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Yosuke entered the classroom a little later than usual that day. Most students were either looking at messages on their phones, or chatting with their fellow classmates as they waited for the teacher to arrive.
As usual, his sights quickly fell onto the seat of one Yu Narukami, who seemed to be writing something. Furiously writing something: his back was unnaturally arched, and his arms were outstretched to the sides. It was as if he was trying to create a barrier between the desk and the outside world.
Regardless, Yosuke began making his way over.
“Mornin’, partner.”
The silver-haired boy flinched, hurriedly closing the notebook as nonchalantly as he could manage, before turning to face his friend.
“Hey,” he murmured.
“Whatcha doin’ there?”
“Reviewing some notes,” he looked at the notebook. “For class.”
“Are you sure? You seemed really tense.”
There was a bout of silence.
“I’m not very good at physics.”
“Dude. Don't give me that crap. What’re you doing?”
The silver-haired boy was now staring deep into the brunet’s soul, his expression unreadable.
Suddenly, the door clattered open. “Alright, people! On your seats.”
Yu turned away at that, and Yosuke couldn’t help but sigh.
Morning classes passed by in a flash. Not because the subjects were particularly interesting, of course not, but because Yosuke could not stop thinking about the boy in front of him. ‘What’s his deal? Why would he make up such an obvious lie?’
He looked up at Yu’s hair, and only now noticed that he had a mild bedhead. ‘Man, he’s definitely hiding something from me,’ his eyebrows twitched with concern. The brunet reached up, almost instinctively, to try and tuck some of his partner’s stray hairs, but caught himself before he could make contact.
The bell rang, signaling the beginning of lunchtime and the end of Yosuke’s vicious circle of thoughts.
“Senpai~!” A familiar singsong voice echoed through the hallway outside. It wasn’t long before their three kouhai entered the classroom.
Rise rhythmically skipped over to Yu’s desk, and entangled herself in his left arm.
“How are you doing, Senpai? You better bring a large bag tomorrow, I’m getting you lots of chocolate, ‘kay?”
Yosuke gulped hard. “What?”
“Tomorrow is Valentine’s day, Yosuke-senpai,” Naoto chimed in.
The idol looked dumbfounded. “Did you seriously forget?!”
“W-well… I’m not really ‘in demand’, y’know. Nor am I seeing anyone right now,” he frowned.
“Romance isn’t the only motivator nowadays,” the detective prince thoughtfully retorted.
“Then why didn’t Chie get me anything last year?”
“You really think you deserved any chocolate after you mysteriously lost, ” she airquoted for emphasis, “my Like a Dragon: The Movie DVD?!”
“I said I was sorry,” the brunet pouted.
The silver-haired boy chuckled beside him, and Yosuke’s expression softened in tow.
“Hey, partner, do you wanna have lunch together?”
“Sorry, I promised Kanji.”
“Yeah, sorry, Yosuke-senpai,” he sheepishly scratched his neck.
“Nah, it’s cool,” the brunet assured.
At that, Yu got up from his chair and followed the tall boy outside. Yosuke sunk back into his seat, and the vicious circle of thoughts returned to drown out the sounds of the world around him.
‘Valentine’s, huh…’
Their leader decided to hold a special meeting, and none of the Investigation Team members were quite sure why. The case had already been solved… or so they thought. Yosuke silently prayed that Yu wasn’t about to announce that they had to fight yet another form of Izanami.
“Oh, man,” the brunet panted, “sorry I’m late.”
Yosuke was the last to arrive at the Junes food court. Everyone seemed just as worried about the meeting as he was, and the brunet couldn’t pinpoint whether that was a good thing or a bad thing.
Yukiko cleared her throat. “So. Did something happen, Yu-kun?”
The silver-haired boy fidgeted in his seat. He locked eyes with Yosuke for a split second, then looked down at his lap.
“Everyone,” he started, “I have been hiding something from you all.”
The entire table practically gasped in unison. Chie and Yukiko were whispering to each other, Kanji seemed to be sweating bullets, and Teddie bit his topsicle stick so hard that it split into two.
“The thing is,” he continued, “Kanji and I. We are life partners.”
Yosuke screamed. He never knew he could scream that loud.
Suddenly, Teddie barreled out of the closet and started rolling on the ground screaming.
“Yosuke! Yosuke! Did a bomb go off?! Oh, I’m so beary scared! Hold me~!”
The costumed creature jumped onto the brunet’s bed, eliciting a grunt from the latter. “Ugh. Get off me, stupid bear!”
Yosuke shoved Teddie aside and slowly got up to sit on the mattress. ‘Man, what the hell was that?!’ He massaged his temple.
“Are you alright, Yosuke? Are we going to die?”
The brunet couldn’t help but snicker. “We’re not going to die, Ted. Just… had a weird-ass dream, that's all.”
His phone vibrated just then. The boy’s eyebrows involuntarily twitched when he saw that the message was from a certain someone named “Partner”.
He lightly slapped his cheek and flicked the phone open.
Partner: Yosuke. Can you meet me at the hilltop after school?
“Ooh! Are you and Sensei going to score?”
The brunet was too busy staring at the words on his phone’s low-resolution screen to notice that Teddie was now leaning over his shoulder.
“H-huh?! No way! And this doesn’t have anything to do with you,” he snapped.
The costumed bear giggled and started skipping around the house, singing something about ‘Yosuke and Sensei sitting in a tree’ a little too loudly.
Yosuke sighed and got up to get ready for school. Before leaving, he flipped his phone open one last time and typed out a response:
You: kk ill c u ther
On the walk to school, the brunet did not see his best friend. What he did see, however, were couples being sickeningly sweet with each other: a mutual giggle here, an arm around the waist there, and a kiss over yonder… ‘Ugh. Couldn’t they do this literally anywhere else?’ Yosuke gripped the straps of his backpack, and began speed walking to Yasogami.
At the entrance, after haphazardly switching his shoes, he turned around to look at Yu’s cubby. As expected, there were quite a few letters jammed inside. The brunet sighed, and thought back to the text message he had received. ‘Surely, out of the dozens of girls that are confessing to him, there must be one he likes back,’ the boy scratched his head. ‘So why would he want to see me today?’
His mind started wandering. ‘Maybe he wants to brag about his new girlfriend.’ Yosuke made a face, recalling the dream he had earlier that day. ‘No, he wouldn’t do that.’
The brunet started making his way up the stairs. ‘He could be asking me for advice,’ he scrunched his eyebrows. ‘Yu Narukami asking the Trash Prince of Junes for love advice? Yeah right!’
‘Or maybe…?’
Before he could finish that thought, Yosuke realized he had made it to the classroom.
“Morning.” Yu waved at him with one hand, while holding a notebook on the other; the same notebook he was frantically writing on yesterday, Yosuke noticed.
The brunet moved to sit on his chair. “M-morning.”
As the boy unloaded the contents of his backpack onto the desk, he took the opportunity to get a good look at his best friend: Yu was sitting cross-legged, leaning his side to the backrest of the chair, while carefully examining the pages of the notebook with half-lidded eyes and a barely perceptible smile on his lips.
“Something wrong?” The silver-haired boy murmured.
The brunet was staring, perhaps a little too intently, and it seems Yu had caught on to it.
“Oh, um. You just, uh… seem really casual today.”
The silver-haired boy’s smile grew. “Do I?”
Yosuke looked away sheepishly, deciding that he couldn’t continue looking at his friend’s face without muttering something stupid. He tried to change the topic.
“Do you still need help with physics, by the way?”
Yu looked at him with a faintly puzzled expression for a second, then as realization hit, he started chuckling into his free hand. He closed the notebook, with an audible ‘pop’ as the opposite ends met.
“I think I’ve got it figured out. Thank you, though,” he said with a warm smile on his face.
Yosuke’s breath hitched. That was one of his partner’s genuine smiles: the one that reached all the way to his eyes, which, the brunet had noticed, was usually reserved for Nanako. To see his friend not only beam like that, but beam at him made his face feel just about twenty degrees hotter.
Caught up in the moment, neither of them realized that a fellow classmate was now standing in front of Yu.
“Um… Narukami-san,” the girl was holding a small box in her trembling hands, “please accept this!”
The silver-haired boy paused for a moment, then got up from his seat.
“Could we talk about this outside?”
The girl valiantly nodded, and the two of them wordlessly wandered outside the classroom.
The brunet stared at the door frame, processing the events that had transpired just then. After a beat, he sighed and folded his arms onto the desk. “... Right. Of course he’d be acting casual today.”
Yu was standing near the stairs to the second floor as he often does during lunchtime, only this time, instead of his friends asking if they could hang out, there were a ridiculous amount of girls taking turns in handing him chocolate. It’d be pretty amusing, if the sight didn’t make Yosuke feel like his stomach was tied in several knots.
‘Look at him acting all catlike,’ the brunet pouted. ‘One hand in his pocket and the other draping over his side. He thinks he's the shit. The bomb. All that.’ His grip on the hem of his jacket tightened.
Suddenly, a muffled ringtone emanated from his back pocket. Yosuke let out an exhausted sigh. The boy didn’t need to check to see who was calling, as he had set a special ringtone for his dad, the manager of the local Junes. After gathering some courage, he flicked the phone open.
“Yeah?”
There were loud sounds coming from the other end, so it was a little difficult to make out his father’s voice. “Yosuke? Sorry to ask, but could you work half a shift for me after school?”
“Dad…,” the boy pinched his eyebrows.
“Oh? Are you going to be busy today?”
He looked at his best friend for a moment. The crowd had mostly died down, but there were a few girls talking to him still. The brunet quietly sighed and put his free hand in his pocket.
“No,” he stated matter-of-factly, “I’ll head over once classes are done.”
“Perfect. Thank you, son.”
The boy flipped his phone closed, ending the call.
“Yosuke,” the silver-haired boy suddenly exclaimed. “Is something the matter?”
The last of the girls had finally gone away, and so he made his way to where his friend was.
‘Unbelievably perceptive, isn’t he,’ the brunet wagered. His partner was always looking for the slightest change in demeanor, and he would always comment on it if he felt something was awry. Not that Yosuke was particularly hard to read, of course.
“I’m, uh… gonna have to work at Junes today. I’m sorry.”
“I’ll wait until your shift is over,” he stated plainly.
“Du– What?! It’s gonna be late!”
“I know.”
The brunet felt a blush creeping up his face. “And it’s not like you need me anyway,” he murmured just above a whisper.
“Yosuke…?”
“Senpai!” A loud voice interrupted. The silver-haired boy turned around to face where the voice was coming from.
Rise came barreling through the corridor, skidding to a stop in front of her friends.
“Good morning, Senpai, Yosuke-senpai!” She waved.
The idol excitedly dug into her school bag and pulled out a large, glittery heart-shaped box and handed it to Yu.
“I was waiting for the others to go away so I could have you all to myself,” she giggled. “Here you go, I hope you like it~!”
“Rise, I–”
“I’ll see you later, man,” the brunet interrupted with a scowled expression, and headed to the stairs without waiting for a response.
“Yosuke!”
It was clear why his dad had asked him to work today: Junes was absolutely packed with people making their last minute purchases for Valentine’s day, and employees were scrambling to refill shelves amidst the commotion.
Yosuke had not talked to his best friend for the rest of the school day. He wasn’t proud of that, but he couldn’t bear to witness not even one more second of a girl being up in Yu’s personal space.
‘We’re supposed to be partners, dammit,’ he indignantly restocked the greeting card shelves. ‘I feel like I’m being left behind here! He’s gonna find some cute girl and never talk to me again…’
The brunet heard a disgruntled sound coming from the next aisle over, and his miasma of thoughts subsided for a moment. ‘Kanji?’
The blond giant stuck out like a sore thumb in the seasonal chocolate aisle. He seemed to be stuck in a routine of picking up a box, looking at it intently, forcefully putting it down, scratching his neck, repeat.
The bigger problem, however, was that he was driving customers away from the section with his aura of uneasiness. Yosuke decided to intervene.
Kanji flinched as the brunet approached. “Yosuke-senpai! W-what are you doin’ here?!”
“I work here…?” He put a hand on his hip. “What’s up with you?”
“I’m, uh… tryin’ to buy some chocolate… for someone important,” his face was beet red.
The brunet made a face at that. He couldn’t help but remember the dream he had had that morning. ‘Kanji really is looking for his life partner, huh,’ his lips trembled.
"Hey, giving out chocolates is a girl thing , y’know," he unconsciously pouted.
The blond was now staring daggers at him. “Wha– What the hell, man?! You’re still sayin’ shit like that even after Yu-senpai asked to meet you today?”
“What the–,” his eyes went wide. “How do you know that?!”
There was a pause. Kanji’s complexion went red again, and he huffed loudly. “Listen, we were in similar positions, ‘kay?”
Yosuke blinked.
“He needed reassurance, and I needed a push,” he continued. “So we talked yesterday. About our worries, about our own plans for today, shit like that.”
“I’m here tryin’ to find chocolate worthy of the person I like; and Yu-senpai, well,” the blond cleared his throat. “He really wants to see you.”
Kanji gazed at him with a clear resolve. Yosuke in turn looked at the ground below him, his heart beating faster by the second. He’d be lying if he said he didn't have feelings for his best friend, buried somewhere deep down inside his heart. But this was inconceivable. Yu Narukami was actually, seriously looking forward to meeting him on Valentine’s day of all days. ‘Why me? Why?!’ His eyes were suddenly watery.
“H-hey, dude, easy,” the blond stuttered with a worried expression.
“Sorry,” the brunet sniffed. “I just… don’t see what he could possibly want with a loser like me.”
“I dunno, man, you two will figure it out,” he patted the other boy on the back. “You’re partners, yeah?”
‘Partners,’ the brunet repeated in his head.
He looked down at the basket he was using to restock supplies, and an item caught his eye: a chocolate bunny, complete with colorful wrapping and a blue ribbon tied around its neck. ‘Cute,’ he thought.
Yosuke picked it up and handed it to Kanji. “Here. I think the person you like might enjoy this.”
The blond boy inspected it, carefully turning it in his hand. After a beat, he grinned wide and turned to look at his friend. “Thank you, Yosuke-senpai.”
“Yeah,” he scratched his head. “And, uh, sorry about earlier.”
After switching out of his uniform, the brunet stepped into the Junes breakroom to grab his things, looking up at the wall-mounted clock as he did so. ‘Six fifty-eight. Damn it.’
Yosuke ran. He never knew he could run that fast. The boy had always done poorly when asked to participate in running events at the sports festival, but this time there was someone waiting for him at the finish line. Someone special to him . The thought alone was enough to make adrenaline rush through his veins.
In no time at all, the brunet had made it to the base of the hill overlooking town; his hair was a mess, and he was panting like a dog, but he had made it.
He took some time to recover, then started walking up the hill, picking up the pace once a silver-haired figure came into view: Yu was hunched over the fencing with his head resting in his crossed arms, his bangs fluttering lightly in the February wind.
The silver-haired boy seemed to feel the other's presence, and elegantly moved to stand up straight.
“Yosuke,” he turned to look at his friend.
The brunet stopped at the mention of his name, and took a moment to gauge his partner’s expression. As always, it was unreadable, but Yosuke would be remiss not to point out that the way the dim lights played off of his features didn’t make him feel some type of way. He gulped, his throat suddenly dry.
“H-hey. Sorry for making you wait.”
The silver-haired boy shook his head. “I told you I’d wait, didn’t I?”
The simplicity of that statement made him feel warm inside.
“So, um,” he began timidly. “Did you want to talk about something?”
Yosuke swore he could see the slightest twinge of anxiety in his partner’s face, but the dimness of the light posts made him second guess himself. Yu reached into his jacket’s inner pocket, and pulled out a box with an orange ribbon tied around the middle, its shiny wrapping paper lined with musical notes.
"Here, this is for you."
The brunet started trembling, his thoughts running a mile a minute, but he somehow managed to take the box into his own hands.
"Oh. I mean– thanks, partner."
"Nanako said the truffles were tasty, but I hope you like them too. She helped me make them yesterday."
At that moment, Yosuke couldn't quite ascertain whether the color was draining from his face, or if he was as red as a tomato.
"Oh wow, um, that's amazing," he whispered, fidgeting the tip of his shoe on the earth below. "Did you make some for the others too? Teddie would definitely throw a hissy fit if he–"
"No. I only made these for you, Yosuke."
Okay, there was definitely steam coming out of his ears now. ‘What the hell, man?!’
Yosuke melted into the ground while clenching the box tightly, as if it were the only thing anchoring him to this plane of existence. Yu got on his knees in tow, patiently waiting for the brunet to say something.
“Partner… why?” The brunet looked up at him, not realizing that there were tears streaming down his face.
The silver-haired boy instinctively moved his hand up to his friend’s face, hesitating for a moment, before wiping his left cheek with his thumb. He stared deeply into his eyes.
“Because I like you, Yosuke.”
The brunet’s mind seemed as if it were a million miles away, tears continually flowing down his face.
“... Why?” He repeated after a moment.
Yu exhaled. “It’s a long list. Are you sure you have the time?”
That seemed to break the ice a bit, as Yosuke promptly let out a fleeting chuckle.
“But… what about those letters?” He sniffed. “The chocolate you received from the girls?”
“I didn’t accept any of them. I couldn't.”
The brunet’s eyes went wide for a moment, and then he relaxed, letting out air he did not know he was holding in until then.
The silver-haired boy grinned, tilting his head to the side. “Were you jealous?”
Yosuke knew for a fact he was jealous, but only now did he put the pieces together: he wasn’t jealous of Yu, but of the girls. That they were receiving his attention. That they were going to take his partner away from him.
"I… want you to be my partner. No one else’s," he hurriedly buried his face in his hands. "Christ, that sounded so corny..."
The brunet flinched as he felt something warm make contact with the back of his hands. He promptly lowered them to his lap and looked at Yu inquisitively.
“What was that?”
“I can’t kiss you if your hands are in the way,” he stated plainly.
Yosuke’s mind short-circuited, and a strained noise escaped his mouth.
The silver-haired boy gazed at him hopefully. “May I?”
He looked down bashfully, his face red all the way to his ears. “Please,” he managed.
At that, Yu cupped Yosuke’s cheek, lifting his face up so that they were at eye level with each other. The touch alone was enough to make the brunet’s heart race, but the look on his partner’s face was what truly made it skip a beat: he could feel this deep sense of longing in his eyes, a kind of expression the boy had never seen the other make before. As he closed the distance, his lips narrowly parted, and condensed air escaped from them rhythmically as he breathed.
And then, their mouths connected at once.
Yosuke made a sound, but quickly relaxed onto the kiss. It was chaste, but it was his first, and it was positively exhilarating. The brunet figured he should do something with his hands, so he brought them up to the silver-haired boy’s shoulders and held on tight. His partner in turn moved his own to the crook of the other boy’s neck and squeezed, eliciting a pleasant hum.
After an indiscernible amount of time, Yu pulled away, choosing to rest his forehead on Yosuke's as they breathed loudly.
“There, I’m all yours,” he said between breaths.
“Man,” an annoyed sigh. “You’re embarrassing.”
Yu smirked. “And you said you’re corny. We're perfect for each other.”
Yosuke smiled, and pinched the other boy's cheek. “Okay then Mr. Embarrassing, would you like to go watch a movie sometime?”
“Oh Mr. Corny, I'd love to.”
The brunet tried to hold in his laughter, but the dam quickly broke, and soon the two boys were giggling heartily together on the grassy floor.
As the commotion died down, Yosuke saw a couple of white specs dotting his vision, and Yu confirmed that it wasn't his imagination, as he could see them too.
It was snowing.
The silver-haired boy fidgeted in place for a moment, and the brunet raised an eyebrow.
"Wanna come over to my place?" He looked aside bashfully. "Dojima and Nanako aren't home right now," he added.
Klaxons blared in the brunet’s mind, his mouth agape. ‘OhmygodOhmygodOhmygodOhmy–’
“Sorry. I got greedy,” he frowned.
Yosuke scrambled to grab hold of his partner’s hand. “No! No… I–.”
The silver-haired boy looked at him with renewed hope.
“I wouldn’t mind,” he managed, his face beet red.
Yu smiled warmly at that, and squeezed the other boy’s hand.