?” Yosuke’s voice nearly cracked on the words. “What are you--”

Yu lifted his eyes. “Don’t make yourself suffer on my behalf, Yosuke.”

“Dude, just--” Yosuke grabbed Yu’s shoulders. “I’m not--”

“Yosuke--”

Yosuke shoved Yu back against the wall. “Shut up for a sec, will ya?!”

Yu shrunk back.

“Don’t decide all that crap for me!” It came out loud, too loud. “How would you know if we’re a dead end?”

Eyes locked on Yosuke and shoulders weighed down by Yosuke’s grip, Yu could only blink back in response.

“Or if I’m gay or not? I don’t even know that!” Yosuke continued. Yu’s eyes darted between Yosuke and something just beyond him. Yu opened his mouth, as if to say something, but Yosuke was on a roll. “I’m half of this relationship too, you know? At least get my opinion before deciding if we’re a freaking dead end!” He paused, backing off to pace to and fro as he rubbed his forehead.

“Uh…”

“And yeah--” Yosuke lifted his head again, throwing his hands up in frustration. “It sucks when people treat us like some punchline. But that’s not your fault, Partner.”

Lips pursed together, Yu placed a hand on Yosuke’s shoulder. He parted his tight frown as his gaze focused on something behind Yosuke. “I think we should discuss this later.”

“When’s later gonna be, huh? Weeks from now when we’re forced to talk for a school project? The next time it’s your turn to take Nanako to Junes?”

“Yosuke, turn around.”

Yosuke’s brows came together. “What--” Yosuke turned around, and his anger gave way to shock, then—the sounds of the crowd of their classmates flooded into his ears, assaulting him with venomous whispers and the cutting clicks of cell phone cameras. “What the hell?”

“I told you! I told you I saw them holding hands at the festival!”

“No wonder he was always hanging out with Hanamura.”

The color drained from Yosuke’s face. He stepped back, his heel coming down on Yu’s toes. He sidestepped and started to apologize, but Yu wasn’t looking at him, wasn’t listening. Yu was completely frozen.

“Which one do you think tops?”

“Oh God, that’s disgusting.”

“I knew there was no way the new transfer kid could be that perfect.”

Yosuke gently shook Yu’s shoulder. “C’mon, Partner. D-don’t listen to that crap,” he said, trying to ignore the waver of his own voice.

“I heard they fucked in the backroom at Junes.”

“Ew! I’m never shopping there again!”

“Yosuke,” Yu said, quiet, but firm. “We better get to class.”

Under Yosuke’s hand, and under his own pale yet composed face, Yu was trembling.

“Y-yeah. Good idea.” Yosuke nodded.

The two took cautious steps toward the foot of the stairs. The crowd parted to let them through, their classmates no longer willing to even brush arms with them.

“I always see that Narukami playing with the neighborhood strays, too,” somebody said as they passed. Then they added with a snide chuckle, “How much pussy do you think he gets, if you know what I mean?”

Yosuke whipped around, knowing the voice’s owner immediately. He turned around to face Aoki Sonohara, the lanky captain of the baseball club. His face dark and his tone dire, Yosuke said, “Care to elaborate, huh, buddy?”

“Yosuke, don’t,” Yu said in an urgent whisper from behind him.

“I think you know exactly what I mean,” Aoki said with a cocky shrug that seemed to call his friends to gather around the scene, snickering amongst themselves. “He spends an awful lot of time with that little girl, too. That cop’s kid, yeah?” Aoki nodded to Yu with a terrible grin. “Does he know about you, Narukami? Is he really okay leaving you alone with her?”

Yosuke shot him a stark glare. “Take that back.”

“Or what? You’ll suck my dick?” The guy had a loud, obnoxious laugh. “By the way, how big is your boyfriend, huh? Can he even fit it in your mouth with how your foot is always in the way?”

“Oh, I bet you’d love to know that, being a dick yourself,” Yosuke snapped back.

“Nice comeback, faggot.”

Yosuke’s face contorted into something unrecognizable as he snatched Aoki’s collar. All he could think about was how satisfying it’d be to shove this guy through the nearest window.

Yu grabbed Yosuke by the shoulder and spun him around. He slipped Yosuke’s headphones up over Yosuke’s ears.

Then he turned to Aoki.

And as a foreign drummer counted off the next song and the guitars blared to life in Yosuke’s ears, Yu Narukami’s fist fucking shattered Aoki Sonohara’s nose.

It was as though the whole thing had happened in slow motion right before Yosuke’s eyes. One smooth, majestic swing of Yu’s arm sent Aoki reeling back in tears, clutching his glitching nose. Watching Yu shake the sting of the punch from his knuckles, Yosuke definitely felt a little gayer than he had a moment ago.

Wait— Brows together, Yosuke turned back toward Aoki, only to find the fist of one of Aoki’s friends there to greet him. He sidestepped it with a small, unmanly whine that he hoped Yu hadn’t heard. He grabbed his assailant’s arm and cranked it around, then elbowed him in the gut and let him fall.

Turning back, he noticed it hadn’t taken long for three of Aoki’s friends to jump on Yu. They’d shoved him back, and were taking swings of their own at Yu’s face, calling him horrible things as they did. Yosuke spun one of them around and clocked him in the jaw before pushing him back into Aoki. Aoki deflected his friend’s body with a disturbing level of ease.

Taking advantage of the hole between the other two, Yu pushed his way out. A hand tugged at his hair, yanking him back.

Yosuke socked the second guy in the face and Yu fell free from his grip. Yu sunk his own fist into the third guy’s stomach and watched him collapse to the floor.

The crowd around them had gotten bigger, filled with classmates Yosuke did and didn’t recognize. All of them wearing twisted grins.

Yu and Yosuke fell easily into their usual defensive stance, the one they often used in the TV when they were surrounded, standing back-to-back in the center of the hall.

Aoki looking him dead in the eye, Yosuke sucked in air through his teeth and chanced a short glance back to Yu. “How’re you holding up, Partner?”

Through the headphones and their music, Yu’s voice seemed distant, but Yosuke was pretty sure he heard, “I’ve been better.”

“Ain’t that a mood,” Yosuke muttered back. Yosuke had never quite noticed how tall Aoki was until he was looming over him with his bloody, crooked nose. Yosuke aimed for it, as though it was a big red target on Aoki’s face, but Aoki grabbed Yosuke’s wrist and wrenched it back.

“Looks like your boyfriend can’t save your ass with a cheap shot this time.” Aoki twisted Yosuke’s arm around until he was forced to turn around.

It’d been mere moments since they’d jumped back into the fray, but already, there was Yu, bruised and beaten, hair mussed up and parted unnaturally over his bleeding eyebrow, his shirt torn open and hanging off his shoulder as he struggled to pull himself away from the two lackeys that were holding him back by each of his arms.

Yosuke could’ve sworn he saw one of them slip a pocket knife into his school jacket as Ms. Sofue approached the scene.

“What happened here?” she said. Though her voice was firm, her headdress, as usual, did nothing to help her be taken seriously. “Well?”

There were a few snickers from the crowd, and then, “Narukami started it!”

“Like hell he did!” Yosuke snapped, his headphones sliding down from his ears as he struggled against Aoki’s grip.

“It’s true,” Aoki said, letting go of Yosuke and letting him fall. “Narukami threw the first punch.”

Ms. Sofue gave Yu a disappointed frown. “Did you?”

Yu met Yosuke’s eyes, then their teacher’s, and asked darkly, “So what if I did?”

“Yu!” Yosuke shot back at him, in a scared, frustrated whisper.

Ms. Sofue hesitated. “W-well, you… You’d—”

Yu twisted his arms out of the lackeys’ grips, one and then the other. He pulled his shirt back up, buttoning it the same as he would on any normal morning, as though the tears through his stained shirt didn’t make the effort pointless. He raised his gaze to Ms. Sofue again, strong and piercing under the bloody, sweat-matted trim of his messy bangs.

Ms Sofue took a step back.

The school chime rang.

“We’ll talk about this after class,” she chirped, as though the chime terrified her. “S-so you better all head to your classrooms before… Before…” She was already climbing the stairs, fleeing rather than ending her empty threat, let alone the situation.

The majority of students had started to filter out of the hall and into their classrooms.

“H-hey! What about Sonohara?” Yosuke called up after her, only to be pinned against the side of the stairwell in the same instant.

“What about me, Hanamura?”

“Let—let go of me…!” Yosuke strained against the arm at his throat.

Aoki perked an eyebrow. “Give me one good reason why I should do that.” Aoki’s arm dug deeper against Yosuke’s neck. Just as Yosuke struggled to breathe, Yu shoved Aoki away.

“About time,” Yosuke wheezed, rubbing the red of his neck. He coughed, then lifted his head. At the end of the hallway, he spotted Yukiko and Chie. They made eye contact. Yosuke desperately waved to them, calling out, “Chie! Yukiko! A little help over here!”

But they ducked their heads and hurried down the corridor.

And as Aoki heaved Yu aside with an unrealistic strength that sent Yu colliding into the wall, as Aoki returned his attention to Yosuke’s sorry ass, as he held Yosuke face down against the floor and demanded Yosuke to tell him how he liked it, Yosuke’s eyes lit up, and the information came together in Yosuke’s head, drowning out the voices around him as it molded into an idea. A plan.

Though Yosuke couldn’t move his arms, when he focused, closed his eyes and clenched his fists and really focused, he swore he could feel something in his hands.

“Yu! Your sword!”

Yu pushed himself up, holding his head as blood leaked from his nose. His expression blank, Yu stared at Yosuke with one good eye and one swollen. “Huh?”

“Your sword, Partner! Your sword!!” Yosuke shouted again before his nose was pushed back into the floor.

“My sword?” Yu shook his head and his senses slowly returned to him. He scrambled over, tearing Aoki off of Yosuke and heaving him aside into the crowd.

“It’s at your side, Partner!” Yosuke pushed out a grin. “You know, where it always is.”

Yu gave Yosuke a confused, bloodied frown. But he nodded nonetheless and reached to his hip. He curled his fingers, as though gripping something, then lifted his arm in an all too familiar arc.

Yu’s confusion cleared. He offered Yosuke a small smile. “Thanks, Partner.”

With a slight blush, Yosuke wiped the blood from his lip. “No problem, Partner.”

Aoki pulled himself back up. “What the hell? Is this what you freaks do for foreplay or somethin’?”

Yu turned to him, taking his battle stance. He shifted his grip, and television static flickered in the air, allowing short glimpses of steel. “Something like that.” He sliced through Aoki’s neck, chest, and legs.  The wounds glitched open and a telltale smoke spewed from Aoki’s wounds instead of blood as his form fell to the floor.

Yosuke stumbled back to his feet, readying his kunai. “C’mon, Partner. Let’s finish this.”

Smile inching wider, Yu nodded.

The two of them shot out of the armor shell, clutching each other tight as they skidded across the dungeon floor, debris landing all about them. The armor’s blocks popped, exploded, crumbled away, leaving the screeching embryo defenseless.

“Don’t hold back!” Yu commanded. He tried to point toward the enemy, but then winced and grabbed his shoulder.

“You got it!” Chie called back. She turned to the others. “You heard the man!”

“Glad you’re back, Senpai!” Kanji said as he ran past Yu and Yosuke, his folding chair hoisted over his head with one hand.

As the others took over and did their thing, Yu and Yosuke fell apart, their bodies unfolding flat against the floor.

“Hey, Yosuke?” Yu watched the ceiling with a blank, exhausted stare.

Yosuke rolled his head over to look at Yu. “Yeah, Partner?”

“How’d you figure it out?”

“There’s no way Chie would’ve passed up that chance to show off her kung fu moves.”

“Even if it’d make her late for class?”

“Dude...” Yosuke raised a brow. “Especially if it’d make her late for class.”

Yu turned his head to Yosuke. Yosuke broke into a stupid grin, and Yu was quick to follow. Yu pinched Yosuke’s side. Yosuke squirmed and did it back. Clutching their sides, they laughed it off until it hurt more than it amused.

“That world in there… it really felt like a whole month went by.”

Yu turned his eyes back to the ceiling. “Sure did.”

“Yu?”

“Hm?”

“All that stuff that happened, is that what you’re afraid of?”

A few seconds passed, a charred piece of debris flew over them, and then Yu let out a short sigh. “I suppose it is.”

“You know, Yu,” Yosuke said, and Yu looked over. “I might not look like it, but I’m pretty tough, too. I can handle whatever gets thrown at me.” He winked at Yu.

Yu chuckled. “I noticed.” An explosion made the floor rumble beneath them, but neither made an effort to move. “Thanks for standing up for me back there. It meant a lot. Even if they weren’t real.”

“Yeah, man. No problem. That’s what partners are for, right?”

“It was kinda hot.”

Yosuke’s face went red. He gave Yu a weak smack in the arm, smiling in spite of himself.

“If I had to be stuck in my worst nightmare,” Yu continued. “I’m glad it was with you.”

“Dude, stop,” Yosuke laughed. “Don’t be so cheesy. It’s embarrassing.” Yu gave him a soft smile in return. Their eyes met, lingering for a time that would have been too long before that afternoon. As Yosuke’s smile eventually waned, he asked, “Why Sonohara?”

“Huh?”

“In that other world, why was Sonohara saying all that crap about you? You have some beef with him that I don’t know about?”

Yu’s mouth twitched into a frown. He looked down, then finally lifted his eyes again. “I crossed paths with him one morning on the way to school, and he gave me this long, hard look, like he knew.”

Between the loud clatter of thunder and the cheers of their friends, Yosuke’s eyes grew slightly wide as it dawned on him. “That’s all it takes, huh?”

“I guess so,” Yu said with a heavy sigh. “I’ve been avoiding him ever since.”

Yosuke pushed himself up until he was sitting upright.  Their friends had all gathered around Mitsuo and his, just then, more human-looking shadow. “It looks like the others finished it off. We better continue this conversation later.”

“Yeah.” Yu pushed himself up, too, wincing again. Yosuke started to reach for his shoulder, but Yu shook his head. “It’s nothing.” He slowly stood up, and brushed the dirt from his shirt. “But yeah, definitely.”

“Oh, but, um…” Yosuke bumped his hand against Yu’s. “If you need anyone to walk you to school, I’m available.”

Face flushed and smiling to himself, Yu said, “I’d like that.”

“Yeah.” Yosuke nodded, hooking their pinkies together. “Me too.”

Chapter Text

Yu looked like a total nerd with his bug catching net. He wielded it about the same as he did his sword, and brought it down over each bug with about the same amount of fury he’d slash at shadows. That was certainly like him though, Yosuke had to admit. His partner never was one to half-ass anything.

Yu came strolling over with another beetle between his thumb and index finger. It’d been gross at first, but by insect number six Yosuke was starting to get used to it. He opened the bug cage and Yu dropped the beetle in.

Yosuke lifted up the cage and peered inside. “You’re pretty good at this, huh, Partner?”

Yu shrugged. “I’ve had a fair amount of practice.”

“You said you use these for fishing?”

“Usually.”

Yosuke lifted his eyes from the bugs they’d taken hostage. “Usually?”

“Usually,” Yu repeated, making zero effort to elaborate. He held out the net. “Your turn.”

Yosuke accepted the net and handed off the bug cage to Yu. He gave the net a couple of light tosses in his hands. “Is there a trick to this, or do you just slap it down?”

Yu shrugged again. “Find a target and, yeah, slap it down.” He paused, watching Yosuke lay the rod of the net over his shoulder. “Make sure there’s no branches in the way of your swing.”

“Got it,” Yosuke said, placing the rod behind his neck and hanging his wrists over it. He started walking toward the small batch of trees lining the side of the shrine path. “This should be a piece of ca—” The rod caught between two of the trees, effectively clothes-lining Yosuke, who yelped like a tiny dog suddenly reaching the end of a short leash.

Yu rushed to follow him. “Are you—” Yosuke stepped back, onto Yu’s foot, then slipped, smacking Yu in the chin with the rod of the net. They both toppled over, Yosuke yelling the whole way down.

“Ow…” Yosuke groaned as he rolled off of Yu. “That smarts.” He pushed himself up until he was sitting. “You okay, Partner?”

“I’ll never walk again.”

Yosuke narrowed his eyes at him. “So you’re fine.”

Yu let out a small laugh. “More or less.”

Spotting a cicada on Yu’s head, Yosuke echoed back a nervous chuckle. “Uh, dude, where’s the cage?”

Yu lifted up the cage, it’s bottom half swinging wide open. “You can’t say I didn’t leave any for you.”

With a small, exasperated sigh, Yosuke brought the net down on Yu’s head.

“I don’t think I’ll fit in the cage, Yosuke.”

“Shut up, man,” Yosuke said, smiling in spite of himself.

They went deep into the evening re-catching the escaped bugs. It took twice as long, since Yu seemed to find it infinitely amusing to let Yosuke do it. It was mildly annoying to Yosuke that each time he’d miss or trip over a tree root trying to sneak up on an insect he’d hear Yu choking back snickers behind him. They got most of the bugs back, but eventually agreed to give up once it became too dark to navigate the pools of shadows under the trees.

Yu sat himself down on the stairs of the shrine. Yosuke joined him there, setting the net beside him. “You come here a lot?” Yosuke asked.

A beat, and then Yu responded, “Yosuke, are you… hitting on me?”

Yosuke squinted back at him, then bumped shoulders with him. “We’re already dating; why would I use a pickup line now?” Arms behind him, he leaned back, looking up at the clear night sky above them. “And such a lame one, too. Do you really think I’d use something so cliched, Partner?”

Yu didn’t respond. When Yosuke looked over to him, Yu was turned away, so Yosuke leaned forward, and in the streetlight that had seeped into the shrine from beyond the gate he saw Yu grinning through a rose-colored glow that covered his face. Yu pushed his hair behind his ear, which was laughably ineffective given its length, and then he did it again.

Yosuke snorted. “You okay, dude?”

Yu leaned back into a more relaxed position. “Yeah.” He chuckled in spite of himself. “I guess I still get excited when you say it out loud.”

“What? That we’re dating?” Now that he was saying it again, fully aware of the words and definitely overthinking Yu’s choice of the word ‘excited’, Yosuke could feel his own face growing hot.

“Yeah.” Yu nodded. “I’m not used to it yet.”

Yosuke looked down between his legs at the step under his feet. “Do you want me to stop saying it?”

Yu shook his head. “No. I like it.”

“Yeah.” Yosuke smiled to himself. “I guess you would.” He sat up straight again. “Listen, about what happened in the TV with Kubo’s shadow...” Yosuke paused, struggling with the words. “You know how before, you said you want to tell people on your own terms?” He placed a hand on his neck. “Um… What I mean to say is...”

Yu leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and linking his hands together between them. “...You want to know when it’s okay.”

“R-right...” Yosuke swallowed in an attempt to tame the butterflies in his gut. “Like, who already knows and who doesn’t? So far I’ve just been trying to read the room, and, well, you know how good I am at that.”

Yu blinked, his face blank. “But you’re pretty good at it.”

Yosuke hesitated, blushing. “W-well like, my gaydar is pretty broken though.”

“I don’t think you’re using that word correctly.”

“You know what I meant!”

Yu laughed, then leaned back, hands behind him. “It’s okay to say it when we’re alone, of course. And around the rest of the Investigation Team.”

“Anyone else?”

Yu passed a thoughtful look to the moon. “Kou and Daisuke know, too. They asked about what was going on back after the, um, confession.”

“Huh. I didn’t realize you were that close with them.”

“Daisuke’s not exactly--” Yu halted his thought.

Yosuke squinted at Yu. “Not exactly what?”

“It’s not important.” Yu glanced over. “Besides, I needed an unbiased party to talk about you to.”

Yosuke leaned in, squinting harder. “So first you leave me hanging, and then you tell me you’ve been talking behind my back? Real smooth, Partner.”

“Please drop it,” Yu said sternly, then let out a small sigh. “Like I said, I needed to talk to someone outside of the Investigation Team.”

Yosuke eased back, though his frown lingered. “Chie and Yukiko were dragging me pretty hard, huh?”

Yu averted his eyes. “I wouldn’t say that, but they definitely…”

“Said you could do better?”

Yu didn’t respond, and Yosuke knew he’d hit the nail on the head.

Yosuke took a deep breath and slowly let it out. “To be honest, they’re probably right.”

Yu faced him again. “Yosuke.”

“Dude, if only you knew how disappointed the girls at school would be if they found out you were into guys. I’m pretty sure there’d be a riot.”

“Yosuke...” Yu cracked a small smile. “I’m sure it’d be the same if they found out you were dating a guy.”

Yosuke laughed. “That’s a negative, Partner. Do you have any idea how many times I got rejected before you asked me out?”

Yu shrugged. “Their loss.”

“I’m glad you think so, at least.” Yosuke knew the heat rising up to his face again, but for the first time it wasn’t unpleasant at all. “Hey, Yu?”

“Yeah?”

“When did you know? That you preferred men?”

“Wow, okay, um...” Yu let out a nervous laugh.

“I caught you off guard, huh?” Yosuke said with a wink that only flustered Yu more. Yosuke had to admit, he wouldn’t mind seeing more of that side of him.

“I, uh, well...” Yu cleared his throat to shoo away his nerves. “Back in junior high, there was an upperclassman who used to tutor me.”

“Yeah?” Yosuke leaned closer. “Was he anything like me?”

“Not at all.” Yu held back a chuckle when he saw the hope in Yosuke’s eyes fade away in an instant. “He was pretty gloomy, to be honest. Didn’t say a lot.” He paused, grinning at the ground. “But when he did...”

“So what you’re saying is you heard his sweet velvet voice and knew right then that you wanted to spend your life with a man?”

“What I’m saying is I spent more time listening to his voice than what he was trying to teach me.” Yu rubbed his neck. “I think he knew, too. I wasn’t very good at hiding it.”

You’re still not very good at hiding it, Yosuke thought. There was something charming about Yu’s unintentional honesty, though.

Yu continued, “He once stood behind me while I was working out an equation and reached over my shoulder to point out a mistake.” Yu touched his ear, too lost in the memory to finish relaying it. Luckily it wasn’t hard for Yosuke to put two and two together from there.

Yosuke nudged Yu with his elbow. “You know, if a person didn’t know better, they might think you’re still in love with him.”

A hint of sadness tinted Yu’s smile. “I am, just a little. I used to pretend I didn’t know how to read certain words and ask him to pronounce them just so I could hear him talk. He probably thought I was pretty slow.” He looked up at the moon again. “I was young. I didn’t know how to deal with those feelings. I never thought to ask him to hang out or even for his number. Before I knew it, my family was moving again. That was the last I ever saw of him.”

“Maybe that’s for the best.”

The smile dropped from Yu’s face and he turned to Yosuke.

“I mean,” Yosuke continued. “If you were dating him that would make this whole situation with me pretty awkward, right?”

“It’s awkward enough already,” Yu agreed.

“Gee. Thanks,” Yosuke deadpanned back.

“What about you?” Yu said.

“Me?” Yosuke pointed to himself.

“I laid my soul bare for you. It’s your turn.” Yu sounded entirely too serious when he said that.

“Pressure’s on, huh?” Yosuke scratched his head. “I was asking because I wasn’t sure when I would know, you know?” Only after he said that did his brain remind him very distinctly of the image of Yu immediately after he’d delivered a beautiful blow to fake Aoki’s face.

Yu sure looked good in a fight, glistening with blood and sweat, hair and clothes disheveled.

But Yu didn’t need to know that, Yosuke decided, trying to ignore the sweat gathering on his palms. It wasn’t like he’d lied. At least, not intentionally.

“It’s different for everyone,” Yu said. “I’m not sure if my story helps much.”

“No, it… It helps. It’s good to know that it can just start as a normal crush, you know?”

Yu gave Yosuke a quizzical look. “As opposed to what?”

“Well, like. I don’t know.” Yosuke shuffled his hair a bit. “This is going to sound stupid, but I always pictured that kind of thing like… Like, stumbling upon gay porn and getting way too into it.”

“Is that how straight people figure it out?”

“No. I mean, maybe? I don’t know.” Yosuke groaned. “You’re judging me now, aren’t you?”

Yu shook his head. “If you’re still feeling unsure, that might be one way to check.”

“While I’m living with Ted? No way, man. I already had to hide my magazines.”

Yu raised his eyebrows. “Magazines?”

“You know what? Forget I said anything.”

“Now I’m curious.” Yu leaned in with a small smirk.

“C’mon, Partner! That stuff’s private.”

Yu put up his hands. “Alright, I’ll drop it. But I still want to know something about you. Something no one else knows.”

“Dude, you saw my shadow. Doesn’t that count?”

“It doesn’t,” Yu said curtly.

Yosuke flinched. “F-fine… How about...” He crossed his arms in thought. “Oh, there was this one time when I was in elementary school, one of the other boys in my neighborhood convinced me the local park was haunted at night. Whenever we stayed out too late there’d be all these strange and creepy noises, so I’d make him walk home with me. I found out later his friends were making the noises and he was just stringing me along the whole time.” Yosuke cringed. “He probably thought me clinging to his arm the whole way home was hilarious.”

When Yosuke looked up, Yu was staring directly at him.

Unnerved, Yosuke backed away. “What?”

“There’s a lot to unpack here.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?!” Yosuke’s face was growing hot again. “I was like, eight. Being afraid of ghosts at that age isn’t that weird. Doesn’t Nanako have any fears like that?”

“That’s… not what I meant.”

“What did you mean?”

Yu hesitated, chewing on the inside of his lip. “Well, this shrine is haunted, for one.”

“Really?” Yosuke scoffed. “Do you really think that’s going to work again? I’m not eight anymore. I’m not going to cling to you like we’re in a horror movie--” The train of Yosuke’s thoughts immediately stopped as it dawned on him, and he whispered, “Holy crap.”

“R-right…” Yu made a face just then that Yosuke couldn’t quite read, but Yosuke had a feeling that if Yu wasn’t judging him before, he certainly was now. “But I’m serious about the shrine being haunted. She’s...” Yu took a cautious pause. “Friendly. Likes fish.” He looked over to where the ema were hung, quietly clanking against each other in the night breeze. “You don’t have to cling to me. Unless you want to.”

Yosuke shook away the shock from his revelation. “Whatever. Like I’m supposed to believe that.” He patted the bug cage between them. “Next you’ll be telling me you use these little guys to get fish for her.”

“I do,” Yu said with a straight face.

“I know I’m easy to pick on, but c’mon, dude, at least try something original.”

“It’s the truth,” Yu insisted.

Yosuke opened his mouth, ready to tell Yu that his leg had been pulled enough for one conversation and to knock it off, Partner, seriously, only for the words to be stolen from him by the sensation of something brushing against his lower back. He bolted forward with a yelp, knocking over both the bug cage and Yu in the process.

“Ow… sorry.” Yosuke pushed himself up. “The hell was that?!” he whispered in a breathless rush.

Yu propped himself up, rubbing his head. His eyes focused on something behind Yosuke, then wandered to his partner looming over him.

Yosuke cast a glance back, saw nothing out of the ordinary, then turned back to Yu. “Did you see it? You saw it, right? I didn’t just imagine that?”

“I… I did,” Yu said, his gaze glued to Yosuke’s face, inches away from his chest.

“What…” Yosuke took a breath, his eyes wandering from Yu’s face, down his strong neck to his polo’s unbuttoned collar. “What was it, Partner?”

Yosuke could’ve sworn just then that he could see Yu’s heart beating in his chest, and he could feel that strange tingle spreading through his body, just when he’d thought he’d gotten used to it, too.

Yosuke brought himself face to face with Yu to steady himself. He swallowed, and was fairly sure he’d seen Yu’s eyes follow the motion of his Adam's apple. “Yu?” Yosuke asked again, trying hard not to think about how the musk of Yu’s sweat didn’t smell that bad.

“The fox,” Yu breathed.

Yosuke cracked into a smile. “You serious?”

“Dead serious.”

“Not funny,” Yosuke said, laughing despite that. “You didn’t plan this, did you?”

“I didn’t.” Yu gave him a short, bashful smile.

“I’ll believe you this time, Partner. But only because you’re such a bad liar.”

A grasshopper landed on Yu’s shoulder. Both boys looked down to see six beetles hooked to their shirts. Yosuke leapt to his feet, swearing as he furiously brushed the insects from his clothes. Yu was shaking in amusement all the while, barely able to contain his laughter.

“Did I get them all?” Yosuke turned in a circle, tugging at his shirt as he tried to see his back.

“You might need to take off your shirt and shake it.”

Yosuke narrowed his eyes. “I’m not falling for that either.”

Yu shrugged. “I tried.”

Yosuke shook out his hair for the third time and crouched down to brush off his legs. “Seriously though, do you see any bugs on me?”

“You got them all.” Yu picked the last bug from his own clothes and set it back into the cage. He latched it shut with a click. “Looks like I need a cage with a stronger lock.”

“Yeah,” Yosuke said, his face falling into a disappointed frown. “It’s not very Yosuke-proof, is it?”

Yu stood up. He pulled his wallet from his back pocket, took out couple bills and tossed them into the offertory box. He pulled the rope and clapped his hands together as the bell rang above him.

Yosuke watched him do this, then approached him and picked up the net. “Please don’t tell me you just threw in two thousand yen over those bugs.”

“I thought I should thank the fox properly.”

Unable to stop himself from grinning, Yosuke gave Yu a gentle shove. “When you’re done goofing off I’ll walk you home.”

“You sure you don’t want me to walk you home instead?” Yu put his wallet away and took the cage from the shrine step.

“You can walk me home next time. We still gotta use these guys for fishing, right?” Yosuke pointed to a horn beetle trying to climb the cage’s plastic wall.

Yu blinked. “The riverbank isn’t haunted.”

“Can it about the ghosts already!”

The two of them walked back to the Dojima household together, their banter continuing all the while.

“So,” Yosuke said as they approached the front door. “This is where we call it a night, huh?”

“Yeah,” Yu said.

“Y-yeah,” Yosuke echoed back, shuffling his hair and looking at his shoes. “Oh, uh--” He held out the net. “You better take this.”

“Right.” Yu took it and leaned it against the door. He watched it for a moment, as though expecting it to fall. When he faced Yosuke again, the two of them exchanged short awkward glances and nervous smiles.

“So...” Yosuke said again.

“So...” Yu said back to him.

Between the lingering memories of earlier that evening that still played on his nerves, Yosuke spared a thought to wonder when exactly the two of them had become parrots. “I, uh…” He pointed his thumb in the direction of his house. “I better get going before Ted starts to wonder where I am. See ya later, Partner.”

Just as Yosuke turned to leave, Yu grabbed his wrist.

“Yosuke, wait.”

Yosuke turned back to Yu. Hand to his neck, Yu had averted his eyes, and in the streetlight, the pink tint to his face was clear as day.

“Yu?”

“Yosuke, I...” Yu took a deep breath and lifted his head, making direct eye contact with him. “I’d like to kiss you. If that’s okay.”

He’d sounded so serious, and his gaze was so intense that Yosuke’s heart did a flip in his chest. “I… I mean. It’s… It’s just a kiss, right?”

“R-right.” Yu’s eye contact faltered slightly, but he immediately pulled it back. “Just one. To say good night.”

A ring of sparks danced around Yosuke’s wrist under Yu’s grip.

“I guess one can’t hurt.” Yosuke said, taking a small step back toward Yu.

Yu’s face brightened into a smile, and Yosuke felt his heart flip again. He wondered if he’d have to get that checked out.

As Yu leaned in, Yosuke closed his eyes and readied his lips and felt a short tinge of panic as he considered whether he should ready his tongue as well.

Until he felt the peck on his cheek and his eyes shot open. His jaw fell as he made a small noise of surprise.

“Thank you, Yosuke,” Yu whispered into his ear. He pulled back, laughed nervously to his shoes, and added, “Have a good night. Text me when you get home.”

With that, Yu wasted no time disappearing into the house with his bug catching gear, leaving Yosuke alone on the sidewalk, burning from the neck up as he was consumed with thoughts of how stupid he must’ve looked just then with his lips puckered up like that.

Upon arriving home, Yosuke made a beeline for his bedroom. He navigated through the darkness of his house, knowing that his folks and Teddie would probably be asleep already. Once in his room, he flopped into his bed, leaving his leg to hang over the side, and holding his phone over his face, he tapped out the text Yu had requested.

Yosuke: hey partner

Yosuke: i got bck ok

Partner: good to hear

“That was fast,” Yosuke mumbled to himself, squinting into the light from his phone’s screen.

Yosuke: im surprisd ur stil awake

Yosuke contemplated apologizing for the fish face he’d made just before the kiss and assuring Yu that yes, he does know how to kiss, and no, not just from practicing on his arm. But Yu hadn’t said anything or even seemed to notice, and that conversation looked like a one way ticket to Foot-In-Mouthsville, so instead he just sighed and whispered to himself, “Don’t overthink it, Yosuke.”

Even if Yu had noticed, the worst he would do is remind him ‘Hey, remember our first kiss?’ and then grin at him as he descended into the realms of mortification.

Yosuke shook the thought from his head. “He wouldn’t care about something like that.”

He decided to move on to another train of thought before his brain fell down the rabbit hole of doubt.

Yosuke: hey um

Yosuke: so earlier whn i askd abt how often u go to the shrine

Yosuke: i rly wanted to knw

Partner: a few times a week, usually ;)

Yu’s reply was nearly instant, and Yosuke couldn’t help but wonder if Yu had been staring at his phone, waiting for another message.

Something about that image brought a smile to Yosuke’s tired face.

Yosuke: y r u winkng

Yosuke: GOD ur embarasng y do i evn like u

There was a brief pause, just long enough for Yosuke to worry he’d crossed some line, until his phone buzzed once more and the message on the screen washed his anxiety away.

Partner: i like you too yosuke <3

Chapter Text

The real summer festival was going a hell of a lot better than the nightmare they’d experienced thanks to Kubo’s shadow.

Though Yosuke told him it wasn’t necessary, and that in the real world there was no malevolent force deliberately trying to ruin their day other than his own lack of luck, Yu chose to err on the side of caution, insisting that they wear different yukata, meet up at a different location, be more mindful of where they hold hands, and skip the taiyaki. The whole thing seemed like a bit much to Yosuke, but it made Yu feel better. And if nothing else, Yu’s new navy blue yukata gave him an air of maturity that the green one could never have matched, so Yosuke kept his complaints to himself.

To their surprise, not holding hands proved to be oddly difficult. One of them would see something they wanted to check out, and then grab the other’s hand to lead them there only for them to stop and share awkward, hushed apologies once realizing their faux pas. Yu seemed pretty concerned the first time it happened, even though he was the one to break his own rule to tug Yosuke over to where the rest of their friends had met up, but his worries soon faded as it kept happening over and over with no one but their own group noticing. The worst that came of it was some terrible puns on Teddie’s part that he likely would’ve found a way to work into the conversation anyway.

So Yu eventually leaned over and whispered into Yosuke’s ear, “It’s okay as long as Nanako and Uncle Dojima aren’t around.”

And Yosuke, desperately trying to ignore how the feeling of Yu’s breath on his skin made the hair on his neck stand on end, quietly squawked back, “Y-yeah. Sounds good, Partner.”

They had received some odd looks from Kanji, though it would be more accurate to say those looks were directed at Yosuke. As soon as Teddie and Rise had dragged Yu off to one of the shooting gallery games, Kanji was gripping Yosuke’s shoulder with what Yosuke hoped was an unintentionally intimidating amount of force.

“Senpai, can we talk?” Kanji’s face was scary, but his face always looked scary, so that didn’t help Yosuke piece together what this was about at all.

Regardless, Yosuke did his best to swallow his fear before answering. “Yeah, what’s up?”

The two of them made their way to the edge of the crowds, Yosuke wondering what the heck he’d done wrong this time.

“Senpai, you… you did talk to Narukami-senpai, right? About the thing?”

“The thing?” Yosuke’s brows came together. “What, you mean from back in July?”

Kanji counted back the weeks with his fingers. “Yeah, I guess it was July.”

“What’re you...” Yosuke shook his head. Kanji would just find another thing to be mad at him for if he pointed out that he shouldn’t have to count back to remembering something that happened before summer break. “Yeah, we worked that out forever ago. What’s the problem?”

“Oh.” Kanji scratched his head. He looked over to where the rest of their group had wandered. “Alright. Cool.”

Yosuke wasn’t sure what came over him, but as Kanji started to walk away, he took Kanji by the elbow and held him back. “What do you mean ‘alright, cool’?”

Kanji turned around with a tiny confused frown. “It’s just… I thought you were gonna tell him no? But if you’re into him, it’s whatever.”

“I’m not--” Yosuke stopped himself again. Something about hearing ‘you’re into him’ from someone else had triggered some defensive knee jerk in the depths of his brain, but his heart promptly reminded him of Yu grinning while uselessly pushing his hair behind his ear, and shortly thereafter a less virtuous part of his soul reminded him of Yu beating the shit out of another man for him. “Okay, maybe I am… kinda into him.”

Kanji shook Yosuke’s hand from his arm. “Whadduya mean ‘maybe’? Either you’re into him or you’re not.”

A third image popped into Yosuke’s mind, one from when Yu had thrown Yosuke’s shadow into a wall and pinned him down, spitting blood to the floor. Yosuke shook it away, briefly wondering where the hell that memory had come from and then filing it under things to never mention to anyone ever.

“Fine, I’m into him, okay?” Yosuke leaned back against a tree, turning his red face away from Kanji.

“Listen, Senpai, as long as you’re bein’ honest with him, we’re good. But I don’t wanna find out later that you were stringin’ him along this whole time because you weren’t man enough to say no.”

Yosuke twitched. Kanji was a lot more observant than he’d given him credit for.

“Right,” Yosuke said, swallowing again. “Got it.”

Kanji headed back toward their friends.

It’s fine, Yosuke told himself. Sure, maybe that’s how it started, but I’m into him now, so it’s fine.

Right?

“Is something wrong, Yosuke?”

Yosuke jolted to attention and spun around to see Yu standing there with a giant stuffed bear under his arm. “Dude, don’t scare me like that.”

“Sorry.” Yu rubbed his neck and turned to watch Kanji’s back. “Everything okay with you two?”

“Yeah,” Yosuke sighed. “He’s just worried about you.”

Yu blinked. “About me?”

Yosuke just then realized that he probably shouldn’t have said anything, but it was too late now. “Like he’s worried I’m gonna break your heart or something.”

Yu lifted the bear up in front of his face, as though it was talking to Yosuke instead. “Are you?”

Yosuke leveled a frown at the stuffed bear. “Dude, seriously?” The bear stared Yosuke down with its empty black eyes until he took the bear by the snout and moved it aside so he could look Yu in the eye. “I’m not planning to.”

Yu lowered the bear. “But you might.”

“Wh--” Yosuke sputtered. “Not on purpose!”

Unexpectedly, Yu broke into a smile and even chuckled to himself. “I know. You’re just being realistic.” 

Yosuke relaxed his shoulders, and then heaved another sigh. “You know, Partner, if we ever break up, I wonder if I’ll even be able to get out of Inaba alive. Kanji and Chie are about as bad as your uncle.”

Yu let the pause linger long enough to make Yosuke wonder if he shouldn’t have mentioned the possibility of breaking up. Yu’s jolly demeanor had faded, and the edges of his mouth had a slight strain to them.

Finally, Yu spoke, “What did my uncle say to you?”

Yosuke’s face went white, and the contrast of his red yukata nearly made him look like a ghost in the early summer evening. He waved his hands. “Oh, dude, no. He doesn’t like, know or anything. He just mentioned the sword incident at the food court and told me not to get you involved with anything like that again.”

Lost in his own thoughts, Yu looked down at the fur stuck in the seams of the bear’s head.

“I just meant that it feels like they’re interrogating me like I’m a criminal, you know?” Yosuke rushed to add, tacking on a forced laugh at the end. “It’d be nice if our friends had a little more faith in me.”

“Yeah,” Yu agreed with a small nod. He lifted his head. “You never know. I might be the one to break your heart.”

Yosuke fell into a tired frown. “Please don’t. My heart’s been through enough this year.”

Yu gave him a subdued smile. “Same here.” He pressed the bear’s nose to Yosuke’s, and peered over the bear’s shoulder. “Let’s do our best to ensure there’s as few broken hearts as possible.”

“Yeah, yeah. Cut it out with the bear, already.” Despite his words, a relieved grin spread over Yosuke’s face. “You know, those two getting in my face about this whole thing kinda pissed me off before, but you have some pretty good friends, Partner.” His smile faltered a bit. “I don’t suppose anyone pulled you aside to warn you not to break my heart, did they?”

“Teddie,” Yu said, nodding over to Ted just as their eccentric friend was flirting his way into a free candy apple at a nearby stand.

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

If Yu hadn’t had such a serious look on his face, Yosuke might’ve burst into laughter at the thought of tiny little Ted threatening their leader. “For all the crap I give him, he really is a good guy deep down, huh?”

“It’s only natural. He looks up to you like a brother, after all.”

“I...” Feeling his face and his chest grow hot, Yosuke looked down at his sandals and scratched his head. “I guess.”

Yu placed the stuffed bear’s paw on Yosuke’s shoulder.

“Dude.” Yosuke brushed the paw aside. “C’mon.”

Yu chuckled softly to himself and followed Yosuke back into the flow of the festival.

The evening wore on until the night took over the entire sky. The two of them met up with the Dojima family, passing off the giant bear to Nanako, and then to Yu’s uncle, after realizing the bear was too big for her to carry.

The four of them wandered the food stands together, each person sharing parts of their meal with Nanako and receiving small pieces of hers in return garnished with her bright, beaming smiles. Yu’s uncle passed an occasional wary look to Yosuke, but upon seeing how well Yosuke got along with Nanako, the looks soon stopped.

“Hey, Partner,” Yosuke said, tapping Yu’s shoulder. “The fireworks are starting soon.”

Yu looked back to his uncle, who responded with a tired nod. “Makes sense you’d wanna spend the festival with your friends. Go have fun.”

Yu’s face lit up instantly.

Dojima gave Yu a pointed look. “Just don’t stay out too late, okay?”

Yu nodded, and then took Yosuke by the hand, tugging him away into the crowds.

“H-hey! Yu, wait--” So much for not holding hands in front of his uncle. Yu pulled Yosuke past the rest of the Investigation Team and toward the trees, Yosuke stumbling half the way there in sandals he wasn’t used to wearing. “Where are we going?”

“There’s a secret spot on the bluff, at the edge of the forest,” Yu said. “There’s a good view.”

“But couldn’t we just--” Yosuke paused as his brain caught up with him. “Is this about the neck kisses? Don’t tell me you’re still stuck on that.”

Yu turned back just long enough to show Yosuke a wide toothy grin powerful enough to make Yosuke forget how to breathe.

Luckily, his legs didn’t let him forget for long.

“C’moooon,” Yosuke whined, his lungs still catching back up. “Are you seriously expecting to get that lucky tonight?”

“You seemed pretty enthusiastic about kissing me the other night.”

Oh, wow, Yosuke was glad they were too deep into the forest for anyone to hear that. “Partner. You’re not great at keeping this kind of stuff secret, are you?”

They slowed as the path faded away under errant tree roots and fallen branches. Leaves and sticks popped and snapped under their sandals until finally the stars peeked through the gaps between the trees. Rainbow blossoms boomed across the night sky that greeted them as they left the forest.

After a short pause to catch their breath, Yu led Yosuke to an old, decrepit fence bordering the cliff edge. It looked almost like it’d been there longer than the forest had been. Yu rested his arm upon it as he gazed at the lights rising, bursting, falling.

“Dang, this is a pretty impressive spot,” Yosuke admitted as he marveled at the sight. “How did you know about it? You’re not even from here.”

Their linked hands hung limply between them.

“My parents told me about it a long time ago. They used to live here back when they were in high school.” Yu gave Yosuke’s hand a small push and then let their hands swing together gently. “I don’t think they ever thought I’d bring a boy up here though.”

“Probably not,” Yosuke laughed.

Yu leaned against the fence, holding his chin in his palm. His dark yukata blended into the night, only truly visible in the short flashes from the show. It was almost as though he was robed with the darkness surrounding them. That darkness hung slack on Yu’s neck, dipping low over his chest, no doubt loosened by the uneven path they’d taken to get there.

Yosuke pulled his gaze back up.

Reflections of the fireworks coated Yu’s gray eyes and slipped down his lashes like shooting stars.

“It really is a nice view.”

Yu turned and stared at him, and after a few seconds’ pause, Yosuke’s face scrunched up with the realization. “Don’t tell me I said that out loud.”

A smile crept across Yu’s face. “If it makes you feel better, I like my view right now too.”

Yosuke took a deep breath and slowly let it out. “You know what? It does make me feel better.”

Yu looked down at their hands. “Yosuke?”

“What’s up, Partner?”

“I don’t mind if we don’t kiss each other’s necks, but as long as we’re here alone, I...” He turned away, chuckling nervously to himself. “I did kind of hope I could kiss you again.”

Yu glanced back at him. The rhythm of the fireworks filled the silence between them.

“If it’s okay with you,” Yu added. There was something in the way he looked at Yosuke just then; something fragile yet intense. Yosuke couldn’t quite tell what it was, but before he could ponder it long, Yu squeezed his hand and those telltale sparks shot up Yosuke’s arm.

“On the cheek?” Yosuke asked.

“On the mouth.”

The sparks grew stronger, circling up Yosuke’s neck and into his face. Suddenly aware of the sweat gathering on his palms, he wiped his free hand on his yukata and did his best not to think about what his glands were doing. Except now he was thinking about it, because of course he was thinking about it just as he wanted to think of literally anything else.

Whatever. Yu wanted to kiss him of all people. Yu had absolutely no room to judge his clammy virgin hands.

“Cool,” Yosuke said more to himself than to Yu. He took a shallow breath and let it out. “On the mouth. Where most kisses go. No big deal.”

“Unless you don’t want to--”

“I want to.” The words flew out of Yosuke at such a speed that he was even more shocked than Yu was. “I… I want to,” he said again, slower, as though only then realizing the truth in those words.

Their hands parted. Yu’s hands trailed down Yosuke’s arms until he held both of Yosuke’s hands in his own. Yu tugged Yosuke closer. He hesitated a moment longer, and then closing his eyes, he leaned in.

Though he wasn’t sure if it was Yu’s hands or Yu’s lips that had caused it, Yosuke could’ve sworn just then his nerve endings had been replaced with sparklers.

Yosuke couldn’t tell if Yu was good at this, or if he didn’t have enough other kisses to compare it to, or if he’d simply wanted a kiss from his partner for so long that it felt as though the sparks shooting from his pores illuminated the bluff, surely rivaling the fireworks in the sky and giving away their position to the entire town.

Yosuke felt Yu grin against his lips just before sneaking in a second kiss. Yu probably looked really cool just then, Yosuke thought, feeling bizarrely jealous. But at the same time, he was also relieved that Yu was enjoying himself. Enjoying kissing him. For some reason. Even though he probably looked constipated in comparison, with his face all tensed up and scrunched together like a pug.

He desperately hoped Yu’s eyes weren’t open.

Yosuke opened one eye to check, and —holy shit, he’s close, are those his pores?— but his eyes were, thank God, completely closed.

Of course they’re closed, Yosuke thought, relaxing a bit and allowing Yu to melt into him. He’s not a psycho.

When they finally parted, Yu was still smiling, though this smile was softer, bashful even, compared to before. “Thank you, Yosuke.”

“Geez...” Yosuke turned away with a sheepish laugh. “What the heck are you thanking me for?”

Yu released Yosuke and leaned against the fence again, wistfully gazing upon the fireworks. “I know this probably isn’t how you pictured your summer vacation.”

“Well, no,” Yosuke admitted. “But if anyone’s getting the better part of this deal, it’s me.”

Yu’s replied with a doubtful hum, but there was a hopeful flicker in his eyes. “You think so?”

“Yeah.” Yosuke didn’t even really know what he was saying, but seeing Yu pining like that, over him of all people, while they were dating and had literally just finished kissing each other twisted Yosuke’s stomach into all kinds of uncomfortable knots that he didn’t want to think about or sort out just then. “I mean, if either of us is settling here, it’s you.”

“That’s true.”

“Hey!”

Yu chuckled quietly, then gave Yosuke a gentle nudge with his shoulder. “Don’t say that kind of stuff then.”

Despite the sour frown that lingered on his face, Yosuke supposed Yu was right. If Yu had said something like that about himself, it wouldn’t have made him feel good either.

“In that case,” Yosuke said, straightening his back and squaring his shoulders. “I’m a hell of a catch and you’re lucky I let you pull me out of that trashcan.”

Yu raised his eyebrows, but he was grinning again. He took Yosuke’s hand, squeezing the pads of his fingers. “Yeah?”

“Y-yeah! I mean, I’m reliable and not bad to look at, right? And they’ve never seen lightning fast kunai skills like mine, or… or um, how cool my taste in music is?” Yosuke felt heat creeping up his neck as he realized how dumb the first thing he’d said about the trashcan was and that for whatever godforsaken reason, Yu was into it. Like, lashes fluttering, eyes glued on him, hanging on his every word into it. “And… and all those other guys and girls don’t know what they’re missing!”

Yu seemed surprised for a moment, but he settled back into a warm smile as he pulled Yosuke away from the fence and sat down in the grass. He tugged Yosuke down, and Yosuke joined him.

They spent a long while watching the dazzling colors shatter on the smoky night sky.

“I’d like to see it,” Yu finally said, laying his head on Yosuke’s shoulder. “What they’re missing.”

“I’m saying you’re the only person who does see it.”

“No, I mean...” Yu ran his finger along Yosuke’s collarbone, blazing a trail across his skin and once reaching the bone’s end, he hooked his finger on Yosuke’s yukata and pulled it back an inch or so. “The parts you hide away.”

Yosuke shivered. It wasn’t that he didn’t like this. Rather, he’d never been this far with anyone before. No one had ever been so explicitly or unabashedly attracted to him like this. If he didn’t have so much trust in Yu, it would’ve felt like a prank, like the other shoe might drop at any moment.

Yu wasn’t joking, right? He really… He really wanted to… to bang, right?

“Sorry,” Yu said, backing off until they were simply holding hands again. “I got ahead of myself.”

Yosuke wasn’t sure if he was relieved or wanted to cry. What was with this situation?!

“N-no! It’s okay!” Wait, was it okay? “I mean, uh...”

“There’s no rush,” Yu said, laying down in the grass. Gravity spread his bangs over his forehead, revealing the slight curve of disappointment on his brow.

“Did you want to, um… you know…?”

Silence hung heavy between them, filled only by the sky-splitting booms of the fireworks and the distant buzz of the festivities.

Staring up at the sky, Yu replied, “Did you?”

Why was Yu being cautious now?! And how the hell was he supposed to answer that?

Yosuke attempted to swallow his nerves, failed, and tried again. He had no idea if he wanted to cross that line yet or not. Sure, Yu had a handsome face and a nice body, but being good-looking didn’t automatically mean sex was on the table, or that it’d be good, or that Yosuke was ready to see Yu’s junk.

And yeah, okay, Yosuke had been weirdly disappointed a little over a month ago when Yu hadn’t jumped his bones at the first given opportunity. Kind of like he was weirdly disappointed now that Yu wasn’t giving him his usual blunt, straightforward answers.

Yosuke shook away the cringe-y, embarrassed feeling from that last memory, and then took a deep breath and tried to parse out the pros and cons of boning his partner.

The pros were:
    • It would make Yu happy. Probably.
    • Losing my V-card.
    • That tingly feeling? But all over??
    • It’s dark so I wouldn’t have to see his dick.
    • We have the same equipment, so what feels good for me should feel good for him, right?
    • Can’t say something stupid if my mouth is busy.

And then, the cons:
    • How does this even work? Who inserts what into what? I don’t even wanna think about having that conversation. 
    • Do I still have that condom in my wallet? Do we even need one?
    • What if he’s better at it than me?
    • What am I saying? Of course he’s better at it. He’s better at everything. I’ve seen what he can do with those hands—

A wave of mortification washed over Yosuke as he remembered something embarrassing he’d said in the past. He shuffled his hair and groaned, prompting Yu to look over to him.

“Yosuke?”

“Nothing!” Yosuke squawked, his voice cracking. “It’s nothing, I promise.”

But then, looking out at the town below, two more cons occurred to him:
    • What if someone finds us up here?
    • What if it’s his uncle?

Yosuke gulped. Those questions were far more terrifying than feeling inadequate or potentially meeting a new penis.

“I just want to spend time with you,” Yu said, interrupting Yosuke’s spiraling thoughts. “It doesn’t need to be anything more than that.”

Yosuke’s brows scrunched together. If it didn’t need to be more than that, then why go from friends to boyfriends in the first place? He crossed his legs and sulked.

“It’s not like...” Yosuke felt his face go red as he realized what he was about to admit, but he took a breath and pushed through anyway. “It’s not like I’m not interested.”

Yu sat up in a flash, tugging open the top of his yukata. “My neck is yours.”

“Where was that energy a minute ago?!” Yosuke blurted out. 

Yu paused, taken aback, and then turned away, rubbing his neck. “I didn’t want to creep you out. Sorry.”

So that’s how it was. Both of them were wringing their hands, too afraid of rejection to make the first move even though they were already a couple.

Yosuke heaved a sigh. “It sounds like neither of us is ready yet.”

Yu hummed in agreement.

Their hands found each other in the grass and their fingers intertwined. They watched the sky quietly for a few minutes. The frequency of the fireworks increased as the show approached its finale.

A weight fell against Yosuke’s shoulder, and when he looked down, there was Yu resting his head on him again. Warm sparks blossomed under Yosuke’s skin.

Yosuke looped his arm around Yu’s waist, and Yu scooted closer.

“Walk me home after this?” Yu asked.

“Sure thing, Partner.”

Chapter Text

They wandered down the hill and said good night to the rest of their friends before heading out themselves. The streets nearest the festival were packed, but slowly dispersing. The closer they got to the Dojima house, the fewer and fewer people they came across until finally they reached the lonely front doorstep of their destination. The lights in the house were all turned off, which meant Nanako and Yu’s uncle were either not home yet or already asleep, likely the latter.

Yosuke clapped his hand on Yu’s shoulder. “So I’ll text you tomorrow about that fishing outing you wanted to do?”

Yu took Yosuke’s wrist and slid Yosuke’s hand off his shoulder. “Actually, do you wanna hang out a bit longer?” Instead of letting go, he held on loosely to Yosuke’s hand.

“Like in your room?”

“Yeah.” A short pause and a realization later, Yu added, “Not to fool around, just to hang out.”

Again, Yosuke wasn’t sure whether to feel relief or annoyance. “Does anyone even still call it ‘fooling around’?”

“...Sorry?”

They shared another awkward silence, but in the end, Yosuke couldn’t think of a reason to say no. “I can come up for a while.”

Yu perked up almost instantly, and he eagerly led Yosuke into the house.

They snuck up the stairs and quietly stowed themselves away in Yu’s room. Once the door was closed, Yu switched the lights on.

Yosuke flinched back at the sudden brightness, shielding his eyes. “Warn a guy, would you?”

“Sorry.” Yu scratched his head. He sat down on his couch and motioned to the empty space beside him. “You can sit if you want.”

“Thanks.” Yosuke took a seat and crossed his legs. “Was there anything in particular you wanted to do, or…?”

“Well, uh...” Yu stared at his hands perched on his knees. “I wanted to cuddle.” He lifted his eyes, then dropped them again when he saw Yosuke watching him. “If that’s okay.”

“What are you being so shy about it for?” Yosuke nudged Yu with his elbow. “Didn’t we already do that at the fireworks?”

“Right,” Yu said, gripping his knees tighter. “I guess we did.”

Yu sat rigidly still like this in complete silence until Yosuke finally broke the silence with a hesitant “So...”

“We don’t have to do it again if you don’t want to.”

Wiping his sweaty palms on his yukata, Yosuke laughed sheepishly. “I never said I didn’t want to. It’s just weird that you’re asking to do it now when you didn’t ask earlier.”

“I must’ve gotten caught up in the mood. Sorry. I should’ve asked.”

“Quit apologizing and get over here,” Yosuke said, putting his arm around Yu’s neck and pulling him close. “Geez.”

The weight of Yu’s body against his left him feeling that sparkler sensation from head to toe.

Beet red and flustered, Yu looked up at Yosuke, thoroughly confused. Then, slowly, a warm smile bloomed across his face. “Thank you, Yosuke.”

“You don’t have to thank me all the time. I...” Yosuke hesitated, feeling the embarrassment crawling up his neck. “I like doing this stuff with you too, you know?”

Yu shook his head. “I’m saying it because I love you.”

Yosuke’s train of thought came to an abrupt halt. “Wh… what?” he croaked out.

Yu looked away bashfully. “Too forward?”

“I… I-I...” Yosuke kept trying to think of something to say in response, but his mouth and his brain had completely disconnected. “I, uh...”

“It’s okay.” Yu rubbed Yosuke’s back gently. It felt way better than it should have, Yu’s callused fingertips applying exactly the correct amount of pressure to calm Yosuke’s over-reactive nerves. “I know you’re still figuring things out. I just wanted to put it out there.”

Holy crap. Yu really just… dropped that train into his lap. Hit him like a bombshell? Threw that lemon under the bus?

What the hell were all these bogus turns of phrase?! Just how hard was his last remaining brain cell overheating?

Yu scooped up Yosuke’s trembling hand. “Is that okay?”

“YEAH--” Yosuke squawked like a startled seagull. “I mean,” he started again, trying to course correct through the feeling of his heart crawling up his throat. “We should be open with each other. As partners. About things.”

‘Because I love you’ echoed through Yosuke’s brain again. That was not a set a words he expected to hear any time soon in that order from anyone other than his parents, maybe. Sometimes Yu was much smoother than he had any right to be.

Yu turned Yosuke’s hand over and clasped his own over it. “Tell me if it’s too much.”

“No, dude, it’s…” Yosuke shook his head. “It’s not that.”

“What is it?”

“I’ve just, y’know...” Yosuke shrugged with his free shoulder. “I’ve never been someone’s favorite person before.”

Yu lifted his head, staring at Yosuke with such an intense gaze that Yosuke was forced to turn away.

“Sorry. I shouldn’t just assume stuff like that, huh?”

“By all means,” Yu said, pressing a kiss to the back of Yosuke’s hand. “Assume it.”

Yosuke, a vivid red dyeing his face, chanced a glance back to his partner. “How can you say that crap with a straight face?”

“My face is never straight, Yosuke.”

Yosuke dragged a hand down his forehead and over his eyes. “Oh my Gooood.”

Yu broke into a tiny smile, then leaned over and kissed Yosuke on the cheek.

“Stop teasing me already,” Yosuke groaned. “I thought you said we weren’t gonna fool around.”

“Does this count?” Yu leaned against Yosuke’s chest.

“Dude,” Yosuke yelped, falling back under Yu’s weight. “Why wouldn’t this count?”

Yu grinned against Yosuke’s body. “This is enough.” His breath warmed Yosuke’s chest. “I won’t go further.”

Yosuke released a sigh through his nose. “Geez.”

“Let me stay like this just a while longer.” Yu nuzzled into the collar of Yosuke’s yukata.

“Fine.” Smiling to himself, Yosuke snaked his arms around Yu’s torso. “Just don’t fall asleep on me, okay, Partner?”

“Hey, Big Bro? Are you awake?” The voice was small, barely reaching through the door.

“Nanako?” Yosuke’s eyes cracked open. The bright sunbeams shining through the window stung his eyes and forced them shut again.

There was a short pause, followed by, “Oh! I didn’t know you were having a sleepover! I can make eggs for you, too, Yosuke. How many do you want?”

Yosuke tried to sit up, but the weight on his chest kept his achy half-awake body pinned to the couch. “Uh, two?”

“Okay! I’ll go make yours first.” There was a distant set of rapid taps as Nanako bounded back down the stairs.

Did Yu seriously have his little cousin cooking for him? How lucky was this guy?

Despite how unhappy Yosuke’s spine was about the way he’d been mangled between the arm of the couch and Yu’s arms wrapped under and around him, Yosuke couldn’t help but smile at Yu quietly snoring on top of him.

“Hey, Partner.” Yosuke patted Yu’s back. “Wake up.”

Yu let out a tiny moan and sank his face deeper into Yosuke’s chest.

Yosuke flattened his gaze. “Dude. C’mon. Nanako’s making breakfast for us.”

Yu lifted his head with a small frown. “Breakfast…?”

Slower, heavier steps came thudding up the stairs.

Yu turned to his clock and his eyes shot open. “This is bad.”

“What do you mean--” Before Yosuke could finish, Yu yanked out his arms from beneath him and when his yukata sleeves failed to come with, Yu toppled back into Yosuke and knocked the wind out of him.

With a small click, the bedroom door slowly swung open. “Yu, I don’t mind if you have guests, but you need to ask before--” Dojima came to a halt in the doorway, staring at the two of them tangled up on the loveseat, yukata askew and shoulders bare. By the time Yosuke recovered, the color had completely drained from Yu’s face.

Yu swallowed. “Uncle.”

Dojima, his face completely unreadable, replied, “Yu.”

Silence stretched between them, heavy and thick. Yu’s eyes fell away from his uncle. Yosuke helped free Yu’s sleeves. Yu shrunk into the far end of the couch, pulling his sleeve back up and adjusting the collar of his yukata.

Yosuke’s gaze bounced back and forth between the two of them as he tried to piece together the right thing to say. “Uh, good morning, sir.”

Saying nothing, Dojima directed his attention to Yosuke.

Yosuke sat upright. “This? This isn’t-- We’re not--” With a jittery laugh, Yosuke motioned between himself and Yu. “I mean, we were just--” He felt a tug at his sleeve. He turned to see Yu feebly shaking his head.

Dojima let out a tired sigh. “We’ll talk about this after I drop Nanako off at her friend’s house.” He disappeared back down the stairs.

Yosuke leaned toward Yu and asked in an urgent whisper, “What are we gonna do, Partner?”

Without a word, Yu stood up, gave Yosuke a distraught look confined to his eyes and a strained nod, and took himself and his sleep stale yukata down the stairs.

That wasn’t a good sign.

Yosuke did his best to swallow his fear and uncertainty and followed Yu down to breakfast.

The atmosphere at breakfast was awkward and heavy. It was so much so that even Nanako was clearly uncomfortable, piercing the thick silence every five minutes to ask, “Are you sure you guys aren’t fighting?” only to be reassured by her dad and Yosuke that no, everything was great, don’t worry about the fact that Yu hadn’t said a word since coming down and was picking at his eggs over rice with a facial expression that could only be described as traumatized.

Yu did at least manage a weak smile in her direction as she and her father headed out the door.

Alone in that house for the first time that day, Yu finally released a sigh and said, “Yosuke, you can go home.”

“Do...” Yosuke’s face scrunched up into a confused, worried frown. “Do you want me to leave?”

Yu didn’t answer right away, instead going through a range of minute emotions before admitting, “No, but...” He shook his head. “This is my problem. It isn’t your responsibility.”

“The hell it isn’t, dude.”

Yu’s eyes flitted up to meet Yosuke’s, slightly wider than before.

“I’m your boyfriend. Being here for you when everything sucks is like the whole freaking point.” Yosuke crossed his arms. “Besides, I’m literally the whole reason you’re in trouble.” Yosuke sulked, quietly tacking on a self-aware “again” to the end of his thought.

“I was the one that invited you up.” Yu worked his hands, balling them up into fists and then stretching his fingers out to keep his nerves under control. “I should’ve thought it through.”

“And I was the one that fell asleep after telling you not to.” Yosuke pinched the bridge of his nose. “Why are we arguing about this? It doesn’t matter who did what.” He dropped his hand back into his lap. “This is about both of us.”

There was another short silence, and then Yu nodded. “Thank you, Yosuke.”

“C’mon, dude.” Yosuke turned away as a soft blush spread over him. “We went over this. You don’t have to thank me.”

Yu took his hand. He was still anxious, fidgeting with Yosuke’s fingers instead of his own, but he’d found his smile again.
The heat in Yosuke’s face only grew stronger.

They stayed like this a while longer, until Yu calmed himself enough to hold hands the normal way. But just as soon as they’d gotten comfortable, the click of the door handle had both of them jumping back into their own personal space bubbles.

Dojima came through the door with a shopping bag in his hand. He looked over the two of them and let out a small sigh as the door fell shut behind him. He set the bag on the far side of the table and sat across from the two boys. “So...” he began, letting the word linger there a little too long. “You two are...”

Yosuke waited for Yu to answer, but he’d gone mute again, staring at the grain of the table instead of speaking. 

Just as Yosuke was considering answering in Yu’s stead, Dojima took a breath and started again, “You’re dating, aren’t you?”

Yu didn’t respond. Yosuke steeled himself and said, “That’s right.” He paused, and then meekly added “sir” at the end. He mentally kicked himself. Why was he wavering at a time like this?

He raised his eyes to look at Dojima, only to be reminded that Yu’s uncle was easily one of the most intimidating people he’d ever met.

Even so, Dojima rubbed his forehead, frowning to himself like he was the one in the hot seat here instead of the other way around. “Do your parents know?”

Yu silently shook his head. Dojima turned to Yosuke, waiting for his answer.

“Ah, well...” Sweat gathered on the back of Yosuke’s neck as he realized he didn’t know if that awkward conversation with Teddie had actually happened or if it was just a figment of that nightmare month Mitsuo’s shadow had manufactured for them.

He’d have to look into that. Somehow.

God, that was going to be an uncomfortable conversation. Almost as uncomfortable as this one was.

“Uncle,” Yu said without looking up. “Don’t tell them. Please.”

Dojima rapped his fingertips on the table, then sat back in his chair. “How long have you two been...”

“A little over a month.”

“I see.” Dojima nodded, looking down at his hand. “And have you been...”

He trailed off again, but this time neither of the boys had any idea what he was trying to ask or how to answer.

“Y’know...” Dojima made a vague hand motion. “Using protection?”

Yosuke choked on the air in his throat and doubled over coughing and sputtering. Once he recovered, he rose to his feet, his chair loudly skidding back and clattering on floor behind him. “Protection?!”

Yu had gone completely pale. His arms hung limp at his sides like his soul had left his body.

His face flushed crimson, Dojima leaned over the table, forehead in his hand. “Look, I can keep this a secret, but if one of you catches something--”

“Hold on!” Yosuke waved his hands in a fierce panic.

Dojima gave him a stern glare. “If one of you catches something, I have a duty to tell them.”

Yosuke slammed his hands down on the table. “I said, hold on!” His hands balled up the table’s surface. “We haven’t even done any of that stuff yet!”

Shock softened Dojima’s glare. “Yu.” He turned to his nephew. “Is this true?”

Yu summoned what little will he had left in him to give a small nod.

“Nothing?”

“Yes, nothing,” Yosuke huffed, his face and neck dyed deep red. “We only just had our first kiss last night.” Well, the first one on the lips, anyway.

Never mind the fact they’d considered going further. Dojima didn’t need to know that.

“Ah.” Dojima shrank back in his chair, the hand once on his forehead sunk down to cover his mouth.

The three of them remained in the painful silence. Yosuke loosened his fists, looked between Yu and his uncle, then picked up his chair and sat himself back down. He tried to be quiet, but the chair made an awful skuhh against the wood floor as he slid it in beneath him.

Dojima stood, his chair mirroring the scraping noise as he rose. He grabbed the bag, and without making eye contact with either of them, he said, “There’s condoms in the drawer if you need them.” He shoved the bag into the drawer and without another word he grabbed his pack of cigarettes off the counter and headed back outside.

The house settled back into the routine white noise from the fridge and the neighbor’s wind chime.

Yu turned to Yosuke with a furrowed brow and a troubled look in his eyes. “We can never use those condoms.”

“I couldn’t agree with you more, Partner.”