Drawn to Life

by Angevon

Yosuke really likes Souji's dick, but, as it turns out, only aesthetically. [P4HeroXYosuke]

[Author's note: This is a sequel to a one-shot I did for Souyowrimo 2017. See my profile for that fic, it's located in a story titled "Don't Take My Dream." It's an alternate universe fic where Souji is a model and Yosuke is an artist and they're both in the same college (and then they fall in love, of course. But, there's a twist: ace!Yosuke). I will warn you now there's some sexual themes in this and light sexual content in the form of masturbation.

A Yu Narukami version is available at Dreamwidth at the following address:
angevon dot dreamwidth dot org/50499 dot html
Every 'dot' should be a '.'

Please enjoy!]

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Souji stood by the big fountain near the front of campus. He checked his phone for emails, but there was nothing new. He'd come to campus early today because he'd had a tutoring appointment scheduled, but the student had canceled at the last minute. It felt like a waste to go home when he'd have to come back again later for his evening class. He wasn't sure what he was going to do in the meantime. Study in the library, maybe.

"Yo, Seta!" a voice called.

Souji looked up and found a man waving at him. He frowned because at a glance he didn't know the man. Wait, no, there was something familiar about his dyed orange hair and that friendly but somewhat nervous demeanor. Those orange headphones around his neck too. By the colorful paint streaks on his jeans, he was an art student, and with that Souji easily placed him.

The man walked up to him, followed by a woman in a green jacket.

"Do you know this person, Yosuke?" the woman asked.

"Yeah," said Yosuke. He nodded at Souji. "You're Seta, right?"

Souji blinked a few times. "That's my surname. My name is Souji."

"Souji, huh," Yosuke said, as if trying out the word. "I'm Yosuke. And she's Chie."

"It's nice to meet you," Souji said, nodding at both of them.

Yosuke grinned. "Yeah. You know, I almost didn't recognize you with your clothes on!"

It took a second for his words to sink in, and when they did, Souji snorted and Chie looked absolutely scandalized, which only served to make Souji smile wider.

And Yosuke was covering his mouth with his hands. "Nonono, Chie, I did not mean it that way!"

"What did you mean, then?!" Chie demanded.

"I was a model in his life drawing class last semester," Souji explained. "When they were studying the male form. I remember you, because you stared."

"Y-yeah? You remember that?"

Yosuke, still blushing from his faux pas, focused his gaze away, and scratched the back of his neck. It reminded Souji exactly of the way he'd avoided looking at his nudity back then.

Yosuke lifted his head suddenly. "I mean, you have to look before you can draw! That's why it's called a 'study' in the first place."

"I'm not complaining," Souji said smoothly. "Everyone else in the class had to stare too."

He didn't add that Yosuke's stare had been one of the more intense stares in the whole group. It had been rather flattering.

"Exactly!" Yosuke said, turning a glare on Chie. "For that class that you made me take!"

"Ohhhhh," Chie said, putting a hand on her hip. "You were so mad about it the first day. I guess you got over it, huh?"

"Hey, I can appreciate the human body," Yosuke said.

Chie slowly looked Souji up and down. "I'll say," she said.

"Geez, why are you saying it like that!" He addressed Souji: "Ignore her."

"Rude!"

Souji watched them bicker, vaguely amused. "Did you... need me for something?" he asked after it went on for a bit.

Yosuke immediately stopped fighting with Chie. "Oh, sorry dude. I was just surprised to see you outside of class. For some reason I didn't think you were a student."

Souji smiled briefly. "Did you think I was a full time nude model?"

"W-w-well," Yosuke stammered. "With a body like yours, you could be."

"Wow, Yosuke!" Chie said, and Souji couldn't help but blush too.

"What?" Yosuke said. He crossed his arms. "Out of all the male models we had last semester, he was the best one. I mean, he's not old, for one, and doesn't have any weird tattoos, for another."

"Is that so," Chie said.

"One of the other professors kept telling stories of Yakuza Grandpa," Yosuke said. "Who would you rather see naked, that guy or this guy?"

At 'this guy' he set a hand on Souji's shoulder. Souji glanced at it, then noticed that Chie was looking at it too.

She lifted an eyebrow at Souji and let out a tiny little laugh. "Hey, you know, I left my calculator back in class! I'm gonna head back. Don't wait for me!"

"Huh?" said Yosuke, but she was already jogging away. "We weren't even in a math class... What was that about?"

Souji eyed the hand on his shoulder, as if asking the same question.

Yosuke noticed and snapped his hand back. "S-sorry! Was that too familiar? I've got what they call 'foot-in-mouth disease.' I'm always saying or doing something wrong."

"It's all right," Souji said. "It's just good your hand wasn't full of paint."

"Yeah, I've done that before. Usually it's my pants that suffer."

"I noticed," Souji said, eyeing those pants. A nice red color, he noted, and they fit him well. "Moved on from the charcoal, huh?"

"I'm trying a bunch of different things now," Yosuke said, "but I still have a soft spot for the charcoal. Got a bunch of sketchpads at home. I mean, I paid for all those supplies last term. I can't let them go to waste."

"It's good to expand your horizons," Souji agreed.

Yosuke smiled at him. It was an easy, open smile that lit up his whole face. Souji found himself returning it without realizing it.

"Say, uh," Yosuke said. "I was heading to the cafeteria. Do you wanna get a bite to eat? If you have time. If you don't that's totally cool."

"I sure do." Souji paused. "What about your friend? Should we wait for her?"

Yosuke waved a hand dismissively. "Eh, she can do her own thing. The cafeteria doesn't sell steak anyway. Don't worry about her. Come on! It's this way. Though, uh, I guess if you're a student you knew that already..."

Souji walked with him down the garden path that led to the cafeteria. The spring flowers weren't quite in bloom yet, but were starting to bud. Yosuke pointed out a decorative fountain near the end of the path. It turned out an alumni had donated it to the school recently.

"Looks... nice?" Souji hazarded. It was a tiered fountain. As the water drew up into the top level, it overflowed into the lower levels. A couple of sparrows were bathing in it with happy little chirps.

"Bronze is a stupid material for a fountain," Yosuke said. "It'll turn green pretty fast. You can see it starting already. And the cherubs on the base? Totally out of style."

"Would it be better if they were on the top ledge, peeing the water out?" Souji said teasingly.

"Oh my god, no," Yosuke said. "But come to think of it, pissing wasn't a pose we studied in class."

"That's a pose I never even thought of doing," Souji said. "But now it's in my mind..."

Yosuke chuckled. "You're welcome."

They arrived at the cafeteria, a big, open building near the center of campus. Inside were more fast food stalls than a campus of this size really needed. Souji supposed it never hurt to have a lot of options, though he tended to buy the same thing every time anyway. Plastic tables and chairs were scattered throughout the area. There may have been a semblance of order to their arrangement at some point in the past, but years of college students rearranging them for their lunch cliques left them mostly a disorganized mess.

It was a little early for lunch, so the cafeteria wasn't busy. Yosuke bought a 3-pack of tuna mayo onigiri while Souji picked up an egg sandwich. They found a secluded corner with no other students around and sat to eat there.

"So, Chie made you take that art class?" Souji asked once they settled down.

"Yeah," Yosuke said. "I needed an elective credit, and she was like, 'This one'll be a breeze!' Little did I know she meant it'd be breezy."

"And not for you, but for the models," Souji finished. "Well, I hope you got something good out of it anyway."

"Actually," Yosuke said. He put down the onigiri he was holding. He leaned forward, his face suddenly flush with excitement. "Once I got over it, I really liked it," he confided. "Honestly I... I decided to minor in art."

"So... that explains your pants?"

"Huh?" Yosuke looked down at his pants under the table. "Oh, yeah," he said sheepishly. "Paint gets everywhere."

"Everywhere?" Souji asked, raising an eyebrow.

Yosuke let out a soft laugh. "Yeah, one time I accidentally scratched my head after dipping my finger in some paint. I didn't think about it, I just had an itch. You know how it is. Anyway, I ended up with a pink streak in my hair. It lasted two whole weeks before I could get it out."

"I wish I'd seen that," Souji said.

"It'll probably happen again," Yosuke said. "Might be a different color, though." He toyed with a lock of his hair. "How do you think green would look?"

"I'm partial to the pink, now that I'm imagining it," Souji said. A hot pink lock of hair in his bangs, that would really stand out with the rest of the orange-brown. It had to have been rather cute. He could imagine Yosuke constantly touching the lock with a mix of embarrassment and pride.

"Pink or purple would look good with your gray," Yosuke said.

"Me?" Souji touched his own hair. "I never even thought about it."

"Dude, it's gray," Yosuke said. "I don't wanna know why it's all gray when you're probably around my age. No one would blame you for dyeing it."

Souji hummed. "Maybe I'll think about it."

"Maybe? You don't sound like you're going to think about it at all," Yosuke remarked. "Are you too straight-and-narrow for that?"

"There's nothing straight about me," Souji said, without even thinking about it.

Yosuke nearly choked on the bite of onigiri he'd just taken. His incredulous laughter was wheezy because of the rice.

For Souji's part, he covered his face with his hands but couldn't hide from his embarrassment. And Yosuke'd said he was the one with foot-in-mouth disease...

"Then—" Yosuke said. "M-maybe you should make your hair a rainbow!"

He laughed at his own joke, and Souji couldn't help but giggle too. What a way to come out.

"I'm sorry," Souji said, "I didn't mean to say that."

"Don't be sorry. You are what you are." Yosuke was grinning. "Oh!" he exclaimed. "Does that mean you liked the staring in class? Or, only from the guys in my class?"

"Only from some of the guys," Souji admitted. "Not everyone is my type, you know."

"Yeah," Yosuke said. "I know what you mean. I'm sure not all that attention was welcome. I hope nobody bothered you after class."

Souji shook his head. "I think this morning—meeting you—was the only time I've been recognized as a nude model outside of the job."

"Clothes make the man," Yosuke quoted. He sighed. "You know what's sad? There isn't a second part to that life drawing class, so I won't be seeing you as a model anymore. And I was getting pretty good at drawing you, too."

"Drawing all of me," Souji teased.

Yosuke bowed his head in embarrassment. Then he glanced up with a grin. "Yeah. Your nose was really hard to capture."

Souji chuckled, remembering that day. That had been his first time modeling for Yosuke's class. It felt like a long time ago now.

"But yeah," Yosuke said. "I'm in an oil painting class now. It's all right... Not sure I'm sold on it."

"But that's how you felt about life drawing at first too, isn't it?"

Yosuke nodded. "The problem is the professor wants us to emulate a famous artist's style. Feels like I can't breathe. He totally took my brush out of my hand last week and then" – Yosuke waved his hand in the air while affecting a stuck up look – "brushed all over my project himself. And honestly? He ruined it."

"That's frustrating. And hopefully not discouraging."

"Eh, it's just one old dude's opinion," Yosuke said with a shrug. "I'll do what he wants for the class, but in the privacy of my own room, I'll paint what I want."

"Is your room a secret garden of your own personal creations?" Souji asked, trying to imagine it.

"Pretty much," Yosuke admitted. "Maybe someday I can show you some of them."

It was an off-hand comment but Souji couldn't help but feel hopeful. "I'd like that," he said.

"I live on campus, anyway, so it's not far. But enough about me," Yosuke said. He pushed his finished plate out of the way so that he could lean forward and rest his chin on his hands. "What about you?"

"I live off campus," Souji said.

"That's not what I meant. Tell me about yourself. What do you do for fun?" He paused in a way that meant he had more to say. "You look good with your hands. Have you considered art?"

Souji smiled, amused. "Are you trying to convert me? I haven't actually, but I used to play the trumpet in high school."

"You have piano fingers," Yosuke said. "Long and elegant..."

Souji noticed Yosuke was looking at his hands. There was something embarrassing about that. He held up his hand and wiggled his fingers. "My cousin plays the piano," he remarked. "But I haven't done more than watch her play."

"I used to be really into music," Yosuke said. He was still watching Souji's fingers. "I still am, actually, but I haven't had time to play with my guitar."

"Too busy art-ing, huh?"

"Pretty much."

"I did notice your headphones," Souji said. "Do you listen to music when you draw? Or do you prefer silence?"

Yosuke touched the orange headphones around his neck. "Depends on my mood," he answered. "Sometimes I need to concentrate too closely to have music on, but other times it helps me get into the groove. I don't know if that makes sense."

"It does," Souji said, but he didn't elaborate. He was starting to imagine Yosuke painting in time to something classical. He'd wave his brush like a conductor's baton, his strokes wide but calculated.

And now that he imagined it, he wanted to see it happen.

"So it's not music and it's not art," Yosuke said, breaking him out of his thoughts. "What is it that you do?"

"Oh," said Souji. He blinked, not used to people being that curious about him. "I guess... It's not exactly a hobby but I like to read. Anything's good, I'm not picky, but I'm partial to mysteries."

"You like pitting your head against the villain's? Figuring it out before the protagonist does?"

"Something like that," Souji said with a little smile. "Though it's more satisfying when I can't figure it out."

"That makes sense. I'm more into manga myself. You know, ninjas and stuff. A bit childish, I know, but fun. So," he said in a way that marked a subject change. "You go here full time, or what?"

"No," Souji admitted, his face warming up. He was only taking one class, and not an important one, since he didn't have any goal for his life. It was embarrassing, especially when he was surrounded by so many students who knew what they wanted. Honestly, it was refreshing to hear of Yosuke's forays into art. Souji wished he had that passion for anything. He was good at many things, but his heart had never caught on any of them.

"No judgement here," Yosuke said. "The journey's different for everyone. I mean, I'm a business major... Don't really want it, but it's what'll pay the bills, you know? Oh, sorry, I'm talking about me again... Honestly I keep joking—and thinking—that you're a professional model, even though I know you're not. And that's obviously not all there is to you."

Souji smiled at him. "Yeah, it's just a part-time job. I like to take on unusual jobs like that. Modeling pays well. It doesn't seem like a lot of people want to do it."

"Well yeah! I wouldn't want to be naked in front of a bunch of strangers! You've got balls, man."

"I do," Souji said with a nod, "and you've seen them."

Yosuke's face turned crimson. "D-dude, I mean..." he spluttered, coughing. It was a good thing he'd finished eating.

"It's all right," Souji said. "You're not the only one who's stared."

Yosuke snorted and wiped his face with a napkin. "You were totally on display. Not hiding anything."

"I'm not shy about my body," Souji said. "I wouldn't have taken the job otherwise. You seemed pretty uncomfortable at first, though."

"Well, it's different from seeing your own body naked, you know?"

"I wish it wasn't such a taboo thing. There's beauty in the human form in its purest state. That's what those lessons were about."

"Well..." Yosuke began, and stopped.

He glanced around, making sure no one was around them. Souji tilted his head in question. Yosuke's cheeks were rosier than Souji remembered seeing, even in the class that day.

"Y-you have a nice dick," Yosuke blurted out. "I-I mean, once I got over it, and started to draw it, it was... I appreciated that it was you and not some old guy, you know!?"

Souji began to laugh. "Well, thanks. I'm glad to know I have a nice dick."

"Don't let that get to your head!"

"Which head?"

Yosuke balled up the napkin and threw it at him. Souji guarded against it, still laughing.

"Yakuza Grandpa might be fun to draw," Souji mused after he'd calmed down. "With scars and tattoos and such. Some people find battle injuries attractive."

"I guess," Yosuke said. "Now that you mention it, you're right. A tattoo really could be fun to draw. Hey, that's an art, too. I wonder how someone becomes a tattoo artist."

"Ask Yakuza Grandpa. He might know."

Yosuke laughed. Souji really enjoyed the sound. Then Yosuke shook his head. "Honestly, my parents would be so disappointed if I became a tattoo artist. They're already concerned about the art minor."

"Oh?" said Souji. "Did you want it to be your major instead?"

Yosuke played with the rim of his cup. "Maybe? I don't know. When I'm in the right mood, I do enjoy making art, and it feels good. Not just good, but right, you know? But the safer bet is to stick with my business major. Sometimes you gotta follow what's up here" – he pointed to his head – "rather than what's here" – he thumped his chest.

"It's hard," Souji agreed, "when you have expectations to live up to."

"I'm still thinking about what I want to do with my life," Yosuke admitted. "I mean, no one wants to work a nine-to-five, but what choice do we have? As long as I can mess around with art on the side, well, hopefully that'll be enough."

"A business degree doesn't automatically mean you'll work in an office," Souji said. "It just... makes it very likely."

Yosuke gave a dry laugh. "Basically..." He sighed. "Anyway, that's my story. I hope it wasn't too boring."

He began to gather his trash onto the lunch tray. Souji volunteered to take the tray to the trash bin. When he returned, Yosuke was standing by the table in kind of a slouch.

"Well, it was nice talking to you," Yosuke said. He held out his hand. "I guess... I'll see you around?"

Souji shook his hand, but held it a moment longer than necessary afterward, reluctant to let it go. "Oh, do you have class?" He tried not to sound too disappointed. He'd been having fun.

"Nah," said Yosuke. "I was going to head back to my place, but I figure you got better things to do than watch me do some art."

"I'd love to see you work your magic," Souji said. "I've only been thinking about it this whole time."

Yosuke smiled shyly. "Really? Then... sure, you can come over."

While Souji followed him to the residence hall, Yosuke talked animatedly about the classes he was taking. Souji only half-listened, more interested in his body language. He waved his arms and his words spilled out over themselves sometimes. Souji smiled to himself. It was really cute.

"O-oh, my residence hall is this way," Yosuke said, turning down a side path suddenly. "Sorry, I was talking too much. We almost missed the turn."

"Have you done that before?" Souji asked, amused by the idea.

"Only once! When I first got here. I mean, this campus is huge and the residence halls all look the same at first glance, don't they? It's not until you've lived here for a while that you notice the little things that make them different. Like Jade Hall has that half-dead palm tree in front, and Amethyst Hall doesn't have a side entrance."

Yosuke pulled his wallet out of his back pocket. Souji watched, noticing a handprint in purple paint on the seat of his pants. He was curious about how it'd gotten there. By the way it was shaped, fingers curled towards the crease of his butt, Yosuke hadn't done it himself.

"And here we are," Yosuke said, sliding his ID card through the reader. "Home sweet home."

The door unlocked and they headed into the dorm's entrance hall. It smelled vaguely of unwashed bodies. College students were the same everywhere, Souji supposed.

They climbed the stairs to the second floor because Yosuke said the elevator was too slow. A few doors down from the landing was Yosuke's room. He said he had a roommate but the guy was never around. "Might've even dropped out. I haven't seen him in weeks."

"I guess that's good," Souji said. "You won't have to worry about getting along with him."

"Yeah but..." Yosuke hesitated before opening the door. "The thing is, without him around, I haven't been cleaning up. The room is kind of a mess. I mean, I'm not a slob, I keep the kitchen area clean, but..."

"A hurricane of art supplies?" Souji guessed.

"Yeah, basically. I'm not even sure if there's room on the couch for you to sit on. I really should've thought this through before inviting you over."

"It's all right," Souji said. "My uncle kind of piles everything onto the dining table, so I'm used to that."

"Is he an artist?"

"No."

"Then you're not used to it." Yosuke opened the door, looking like a scolded dog as he anticipated Souji's reaction.

The floor was littered with sketchpads, textbooks, and canvases, but a path had been cleared to the couch, the easel in the corner of the room, and the hallway that probably led to the bedrooms and bathroom. The unfinished work on the easel was an oil painting. Was that a tree? Souji wasn't sure. The room smelled faintly of paint thinner.

Unhung pictures were leaning against every wall, probably Yosuke's own productions, but also a reproduction of Van Gogh's The Starry Night and The Scream. Anyone would recognize those. There was also a picture of a woman with a baby. Souji vaguely remembered seeing something like that on the news a while ago.

"Do you, uh, want a drink?" Yosuke asked.

"Sure," Souji said, "anything's fine."

He was still surveying the room. Worn brushes were collected in a tin, there were some stains on the floor where Yosuke had obviously spilled paint, an empty box of animal crackers rested by the easel...

Although he felt a little uncomfortable since it was unfamiliar to him, it also felt lived in, like a home.

After handing Souji a soda, Yosuke moved a shopping bag off the couch. He shoved it into a corner of the room, but he knocked over a picture in the process. By domino effect it knocked over several others. There was a clang as the last one hit a metal bowl.

"Dammit! It's always like this..."

"Relax," Souji said. "It's not that bad. I can tell you're passionate."

"Does it look like that?" Yosuke sent him a nervous smile while he was righting all the pictures.

"It looks like you're an art major, not a minor."

Yosuke laughed and scratched the back of his head. "Well, this stuff just kind of accumulates, you know? I mean, I got the easel, and then I was like 'I should try painting!' so I had to get brushes, and then paint, and paintbrushes, and a palette, and then I signed up for that oil painting class so I had to add oil paints to the collection, and..."

"Yeah, sure," Souji said. "But if you're this passionate now, I can't wait to see what you'll make in the future."

"Dude, you're too nice. You haven't even seen anything I've made yet."

"Then show me," Souji said. "It's why you invited me here, right?" Unless there was another reason, he added in his mind, wondering once again where that handprint had come from.

Yosuke motioned Souji over to the easel. "This is the big personal project I'm working on. I can't really explain what it is, but... it's important to me."

Upon closer inspection, what Souji had thought was a tree earlier was actually part of the long legs of some humanoid creature. It wore a white jumpsuit and had this sharp-looking golden chest piece.

"He's going to have a red scarf," Yosuke said. He trailed his fingers just a centimeter over the canvas, showing Souji where he intended it to go.

"I like the ears," Souji said, hoping those mouse-like extensions on the thing's head were actually ears. He took another moment to contemplate the piece. Despite the odd design, there was something familiar about it. "You know, it reminds me of you somehow."

When he glanced at Yosuke after, the man was practically glowing. It hadn't been much of a compliment, but apparently he thought otherwise.

"Yeah, it is me!" Yosuke said. "Or a part of me, anyway. I'm not sure where it came from, but yeah."

Souji nodded to himself. Yeah, it was a rather goofy design, and had some gangly legs, but it fit him somehow. More importantly, Yosuke's pride in the piece was cute.

"Well, I'm no expert," Souji said, "but I think it looks good so far. Shading is probably hard with white, right? You did a good job. Those folds on the clothes almost look real."

"That's why I colored the background orange like that. One, it's my favorite color, and two, without it, the white canvas would affect how white the clothes look."

"I see," Souji said. "You really are learning a lot. I'm impressed."

"Well, you won't be too impressed with this." Yosuke pulled out a small painting from behind the canvas. "Guess what this is supposed to be."

He held it out in front of him. Souji appraised it with an exaggerated look of contemplation, making Yosuke smile. It was a red blob... maybe?

"A rotting apple," Souji guessed. "It's got bruises on it, see, and some ants are starting to eat it."

Yosuke laughed. "Nope. It's a ladybug! Those bruise spots are the spots on its wings, you know? And the ants are its head! Honestly a five year old could've done better, but my excuse is it was my first piece and we only had a few minutes to do it in."

"You get a gold star for trying."

"Thanks, teacher," Yosuke said, rolling his eyes. He put the painting back where it'd been. "Well, I don't have any other paintings to show you, so that's it. Though I guess there's always—"

He stopped there. "Always what?" Souji prompted, curious now.

Yosuke's face was redder than the scarf he planned to give his creation. He looked away from Souji for a long time. Then he moved over to a stack of papers and carefully, reverentially, pulled out a thick sketchpad.

"It's... from last semester," he explained when he handed it to Souji.

So, from his life drawing class. With care, Souji flipped to the first page, which turned out to just contain Yosuke's name and the name of the class, probably in case he left the sketchpad in class or something. Hanamura, Souji noted before continuing.

Instead of flipping quickly through the pages, Souji studied each one. The first few were simple sketches of ovals of various sizes. Presumably they were warm ups assigned by the teacher to help Yosuke get the hang of shapes. Later, the ovals began to connect into badly-proportioned bodies and legs. They were sketchy, without much detail. A circle for a hairless head, a blob of a body, a pair of legs without feet...

They got better though, more defined as Yosuke practiced and improved in skill. The lines, though still sketchy, had more control to them. The proportions improved, and details emerged.

And then, on one page, there was a body shape he recognized.

"Oh, it's me," Souji said aloud. "You drew me! Well, duh, of course you drew me. I was one of the models."

Yosuke was smiling shyly at him. "Yeah, you were. My sketches of you kinda suck though."

"I don't think so," Souji said, returning his attention to the page in front of him. Sure, it was a really loose sketch, but it was recognizable, and that counted for something.

The next few pages were more and more detailed. Souji recalled the teacher made them do longer studies. Though it was good practice for the students, allowing them to fill in details, Souji didn't like it. As a model, it was always hard to stay in the same position like that. The body always naturally wanted to shift.

But if seeing art of himself like this was the reward, maybe it was worth it. Now he was a little disappointed about how rarely he got to see the students' creations.

Souji wasn't the only one drawn, of course—there were other models. Three different women and another man. He'd never met any of the other models. It was interesting to see them rendered in charcoal too.

"I see you stopped being shy about drawing the D about..." – Souji held up the sketchbook and gauged how far through it he was – "halfway through the term?"

"The D?" Yosuke blinked at him before understanding dawned on him. "Oh, yeah." He chuckled awkwardly. "That's when the teacher started making a big deal about it, so we all kinda sucked it up and drew it."

"Suck, huh?" Souji teased.

"Yeah—no! Not like that, oh my god." Yosuke laughed, and by how hard he was blushing, his mind was in the gutter, probably right next to Souji's own.

Souji chuckled. "Well, I think you're doing great. You worked hard and I can tell it paid off." He handed the sketchpad back. "Thanks for sharing this with me. I get the feeling you don't show this to just anyone."

"Yeah, well, you came all this way, so..." Yosuke was still blushing.

"Came?" Souji raised an eyebrow. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding!" He put his hands up as Yosuke looked like he was about to throw a paintbrush at him.

Honestly, Souji wasn't normally such a pervert, but Yosuke was cute and so fun to tease that he couldn't resist. And watching that blush fade from Yosuke's cheeks as he calmed down only made him want to put it right back on there.

Yosuke put the sketch pad away with a sigh. "Yeah, it's too bad my skill is gonna fade now, since I won't be doing life drawing anymore to keep it up."

Souji ignored the chance to tease him about 'keeping it up' because a much more pressing idea came to him. "You can stay in practice with me," he said. "I'll model for you."

Yosuke laughed. "Thanks for the offer," he began, but Souji pressed on.

"Private lessons, for free," Souji added urgently. "We could even start now. It's warm enough here. I wouldn't mind."

Wouldn't mind was an understatement. He kinda really wanted to.

Yosuke opened and closed his mouth. "Really? You'd do that for me? I mean, you don't have to get naked for me just because I gave you a soda earlier!"

"I don't mind," Souji said again. "I could sit on the couch right by your easel."

Yosuke's gaze roved to the couch and then his easel and then back again as he undoubtedly imagined Souji posing there nude for him. "Huh..."

To help complete the visual, Souji moved to the couch and got comfortable on it. "This would be perfect."

"Are you sure?" Yosuke asked. "I mean, you're going to get naked just for me?"

Souji loved that he was concerned about consent, but he was ready for this. He began to unbutton his dress shirt then and there. Yosuke turned around immediately to give him some privacy.

"Uh, uh, uh... okay, uh... Do you want me to leave? I can, uh..."

"It's all right, Yosuke," Souji murmured. "I'm not doing a striptease." He paused. "Unless that's a pose you'd like to practice."

"Oh my god," Yosuke said. "Maybe. I mean, that's not something they'd have a model do in class. If we're gonna do this, that's what I'd like to do with you, you know? Stuff I couldn't do in class. If that's okay."

"I wouldn't offer this if I wasn't comfortable with you," Souji said. "Why don't you get yourself ready while I finish undressing?"

"Huh? Ready?"

"You are going to practice art, right? So get a sketchpad out, or a new canvas if you want to try life painting instead."

"Oh, right!" Yosuke nearly tripped in his rush to get to his easel. Since Souji was still undressing, he didn't pay much attention to what he did there, but by the sounds of it, he'd replaced the in-progress painting with something new.

Souji finished removing his shirt. He folded it and neatly set it over the couch's far arm. Then he stood up and began to remove his belt. He glanced in Yosuke's direction. The man was pretending not to watch him out of the corner of his eye. Souji almost laughed, but managed to stifle it into a dumb smile instead.

Once the belt was off he unzipped his pants. He let his pants and underwear fall and stepped out of them. He bent down to pick them up and folded them neatly by his shirt.

Then he glanced at the couch. "Oh, would you like to put a towel down?"

"Let me get one!" Yosuke said quickly. He headed into a room and returned with a towel with a big frog design on it. "Trust me, it's clean, I haven't used this."

He held it out gingerly, still not looking at Souji. Souji took it and laid it out on the couch, wondering vaguely if he would include the frog design in whatever he drew.

"What pose would you like me to use?" Souji asked after taking a seat on the towel.

"Huh? Oh, uhh... whatever you want?"

"All right, then..." Souji stood up again. He cupped his dick and pretended like he was peeing. "Cherub pose!"

Yosuke began to laugh, a giddy little laugh more like a giggle than a chuckle. "No, I'm not drawing that!"

"It's something you haven't drawn before," Souji pointed out. "You said so yourself earlier."

Yosuke was still laughing. "Geez, dude..."

He stopped laughing and began to fidget with the charcoal pencil in his hand. Once again, he wasn't looking at Souji.

"Is something wrong?" Souji asked, after nothing happened for over a minute.

"You're naked."

Souji looked down at himself. "Uh, yeah?"

Yosuke wiped his forehead with the back of his hand. "Sorry, it's just... not what I'd planned on today. Not that I'm complaining! Just, uh, give me a sec for my brain to catch up."

"It's all right," Souji said in a soothing voice. "I'm just modeling for you. Look at your empty canvas and imagine what could be there. Once you focus, it won't be awkward at all."

"You're right. That's exactly how it was in class." Yosuke nodded determinedly and did as he was told. He took his place behind the easel—it looked like he put a sketchpad on it rather than a canvas—and began drawing something. Souji wasn't sure what, because he hadn't moved out of the silly cherub pose that he'd refused to draw.

"Just a warmup, some shapes with no meaning," Yosuke explained. "Why don't you sit down and get comfortable?"

Souji sat down on the towel again, thinking. Yosuke had already drawn him a dozen times at least as part of his coursework. He thought of all the poses he'd done for the class. Standing, sitting, bending, arms at his sides, arms crossed, arms stretched out over his head, chin up, chin down...

Honestly, it was possible that Yosuke knew his body more intimately than he did. Souji didn't know the curves of his own back, or how round his butt was, or even the way his hair fell on the back of his head.

It made him want to learn the same about Yosuke. But since the artist was currently focused on his art, it'd probably take some doing to convince him to get undressed too. Souji decided he would make his intentions known by the poses he chose to model.

He lounged back on the couch in a casual, relaxed pose, as if he always sat around naked. He frowned at himself a second later though, because this wasn't different from what he'd do in class, so it wasn't particularly exciting. He drew his legs up onto the couch. Yeah, that was better. Now his assets were more prominently featured.

Yosuke didn't bat an eye at the pose, simply going right to work once he finished with his warm ups. Or so Souji assumed, since he couldn't see what he was drawing. Instead he had to just imagine what he was doing from the way he moved his drawing arm. It wasn't easy.

When Yosuke flipped the page, Souji asked if he wanted him to move into another pose.

"Actually..." Yosuke said hesitantly. "Do you mind if I get closer?"

There wasn't much distance between the easel and the couch. He couldn't really move the easel any closer. When Souji pointed this out, Yosuke shook his head.

"I won't use the easel. Just my sketchpad." Yosuke took the sketchpad from the easel. Then he sat down cross-legged on the floor right in front of him. His tongue peeked out of the corner of his mouth as he contemplated the page. Then he looked at Souji, unfocused as if he didn't actually see him, and began to draw.

Yosuke really was cute. The way his hair framed his face—one wisp kept getting in his way, making him push it back—the view of his neck from the low-cut shirt—the way he would glance up at him for reference...

However, Souji soon noticed that he wasn't looking far past his open lap.

"Are you... drawing just my dick?" Souji asked.

"No!" Yosuke shouted, startling himself with his own force. Souji stared evenly at him. He hunched his shoulders. "M-maybe..." he admitted.

"You really do like my dick, huh..." Souji smiled to himself, pleased. Operation Prominent Assets was a success.

"It's not that," Yosuke said quickly. "It's more like... I'll never have a good opportunity to draw something like this. Using a mirror just isn't... the angle isn't right."

"So you became an art minor so you could draw dicks?"

"W-well," Yosuke flailed, "it's like no one knows how to draw a dick! It's always blurred in hentai and stuff. And when it isn't, it never has any details. They might as well be drawing a sock."

"If you want to do a dick study on my dick, go for it," Souji said.

"Really? You're okay with it? I thought it'd be weird if I asked for that so I—"

"It's kind of flattering," Souji said, sending him a warm smile. "And you can get as close as you need to."

After a moment's hesitation, Yosuke took his word for it, scooting on the floor until he was essentially right between Souji's legs. He began to draw what Souji could only assume was a close up of his dick and balls.

"You know," Yosuke murmured as he scratched away on the sketchpad, "while you were modeling for my class, I was always impressed by your self control."

"Why? Because I never hit on anyone while I was naked? I've heard of models doing that."

"Not that," Yosuke said. "One of the other male models got a stiffy once. It was so embarrassing."

"Oh," Souji said. "I don't have any problems keeping it down."

"I'm pretty sure I would," Yosuke said. "Not because I'm a pervert or anything, but I think being naked while a bunch of not naked people looked at me would make me nervous. My body might get aroused without me actually being turned on, if that makes sense."

"It's not an arousing situation for me," Souji said. "It's just a job."

"I guess that's good," Yosuke said.

Yosuke flipped the page in his sketchpad. Souji caught a glimpse of, well, his own dick in graphite before the page was lost from view. Yosuke shifted on the floor, apparently seeking a new angle of view. He ended up settling onto his knees, giving him a little more height from before. Then he began to sketch.

Souji watched him, unable to stop a smile from coming to his face. Yosuke was so cute while he was drawing. His brow was slightly furrowed, his bottom lip held in his teeth. No one seeing him like this would think the object of his focus was male anatomy.

"Do you remember," Yosuke murmured, his hand still sketching, "that one day in class when the professor called me out for drawing your dick too big?"

Souji nodded, but since Yosuke wasn't looking, said, "Yes."

"There was a girl in the class who did that too," Yosuke added. "I think she was even more upset than I was for being called out like that."

"Better than the hands being too big," Souji joked.

Yosuke laughed, and that was cute too. "The infamous yaoi hands... You can tell a lot of doujin artists haven't done form studies like this."

"Lack of opportunity, probably."

"Yeah. I'm not going to waste this chance."

Souji smiled down at him. He was taking this so seriously. He wondered if all artists were like this, or if it was just Yosuke. He'd never worked one-on-one before, so he wasn't sure.

While he was watching, all of a sudden Yosuke reached out and touched his dick, moving it a fraction to the right.

Yosuke nodded to himself in satisfaction. Then he realized what he'd just done and pulled back as if burned. "Oh, crap! I'm sorry, was that—crap, I didn't even think, I just—"

Souji began to laugh. "It's okay. If you want to move it, go ahead. The pose is important, after all."

Taking his word for it, Yosuke tentatively reached out and touched Souji's dick. Slowly, he wrapped his fingers around it. He was careful, as if afraid of hurting him.

"It's warm," Yosuke said. "Well, duh, of course it would be."

Souji didn't answer. He didn't trust himself to. Yosuke's fingers lightly brushed against the hair of his balls and made them tingle.

Unfortunately, he soon let go of it. Then he looked up at Souji. "Maybe you could lean forward a little?"

Souji blinked and then leaned forward into a more "The Thinker"-like pose, but he kept his legs spread so that the important bits were still in view.

Yosuke nodded appreciatively. "I wanted to draw it more... you know."

Souji glanced down at his dick, then sent Yosuke a look that clearly said he didn't.

"You know," Yosuke said. "Like, resting on the couch. It was hanging before."

"What, you wanna draw it like a boulder in a field?"

Yosuke's blush answered for him. Souji found himself grinning in return. Really, he wondered what the artist was going to use all this practice for. He supposed shading and contour applied to anything. And if he was drawing the hair, too, well, he'd be getting practice with curls.

Souji really liked that blush on Yosuke's face, though it had faded now that he was concentrating on his art. He likes my dick, Souji thought. I wonder what he thinks of the rest of me.

He also wondered if Yosuke was going to touch it again with those warm and smooth fingers. Souji hadn't been touched in a while. He'd welcome a lazy handjob, right here on this couch. Yosuke'd said that Souji looked good with his hands, but it was just plain fact the artist was perfect with his. The evidence was right there in the way he wielded that charcoal pencil. The way his tongue peeked out of the corner of his mouth, well...

Yosuke made a funny noise. Souji opened his eyes, unaware he'd even closed them, and followed his gaze down to his crotch, where he found his dick had begun to rise.

"S-so much for it not being an arousing situation, huh?" Yosuke said. He giggled a little nervously.

"Yeah," Souji said. He tried to meet Yosuke's eyes with a smouldering look, but the artist was staring at his half hard dick.

It got harder under that gaze.

Souji shifted on the couch, which did nothing to bring it down. "I guess I couldn't help myself in front of you."

Yosuke didn't catch his flirtatious tone, though, because he'd picked up his pencil again and was already drawing.

"Really?" Souji complained, vaguely offended.

"I should practice drawing that too," Yosuke said.

Souji thought about how flattering it was that Yosuke wanted to draw his erection. He opened his mouth to speak, shut it and licked his lips, and tried again. "I suppose," he managed, "a true dick study wouldn't be complete without a raging phallus."

"Great!" Yosuke said, and his enthusiasm was just too unfair.

Souji rubbed himself a little, just enough to keep himself hard. The desire to do more was strong, intensified by the way Yosuke kept glancing up at it. With this close attention he might not even need to touch it to keep it up. It was kind of embarrassing, being naked and hard like this in front of a cute guy. With his off hand Souji ran fingers through his hair to try and calm himself, but he was starting to feel lightheaded.

He took in a deep breath and let it all out in a huff and tried not to think about how he had an audience. He held his cock, feeling his own heartbeat as it throbbed in his hand. But Yosuke just kept looking at it. From his sketchpad to the cock and back again. It was impossible to ignore.

"You all right?" Yosuke asked him.

"Yeah," Souji responded thickly, after several tries.

"You know, I've never drawn this before," Yosuke murmured conversationally. And that was unfair, that he opened his mouth so close to his cock. Souji couldn't help but think of dirtier thoughts. Of Yosuke touching it, of Yosuke doing more than touching...

"Is... is it still nice?" Souji managed to ask, his voice more than a little husky.

"It's wet," Yosuke said.

It really was an arousing situation, if he was dripping when he was hardly even touching himself. It was a good thing they'd put the towel down. "Is it nice?" Souji asked again.

"Yeah," Yosuke said. "I'm glad it's yours I'm drawing."

Souji smiled to himself, pleased that he was the one here with Yosuke.

Yosuke flipped to a new page and continued drawing. "Do you... want me to do anything?" Souji asked. He could cup his hands around it, like... a horny cherub.

Yosuke hummed, thinking it over. "Nah, this is fine."

He smiled, apparently at Souji's dick, and it twitched. Souji stroked the underside lightly with two fingers, shivering a little, though it wasn't cold in the room. He shifted his legs a little further apart and continued to work himself just enough to keep it up, his fingers becoming sticky from the precome his tip was producing.

And then Yosuke set the sketchbook aside. "All right," he said, "that's enough for now. My hand is cramping up."

"Finally," Souji said softly.

With a small grin Yosuke said, "The bathroom is that way." He waved a hand in its general direction.

"Bathroom?" Souji murmured, unable to hide the disappointment in his voice. He'd been expecting Yosuke to help him finish after all this. "I'd rather just..."

He was honestly too aroused to move from the spot. Instead of finishing his sentence, Souji began to stroke himself more earnestly. Surprised, Yosuke just watched him, a curious expression on his face.

His dick was aching by now from lack of touch, so he was a little rough with himself, just wanting to finish. He didn't take the time to fantasize about kissing and soft touches; instead he let incoherent thoughts of tearing Yosuke's clothes off and humping him against his easel take over. Painting him with his lips and tongue, grabbing his butt right where that handprint was...

"Yosuke," Souji whispered urgently, begging with his tone for him to do something, to touch him, to kiss him, to suck him, anything—but Yosuke stayed right where he was, watching, unblinking, and that denial was hot too, it made Souji stroke himself faster, harder.

And then he came, fantasizing about his cum splattering all over the artist's sketchpad, imagining some landing on Yosuke's wrist, imagining Yosuke curiously licking it off after. In reality he came messily into his own palm, vaguely aware of Yosuke frantically drawing something in the same moment.

He shuddered, feeling cold and exposed afterwards. When his high faded and he caught his breath, he wiped the mess onto the frog towel. Then he yawned, huge and loud. Masturbation always exhausted him. Without another thought he laid down on the couch and was out within seconds.

---

When Souji woke up, he found a blanket had been draped over him. For a second he thought Yosuke had done it to hide his nudity, but he soon realized the room was quite cold, making him thankful for the blanket.

With a yawn he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and got his bearings. Sitting on the couch by his feet was Yosuke, watching TV at a very low volume, probably so as not to wake him. When Souji sat up, Yosuke glanced at him with a quick smile before turning his attention back to the show. Souji watched it too, it was some action anime, but his mind wasn't engaged since he'd just woken up.

Then he looked at Yosuke, and without really thinking about it, he scooted closer on the couch and draped the blanket over the two of them.

"It's cold," he said by way of explanation.

Yosuke smiled at him, a smile as soft as the one he'd worn when Souji'd woken up. Charmed, Souji wrapped his arm around Yosuke's back and gently tugged him close. Yosuke leaned into him, and they watched the TV show together like that, nice and cozy.

During the commercial break, Souji squeezed Yosuke's side. When Yosuke looked at him, Souji kissed the corner of his mouth. Yosuke sharply inhaled his breath in surprise, but then their eyes met. They gazed at each other, becoming lost in the other's eyes, before coming together for a long, gentle kiss. The kiss turned into another, then another, and another with increasing passion, and soon Souji was threading his fingers into Yosuke's hair and humming against his lips.

When the commercial break ended, Yosuke pulled away, a contented look on his face as he comfortably settled against Souji's side to watch the show again. He tugged the blanket up over their legs since it had slipped down to the floor during their kissing. "This is nice," he murmured.

"Yeah," Souji said, panting a little. "Would be nicer if you were naked too."

At his words, the contented look kinda froze on Yosuke's face. "Uh..." he said. "Y-yeah..."

Though he sounded unsure, his kissing hadn't been shy at all. "Wouldn't it?" Souji pressed. "I'm already naked, so..." He trailed his hand down the front of Yosuke's shirt, toying at the hem when he reached the bottom. It wouldn't be hard for him to tug it off.

Yosuke shrank away. He didn't get far since there was the couch's arm behind him, but it was enough to let Souji know something was wrong.

"Too fast?" Souji asked. "No—you aren't taken, are you?"

"No," Yosuke said, "but... I don't... I'm not... I'm not really looking for anything like that."

"But... I like you," Souji said, more desperately than he expected.

At his words, Yosuke looked away, biting his lower lip. For a moment he toyed with a string on the couch's arm, thinking. He picked up the remote and turned off the TV. The silence that followed was almost deafening. Souji could hear his own heartbeat pounding in his chest.

But Yosuke didn't say anything, just looked kinda miserable sitting there, playing with that string.

"I guess..." Souji said, "you want to focus on your art?"

Yosuke swallowed and stopped playing with the string. "That's not it." He was staring down at the floor, his shoulders hunched, like he wanted to curl up into a ball. Slowly, he said, "I like you, Souji, I really do. But I told myself I wouldn't let myself get hurt again. It's just... It's for the best if I avoid romance altogether."

Souji narrowed his eyes, opened his mouth to say something and then closed it again. After a pause, he asked, "But you'd like romance?"

"Yeah," Yosuke said. "I'd love it. Someone to have and to hold? To be my partner through thick and thin? Hell, just someone to make sure I sleep and eat during exam week... Someone who needs me, too, for the same reasons."

The bitterness in his tone made it sound like it was impossible. He'd been so excited about his art earlier, Souji would never have expected he'd been burned by a bad romance that turned him off on it completely.

"You're just going to give up?"

"It's easier this way," Yosuke said. "I mean, I do want romance, but I don't want what comes with it." He sighed heavily and leaned back, focusing his gaze now on the ceiling. "...the expectation of sex."

Puzzled, Souji tilted his head at him. Yosuke didn't seem to want to continue at first, but then he sighed again.

"I don't want sex," he said, more strongly than before. "But I haven't found someone who's willing to work with that. They always end up wanting sex in the end. I told myself I wouldn't let myself go through that again. So..." He glanced sidelong at Souji. "Sorry, it's best if we just stay friends."

"You... don't like sex?"

"Yeah, that's what I'm saying," Yosuke said. He smiled, but there was no brightness in it. It was painful to see. "Doesn't matter who I'm with. I've tried again and again, but no matter how much I love my partner, I don't enjoy having sex with them. So yeah, I've given up, because who wants a relationship without sex? Just me."

"Well..." Souji began. He frowned, thinking it over. "I know plenty of women who only have sex because their partners expect it. I'm sure they'd find you a nice catch."

"You'd think that," Yosuke said. "But in my experience..." He paused, and then shook his head. "It just doesn't work out."

"What happened?" Souji asked.

Yosuke shifted on the couch, clearly reluctant to talk about it. But he looked at Souji, and a moment later his expression softened. He told him, slowly and quietly. How a girlfriend in the past had told him that he was such a gentleman for not pressuring her into sex. How his lack of sexual interest in her had been 'cute' at first. How later it had turned into a point of contention, as she began to take it to mean she wasn't desirable to him. How eventually she'd started pressuring him into sex instead. How he'd tried, for her sake, but just couldn't do it.

"That sounds like it must've been terrible for both of you," Souji said. "I mean, you were upfront about it."

"Yeah, and she's not the only one that's happened with, either," Yosuke said. "And it's not like I haven't tried, you know? When I was a kid I was totally into girls, got a girlfriend as soon as I found someone willing to date me. Thought it was everything I ever wanted, but when we got to that point in the relationship, well... It wasn't."

"I'm not sure I can understand," Souji said. "I like sex."

"That's all right," Yosuke said. "I didn't expect you to."

An awkward silence followed, mostly because Souji didn't know what to say. He liked Yosuke, but this information was a lot to take in. For most people, it was a deal breaker.

"So," Souji began, "it sounds like, without sex, you want a really close friend?"

Yosuke actually recoiled, making Souji instantly regret his words. "Yeah," Yosuke said sarcastically, "The sort of close friendship that includes sleeping in the same bed. Cuddles and kisses. Unwavering devotion. An exclusive 'really close friend', if you will."

"That... was a really stupid thing for me to say, wasn't it?" Souji said. "I'm sorry."

Yosuke shook his head and sighed, obviously tired. "It's fine, like I said, I didn't expect you to understand."

The bitter way he said that made it clear that despite not expecting Souji to understand, he'd still hoped he would.

To try and lighten the mood, Souji let out a little laugh and said, "And here I thought you wanted to own my dick. But you really just like how it looks. You know, I never would've expected that."

"It is a nice dick," Yosuke said. "You know, one time after class, when you were the model... Some of my classmates were talking about it."

"Oh," Souji said. "Hmm... I'm not sure I wanna know what they said."

Yosuke smiled. "Yeah, they were pretty shameless. But I could almost understand them then."

"Almost," Souji repeated.

"It is a nice dick." Yosuke's smile seemed kinder now. "Thanks for letting me draw it. You wanna see how it turned out?"

Souji blinked at him. "Oh, of course!"

Yosuke reached down to the floor and picked up his sketchbook. He held the book open between them and flipped to one of the pages he'd worked on today. Souji's erect cock was drawn there in more detail than he'd expected, considering the short time the artist had been given to draw it in.

On the next page was his cock again from a different angle. Somehow Yosuke had managed to capture the sheen of wetness on it even in charcoal. If it wasn't his own dick, it might've turned Souji on.

Then Yosuke flipped to the next page, which held a drawing of Souji's face making a weird expression. "What is that?" Souji asked with a frown. "Wait, no, it's not—

"The face you made when you came, yeah," Yosuke said. "I just had to get it down."

Souji covered his face with his hands, embarrassed. "If that's my o-face, no wonder you'd never want to have sex with me!"

"That's not why—" Yosuke began, but then he realized Souji was joking, and he laughed together with him.

Souji stopped laughing as a horrible realization came to him. "Oh, crap, Yosuke... You told me to use the bathroom and I just went ahead and jacked off right in front of you."

Yosuke waved it away. "No big deal. I mean, I got expression practice out of it."

"But I thought dirty thoughts about you," Souji said, feeling guilty. "I'd assumed you were interested in me like that, and that you'd think it was hot. The way you kept talking about my dick..."

"I'm interested in your dick only aesthetically," Yosuke said, and the straight-faced way in which he said it made Souji smile. "Don't worry, I'm not offended by that."

"Good, I'd hate to have you mad at me," Souji said. "I want to be your friend. Your friend with the nice dick."

"Sure," Yosuke said. "And I'll be your weird, no, eccentric art student friend. Do you want my number?"

Souji nodded, and then blushed, realizing his phone was nowhere on his person. "I guess I should put my clothes back on, huh?"

Sheepishly he sneaked out from under the blanket, instantly regretting leaving its warmth. He put his clothes on quickly, without care. He smoothed his hair with a hand before taking out his phone. They exchanged numbers.

"Call me anytime to pose like a cherub," Souji said with a lopsided grin.

"I will," Yosuke said, and the confident way he said it let Souji know he wasn't just being nice by saying that.

Souji hesitated then. He figured he'd worn out his welcome, but he was reluctant to leave just yet. It felt like there was still some unfinished business here, but it might've been how blueballed he felt. "I guess I should let you go," he murmured. "Or rather, I should go. You live here after all."

"You can stick around if you'd like," Yosuke said. "I was just gonna watch some anime. I don't have another class today."

"Yeah? Okay."

Souji sat on the couch next to him. It felt different now that he had his clothes on. He wasn't sure if he'd be welcome to share the blanket—but as soon as he thought it, Yosuke was draping it over him. There was something sweet about that and made Souji smile. Yosuke really would've been a nice catch. That ex-girlfriend of his was missing out.

After Souji was settled in, Yosuke turned the TV on and raised the volume to a normal level. Souji focused on the show only for a minute before his mind began to wander. Of course, he began to think of the man next to him.

Yosuke was cute and charming, and Souji really liked him. He'd watched Souji masturbate and apparently hadn't been turned on at all. It was hard for him to wrap his mind around, especially since he was used to people wanting a piece of him.

He thought that Yosuke wasn't wrong to give up—sex was an important part of romantic relationships. It'd be hard to find someone who didn't expect it. Souji began to think of his own past relationships and the role sex had played. There had been times when he hadn't been in the mood but his partner had wanted it anyway. Being pressured to perform like that was not a welcome experience. When he thought of it like that, he could understand Yosuke's feelings a bit more.

But to never want sex, to never have it? Souji bit the inside of his mouth. He wasn't in a relationship now, so he hadn't had sex in a while. When he got horny he just masturbated like he'd done earlier. Honestly, masturbation was easier than sex, less stressful, and sometimes even more satisfying. But to live on masturbation only, he wasn't sure he liked that idea.

But it wouldn't be masturbation only. Yosuke had said he'd liked kissing and cuddling. That kiss earlier had been really nice. It had felt right somehow. Souji wanted to kiss him again, to feel that again.

Yosuke murmured something. Souji worried for a second that he'd gotten hard again or something, but he was wearing his clothes now and the blanket hid any bulge he might have from view. But it turned out that Souji had started leaning into Yosuke, his subconscious wanting him to go back to cuddling like earlier.

He looked at Yosuke, silently asking if it was okay, and Yosuke sighed softly and settled in next to him. It was so warm here, and he was so close he could feel the soft rise and fall of Yosuke's breath.

"Hey, Yosuke?" he asked.

"Hmm?"

"Will you go out with me?"

Yosuke stirred on the couch. Souji worried he was getting up to leave, but he was just turning in his seat to look at him better. "Souji," he said quietly.

"I know you said you aren't looking, because you've given up, but... I like you. And I know sex isn't on the table. I think I can work with that. I like sex, yes, but I don't need it. It's not the end all in a relationship for me."

Yosuke blinked at him. "...You sure you're okay with just taking long showers whenever you're in the mood? Going off and rubbing it out whenever our kissing gets out of hand and you're left with a boner?"

Souji smiled affectionately at him. "You really just took the romance out of my confession."

"Hey, you gotta know what you're in for," Yosuke defended, but he was smiling too. "I like you too. If you're serious about it, then..."

"I promise that I'll never pressure you into sex," Souji said. "I don't take promises lightly."

Yosuke watched him for a moment before opening his arms. "Seal it with a kiss," he said, and with a grin Souji moved right into them.

---

[Author's note: There's a lot I could say, and want to say, about this fic, but I think for the most part, it speaks for itself, so I'll refrain. I do plan to write a chapter 2, but considering this chapter alone was months in the making, don't hold your breath waiting for it. The tentative plan is that Souji will discover it's not easy, not at all, but he'll also discover that he loves Yosuke anyway.]