Yosuke rolled over. His head collided with something surprisingly solid, waking him up.

"Ow," said Yu, and flexed his knee, as if testing for damage.

"Sorry," said Yosuke, blearily; huh, he must have dozed off. Yu'd wanted to come check up on one of the stray cats around here - Yosuke was pretty sure Yu was feeding all of them by now - and then they'd wound up sitting by the riverbank, Yu with a book and Yosuke with his MP3 player. It was a nice change, just chilling out. Yosuke stretched, resting his head against Yu's leg. Man, that was even better; now he had a decent pillow.

"Don't worry about it," said Yu. Yosuke felt him shift his weight, then he ruffled Yosuke's hair with a brutal level of disregard for how long Yosuke'd spent styling it that morning.

"Dude!"

"What, your hair's messed up already from you rolling around in the grass. It's impressively... rural."

Yosuke put a hand up to verify this terrifying accusation. "Ah, crap."

"Yeah. S'okay. Just stay there." Yu started picking bits of grass and seeds out of Yosuke's hair, flicking them to the side. It felt sort of soothing. Yosuke closed his eyes and let Yu get on with it. After a while Yu must have gotten all the grass out, but he kept gently combing his fingers through Yosuke's hair for a while, then he stopped, his hand still sort of semi-tangled in the hair at the back of Yosuke's neck.

Yu's hand in his hair, Yu's leg under his head. Yosuke felt a mental twitch of we must look like we're so damned gay here and then dismissed the thought. This was Yu. Normal behaviour didn't apply around Yu.

"Are you asleep?" asked Yu, quietly, after a bit. Yosuke wasn't, quite, but nearly. Yu moved his hand slightly, twisting in Yosuke's hair, and repeated his question.

"Mmnm," Yosuke managed. He really didn't want to have to move. Yu's fingers had started rubbing up and down the back of his neck, which was sending little pleasant sensations down Yosuke's spine. Yu let out a gentle, huffing sort of laugh, but he didn't take his hand away and that was all Yosuke really wanted. He drifted back down into his doze, enjoying the little shivery feelings from the nape of his neck.

The next time he cracked open his eyes, it was quite a bit later; the light was going dusk-gold. Yu's hand wasn't on his neck any more; when Yosuke lifted his head, he realised that Yu had at some point followed Yosuke's lead and fallen asleep, sort of twisted around at the waist so his head was resting on his arm. Maybe he hadn't wanted to move Yosuke's head; whatever the reason, it didn't look very comfortable. Yosuke reached out and touched Yu's cheek, a bit reluctant to actually wake him, and watched his eyes flutter open.

"Hey, we both fell asleep."

Yu's face snapped from a rather sweet, sleepy contentment into sudden concern, and he fumbled for his phone. "Aw, no. I was going to work a shift in the hospital tonight."

"Too late?"

"Yeah." Yu stretched, and sat up. "Ah, well. It's not like it pays that well. And Sayoko will cover for me."

Yosuke frowned at the unfamiliar name. "Who's Sayoko?"

Yu rolled his head on his neck as if trying to get a crick out. "A nurse up there. She's sweet."

"Oooh, interesting. Is she hot?"

"Uh." Yu suddenly looked kind of embarrassed. "I guess. Probably?"

"What kind of answer is that?"

"Well, uh. She's cute, I guess, but kind of a cougar?"

Yu was still looking embarrassed, and something clicked in the back of Yosuke's head. "Dude. Did something happen with you and her?"

"Um." Yu stared at his hands. "No, not really."

"Not really?"

Yu sighed. "She hit on me, but it was probably a joke, and I said no anyway."

"Oh." Yosuke turned that thought over. He'd gotten used to ignoring the little jabs of envy by now, but it still seemed weird that Yu never did anything when girls made moves. "This is becoming a pattern, you know."

Yu's expression went sort of blank. "What is?"

"You and the ladies. I mean, Chie, Yukiko, and now a nurse. Assuming there aren't more you haven't told me about. I don't get it."

Yu got to his feet, and then held out his hands in invitation. Yosuke let Yu pull him to his feet. "Is it really that odd?" asked Yu. "I mean, that I haven't found a girl I want to date?"

"Kinda." Geez, was Yu being serious? "I dunno, it's like you're still hanging onto your precious first kiss or something."

"I am, actually."

"Seriously?" Yosuke blinked, and then realised Yu was still holding both his hands. He took a step back, and laughed lightly, but to his surprise Yu's grip tightened. "Uh, partner?"

"What about you?" asked Yu, his face suddenly very close, his eyes amused and curious. "What happened with your first kiss?"

"Uh," said Yosuke, intelligently, his mind suddenly awhirl. Shit, was Yu leaning in? "I, uh, there wasn't, uh. It hasn't. Yet."

Yu's lips were right there, slightly open as if in invitation, his head tilted slightly to one side. Oh god.

And then Yu suddenly straightened up, and let go of Yosuke's hands, and glanced away, giving that weird little huffing laugh again. "See? Then it's not just me that hasn't met the right girl yet."

Yosuke smacked him in the arm, relief and irritation flooding through him in equal measures. "Asshole. I would totally have kissed a girl if I'd had as many chances as you get."

Yu shrugged. "None of the chances matter unless it's the right person."

"And now you sound like a girl."

Yu elbowed him, and after a brief good-natured scuffle, they went home.

"-alright, I'm alright, I swear."

Yu frowned at him, and poked him hard in the shoulder again. Yosuke winced. "No, you're not."

Well, no. But Rise's dungeon was dark and confusing, and the Shadows were stronger than ever before, and Yosuke'd got flung backwards pretty hard on a few occasions. And they'd still only gotten to the fourth floor before Yu'd declared that was enough for this visit. They'd still got plenty of time before the fog was going to set in, they could recover and come back another time.

Yosuke'd gotten bruised, battered, and he had wrenched his shoulder a bit. It was fine, Yukiko'd healed him, it shouldn't bother him now, especially not outside the TV. But it ached; it felt like he'd run a goddamned marathon with his shoulder. And of course Yu'd noticed, now they were back at his place, trying to get rid of the inevitable post-TV jitters.

"It's just a bit stiff, I guess," Yosuke said, trying to get Yu to stop prodding it. "I'll be alright in the morning."

Yu scowled at him, and then poked him again. "Take your shirt off, let me see if it's bruised."

"What? No."

Yu gave him a long-suffering look. "I'm serious, Yosuke. C'mon. Turn around. Top off."

"I bet you say that to all the girls," Yosuke grumbled, as he complied. He peered over his own shoulder; it didn't look bruised. "See, it's fine."

Yu shook his head, ignoring him. "Does it hurt, though? Don't do the macho stoic thing, I'm serious."

Yosuke sighed. "Yeah, it does. Especially when I move my arm; it's like an ache all down my arm."

"I think you've probably strained it somehow." Yu put his hand on the junction between Yosuke's shoulder and neck, and squeezed it - which felt weird, sort of slightly painful and yet good at the same time. "It's all knotted up. Want me to massage it for you?"

"First you get my shirt off, then you find a reason to feel me up," Yosuke joked. "If it'll make you happy, sure, go ahead and beat up my poor shoulder."

Yu dug his fingers into Yosuke's shoulder, making him hiss in surprise. "Massage, I said. Not beat up. Lie down, then. I'll find some oil."

Yosuke stretched out on the sofa, feeling distinctly weird about the whole prospect of Yu rubbing his back. It wasn't even about the physical contact. It was just - Yu was apparently good at everything, but massage, really? What if he just made it worse?

"Right," said Yu, perching next to him. "I found some lotion. Try and relax."

Yosuke couldn't help but sort of cringe in anticipation of Yu digging his fingers in again, but instead Yu just sort of rubbed the lotion into his back and shoulders for a while. It felt nice, sure, but it wasn't like this was going to make any difference to the muscles, surely. And just as he was about to protest, he realised that Yu was starting to press a little harder with each sweep, and it felt... good. Mildly painful, but mostly, really really good.

He relaxed into the sensation of the aches being pushed out of his shoulder. It felt a little too good, after a while; he realised. Sure, he knew it was a guy touching him, but apparently his brain didn't care much about the context. Dammit. He shifted, suddenly uncomfortable, as his brain threw up a new thought. Yosuke kept a bottle of lotion in his room too, but only for one sorta pathetic reason; did Yu have his for that too? Was Yu rubbing Yosuke's back with the same stuff he used to touch himself with?

"You okay?" asked Yu, softly, kneading the top of Yosuke's spine with his knuckles now.

"Uh. Mostly."

Yu paused. "Mostly?" His hands were just above Yosuke's skin; Yosuke could feel the tiny hairs on the back of his neck just brushing Yu's fingers.

"Pins and needles in my leg," lied Yosuke, feeling his face go red and hoping Yu wouldn't notice. He flexed his right leg, and that shifted things just enough that he wasn't lying on his erection any more. It wasn't like he was going to be comfortable for a while, but at least he wouldn't be in actual pain. "I'll be fine."

Yu was still hesitating. "You sure? I'm not being too hard or something?"

Hard was not a good word to hear from Yu's mouth right then. Yosuke swallowed. If Yu stopped now, then Yosuke would have to sit up, and... "No. It's helping, I think. Keep going."

Yu's hands went back to kneading, and Yosuke closed his eyes and firmly thought of Morooka.

The clouds had been dark and menacing all day, but of course they held off on actually raining until after school let out. Yosuke felt a sudden drip on his face, and he looked up. Uh-oh. "Shit, partner, move."

Yu looked up, and apparently saw what Yosuke did; swollen grey clouds overhead. Yu grabbed Yosuke's wrist and together they sprinted for the nearest shelter the park offered; the old bandstand. Even over such a short distance, there was enough rain to dampen their clothes and drive any lingering warmth from the air.

"Ugh," said Yosuke, staring at the sudden downpour. "And us with no umbrellas. If we'd gone via the floodplain we'd be screwed."

Yu sat down; the floor was wooden and did look relatively clean, to Yosuke's relief. "Yeah. I'll wait it out, I think."

Yosuke followed suit. "Sounds like a plan. No job tonight?"

"Nothing I can't skip," said Yu. He shuffled sideways, so he was right next to Yosuke, and leant against his side, resting his head on Yosuke's shoulder.

It was surprisingly cold, even if this was technically summer. Sharing warmth was probably a good idea. Yosuke put his arm around Yu's shoulders, and felt him wriggle even closer. "I'm surprised you're not studying."

Yu shrugged. "It's not urgent. Yet."

They sat there, staring out at the rain, Yu's hair gently tickling Yosuke's neck. Yosuke stared sadly at the grass that surrounded them. It'd be soaking wet even when it stopped raining. His trainers were going to get trashed in the mud; what kind of idiot built a bandstand and didn't put a proper paved path between it and the main path?

A gust of wind sprayed them with an extra blast of rain. Yosuke grabbed the strap for his bag with his free hand, hauling it closer so he could dig out his Yasogami High track jersey. He tried to drape it over both their shoulders, which was kind of awkward until Yu edged even closer. He was basically breathing down Yosuke's collar by that point, but at least his breath was warm.

"Yosuke," said Yu quietly after a while.

"Mm?"

"Thanks."

Yosuke wrenched his mind back from his idle daydreams: a hot shower, food, warm sandy beaches. "What for?"

"Just... I've never had a friend like this. It's been the best thing about moving to Inaba, meeting you." Yu sort of hunched into Yosuke's side. He sounded uncharacteristically subdued. "Is that really weird, saying that?"

Yosuke tightened his arm around Yu. "Uh, a bit. But on a scale of normal to the past few months? Not so much."

Yu gave a weird, choked-sounding laugh into Yosuke's collar.

"What's brought this on, anyway?"

Yu shrugged, and somehow the motion brought his arm up so that he was nearly cuddling Yosuke. "I don't know. Just thinking there's nobody else I could sit here with like this."

"Same here, believe me." Yosuke thought for a moment. "Though, hey, I'm not saying I'd mind if Yukiko wanted to snuggle up like this."

Yu laughed into Yosuke's collar again, and his hand curled around Yosuke's side. "Sorry I'm not a girl."

"Dude, if you were a girl, I'm pretty sure I'd-" Well, what would he do? The image of a feminised Yu planted itself front and center in Yosuke's mind, features subtly softened but eyes still sharp and clear and knowing. Whatever he'd been about to glibly say caught in Yosuke's throat. He coughed. "Oh, man. I'd be in so much trouble with Dojima-san."

Yu made another amused noise and then lifted his head. He was terrifyingly close. "Why, are you thinking things he'd disapprove of?"

"Very funny."

Yu smiled, and then dropped his head back down to rest on Yosuke's shoulder. "It's probably just as well I'm not a girl, then."

Yosuke tightened his arms around Yu, and made a noise that hopefully sounded like agreement.

"Geez," said Yosuke, poking his bicycle tyre. "A puncture. Just what I needed."

Yu shifted from one foot to the other, at the edge of Yosuke's field of vision. "Shall we go to your place instead? It's closer."

Yosuke looked up. "If you don't mind? My room's probably a tip, though; Teddie doesn't understand why clothes should be in the wardrobe and not on the floor, so every time he borrows something he just leaves things everywhere."

"I'm sure it's fine."

Yosuke's room was actually even worse than he'd feared; it looked like Teddie'd gone on a random drawer-emptying spree.

"Ah, man, I'm sorry," he babbled, as Yu gingerly cleared a space amidst the pile of underwear on the edge of Yosuke's bed. "It is all clean, I promise. I'm gonna kill that bear."

Yu grinned at him, and sat down. "It's fine, I get it. Can I help you tidy up?"

"You're an angel, Narukami, you really are." Yosuke waved a hand towards the rumpled heap of shirts and jackets by his closet. "Can you try and hang up some of that stuff? If the hangers aren't in there, Teddie'll have taken them into the bathroom and put them on the shower rail again."

It actually didn't take that long, working together, to put away most of the clothes, especially once Yosuke gave up on folding things and just shoved shirts back in the drawer. Eventually he chucked the last pair of shoes into the closet and looked up to see Yu sitting on the now-clear bed.

"Done!" he pronounced, and then flopped backwards with a triumphant grin.

Yosuke slid the door closed, and sat down next to Yu. "Finally. God, Teddie's a menace. It's a good thing my parents expect foreigners to be totally incomprehensible and weird. And he does rein it in around them, mostly."

Yu propped himself up on his elbows. "Want me to talk to him about this?"

"Maybe? He does listen to you, I guess. He means well enough, that's the thing. He's just... a bit much sometimes."

"If he's that much of a handful, maybe all of us should take a turn having him stay over. Just to give you a break."

Yosuke considered that. "Tempting. But he can't exactly stay with the girls."

"I'll ask anyway. Maybe Kanji can take him for a couple of nights, and then I can, and that's still a bit of a breather for you, right?"

"Partner, did I already mention that you're an angel?"

Yu grinned, and then flopped back down. "So, videogames?"

"Assuming you're done draping yourself all over my bed, yeah." Yosuke looked at Yu for a moment, then grinned and stood up. "Wait, wait, hang on a second."

He backed away from the bed a few steps. "Partner? Look at me for a second?"

Yu turned his head, as Yosuke grabbed a quick snap with his phone.

"Haha, wow. Next time I need Rise to do me a favour, I'll offer to bribe her with this."

Yu gave him a baffled look as he sat up. "With what?"

"This photo. She'll be green with envy that it wasn't her bed you were on. This could be actual gold as bribe material, seriously."

Yu looked unconvinced - as he always did when Yosuke commented on how the girls felt about him - but shrugged. "If you say so."

They played an old-school fighting game Yosuke'd bought in a fit of nostalgia a few weekends previously, and Yu - to Yosuke's surprise and outrage - kicked his ass pretty comprehensively at it. Yosuke's penalty for losing was that he had to let Yu help him study for a while before Yu went home; as penalties went, it was so generous it crossed some kind of guilt barrier and looped back around into machiavellian genius.

After Yu went home, Yosuke flipped open his phone and looked at the photo he'd taken earlier. Yu was sprawled lazily on Yosuke's bed, his shirt ridden up slightly at the waist and his hair all messed up at the back. He was looking just past the camera - at Yosuke - and his expression was fond, amused and... really unguarded, Yosuke decided. Yu looked calm and unreadable most of the time, and you could tell he'd just gotten good at faking polite blandness. This genuine kind of happiness wasn't something he often showed people. You had to be trusted.

Yosuke closed his phone, thoughtfully. Maybe... maybe this wasn't a photo he'd show anyone else after all. There were other ways to bribe Rise.

"Big Bro's not back yet," said Nanako, all wide-eyed and serious at the door, wrapped in her coat. "He called a little while ago and said he'd be home soon, though."

"Oh. Is Dojima-san there?"

"Dad's working. Um. I'm going over to Noriko-chan's place in a minute."

Great, nobody at home. Hopefully Yu really wouldn't be too long; Yosuke didn't mind waiting outside usually but it looked like it was going to rain soon.

...Nanako was still talking. "You can come in and wait here if you want."

"Are you sure? I wouldn't want you to get in trouble with Dojima-san."

Nanako giggled. "Don't be silly. You're a friend, right? Besides, if you cause trouble, Dad knows where you live."

That was... true, and slightly disturbing. Yosuke nodded. "Well, alright. I'll look after the house for you until Yu gets back, okay?"

Nanako beamed at him. "Yeah!"

She let him in and told him to make tea if he wanted, and then she left Yosuke there. Alone. In Dojima-san's household. Yosuke switched the TV over to the news, resisted the urge to go up and rummage through Yu's things - he could be back any minute, after all - and got himself a glass of water.

Fifteen minutes later, he was lying on the sofa, staring up at the ceiling, wondering when the hell Yu was going to get back. His MP3 player kept shuffling songs with slow, languid beats and it was making Yosuke want to take a nap.

And then someone was poking him not-too-gently in the shoulder, and he woke up to see Yu smirking at him in amusement.

"Uh, hey."

"Hey yourself."

"Nanako-chan let me in." Yosuke sat up, groggy. How long had he been asleep? "I told her I'd watch the house until you got back."

"So I guessed. Some guard-dog you are, falling asleep on the job."

"Hey, you took forever." Yosuke looked over at the clock. Okay, maybe not forever, but it was nearly 6. "What do you wanna do, anyway?"

Yu looked around. "Hm, not sure yet. Want me to cook something? I think there are actually groceries in the fridge."

"Hell, yes." Yu's cooking was amazing. "Like I'd ever pass up on that."

Yu laughed, and went to investigate the fridge. Yosuke watched him pull out ingredients, consider them, and then replace some. "It'll be a stirfry. I wanted to ask you something."

"Oh?" Yosuke stretched. "Fire away, partner. Unless it's about girls."

Yu turned, and gave him an amused look. "No. Where are you going to go for university?"

"I... I don't know, yet. Somewhere that'll let me do something cool with my crappy grades?"

"Well, tell me when you know where you're aiming for. I know I'm leaving Inaba at the end of the year, but after that it's only another year until we graduate."

Yosuke shook his head as he stood, not quite able to believe this: was Yu was suggesting they go to the same university? Surely Yu could go somewhere way out of Yosuke's league. Yu was out of Yosuke's league. "Where do you want to go?"

Yu flushed slightly, and turned his head away, focusing on cutting up the meat again. "My mother wants me to go to Waseda, I think, or Tokyo University. As long as it's prestigious enough for her to boast to her friends, she probably won't care where really. But even if I go to Waseda - if I get in - if you got into another university somewhere in Tokyo, we could probably still find a way to live together. If you wanted."

Living with Yu. He was serious. "Dude, I'll get so fat living with you."

"Is that a yes?"

"It's a 'try and stop me'." Yosuke was right behind Yu now, and gave him an impulsive hug. "You have just made me like twenty times more excited about university, seriously. I might even study."

Yu stiffened in surprise at being hugged unexpectedly, but then he sort of relaxed and leant back into Yosuke's arms. "I'll trade you my cooking if you do all the cleaning," he said after a long moment, gently pulling away and picking up the knife he'd set down. "Unless you'd rather pay for all the groceries."

"Enh, depends how rich I am then. Maybe I can pick up some part-time work? Man, dude, I just thought: how am I going to study without you around?"

Yu smiled over his shoulder. "I'll only be a phone call away."

"Yeah, it's not the same, though."

"Clear the table, would you? But don't get those papers mixed up, my uncle will kill me."

Yosuke busied himself tidying up, wondering idly to himself if any universities in Tokyo had low enough intake requirements that he wouldn't need to study too much next year. He figured it was unlikely. Crap. He hoped Yu really wouldn't mind him calling up for study help. Either that or he'd have to re-attempt getting Yukiko to pair up for studying. Maybe she wouldn't slap him just for asking this time.

They watched some weird old horror movie Yu'd dug up as they ate, all screaming women and minor piano chords and sudden knives gleaming in the darkness. Maybe it was an artifact of fighting the manifestations of people's subconscious so often, but it was hard to feel much of an adrenalin rush watching something like this nowadays. Yosuke leant his head on Yu's shoulder, and thought about real horror, and shuddered.

"C'mon, shirt off."

"Yeah, yeah," said Yosuke, already yanking it up over his head, and sitting down. "I know."

This time, he was bruised, and there was no point in pretending otherwise. Naoto might be a boy genius, but apparently his subconscious really liked pointy corners and wire. Yu'd gotten spooked after fighting some giant robot a few floors down; he'd hauled them all out of the TV so fast that Yosuke'd forgotten to do much about his own injury.

Yu - crouching in front of him - drew his breath in, and ran his fingertips lightly over the darkening patch; it spread from Yosuke's collarbone, down his chest and onto his ribcage. And it hurt, especially as Yu's fingers touched his ribs; Yosuke bit his tongue on a yelp.

"I think I've got some cream that'll help, hang on."

Yu dug out a tube from a drawer, squeezed out a dollop of something that smelled antiseptic and started rubbing it purposefully into Yosuke's chest.

Sometimes, Yu acted like everyone's mother, and Yosuke really wasn't in the mood for it today. He grabbed the tube, and batted Yu's hands away. "Hey, I can manage, it's fine."

"Oh." Yu looked slightly startled. "Okay."

He stood up, and started fiddling with the models on his shelf instead, as Yosuke worked the greasy paste into his skin.

"Uh," said Yosuke, still looking down at what he was doing. "So, hey, are you and Rise still, y'know?"

"What about me and Rise?"

"You're dating, right?"

There was no response, and Yosuke looked up. Yu was holding one of his robot models, and staring down at it as if thinking hard.

"It's okay - er, I mean, congratulations. You're with Risette, dude, that's epic." The idea stung in a way he wasn't really going to analyse too closely, but still: his best friend was dating a genuine idol. How cool was that?

"I'm not dating her." Yu sounded like he was picking his words very carefully. "It's not like that. She told her manager we were, but it wasn't true."

"Huh. But I thought - during the festival and stuff - no? And she's always cuddling up to you and flirting."

Yu shook his head, and put the model firmly back down on the shelf. "No. She's great, but she's not - she's a friend, that's all."

"Oh. Damn. Sorry to hear that." And he wanted to be, he told himself. This rush of relief was not something he should be feeling.

Yu tipped his head to one side, opened his mouth as if about to reply, and then closed it again. Instead, he perched on the end of the sofa, his feet on the seat next to Yosuke. He peered at Yosuke's back. "You've cut your shoulder."

Yosuke twisted to try and see what Yu was talking about.

"Here," said Yu, running a finger down Yosuke's shoulderblade. It sent weird, not-quite-ticklish sensations along Yosuke's nerves. "I don't think it's too deep, though. Why didn't you heal up properly before we left?"

"No time," said Yosuke, still trying to see the alleged cut.

Yu ran his finger back up to where he'd started, almost idly, then spread his hand out flat on Yosuke's back, over the area he'd stroked. "Sorry."

"I'll live," said Yosuke, giving up on the attempt to visually confirm, and wiping his hand on his pants. He shifted a bit, hoping Yu wouldn't take his hand - his warm, soothing hand - away.

Yu's hand drifted up to Yosuke's neck, gently rubbing. It felt like an absent-minded motion, but really nice. "Have you been thinking I've been dating Rise since the festival?"

Yosuke bent his head forward, encouragingly. "Yeah, I guess?"

"You could have asked." Yu's fingers crept further upwards, into the hair at the back of Yosuke's head, and his nails scratched against Yosuke's scalp.

The sensation made Yosuke feel like he wanted to heave a huge, delighted sigh. "I just did," he said instead, closing his eyes. "Does she know you're not dating her?"

Yu laughed, softly. "Of course. She's just... being herself. Are you staying here tonight?"

Yosuke opened his eyes, reluctantly. He was leaning into Yu's caress, his head bowed until it nearly rested against Yu's knee. He sat up hurriedly, reaching for his shirt. "Uh, I probably shouldn't. Teddie tends to get into my stuff if I don't lock it up."

Yu leaned forward before Yosuke could put his shirt on, and he pulled Yosuke against him, into a hug. For a moment Yosuke's face was pressed against Yu's collarbone, the scent of whatever citrusy soap Yu used filling his nose. Yosuke repressed the urge to press his nose deep into Yu's skin and inhale - god, sometimes he got the creepiest urges, what the hell was wrong with him - and hugged Yu back.

"I've still not given anyone my first kiss yet," Yu said, softly, speaking down the back of Yosuke's neck. The breath seemed to travel down Yosuke's spine in a shiver, and it took a moment for him to actually concentrate on what Yu had said. And then another confused moment for him to connect that to the idea of Yu dating Rise.

"Heh, well, there'd be worse people than Risette, right?" he joked, into Yu's neck.

Yu drew back slowly, as if ending the hug, and then paused, their faces so close that Yosuke could see the tiny gradients of blue in the grey of Yu's eyes. "Perhaps."

Yosuke smiled, feeling a sort of nervous fluttering in his stomach. "What, you think you can do better?"

Yu leaned forwards. His lips - dry, cracked - nearly brushed against Yosuke's cheek, as he spoke. "I think-"

A door slammed, downstairs. They sprang apart guiltily, as they heard Nanako greet Dojima delightedly.

Yosuke pulled his shirt on, trying to hide his flushed face, and grabbed his bag so he could head home.

"Urgh. Shit, shit, shit! It's so unfair."

Yosuke wanted to reach out, to put a comforting hand on Kanji's back, but... god, he didn't know if Kanji would be okay with that, from him. The guy had just punched a wall, again, before Yosuke'd dragged him back here, behind Souzai Daigaku, away from people who might think he'd be after them next. Maybe he'd punch Yosuke. Maybe Yosuke would care if he did, maybe he wouldn't; a fight might be a nice distraction round about now. He shoved the thought aside, and squeezed Kanji's shoulder in as reassuring a fashion as he could muster instead.

"I know. Dude, I know."

"I just... Nanako-chan looks so helpless, and Senpai's just... I mean, he tries to pretend he's fine, but he's broken, Yosuke-senpai."

Yosuke sighed. "I wish I knew what to do. He's so adamant that he wants us to be hyper-prepared before we go up against Adachi, but it's clearly eating him alive every minute that we're not fighting inside the TV."

"Senpai, do you think we're ready?"

"Honestly? I don't know." Yosuke slumped against the wall. "I think Yu's got some target in his head he wants to achieve first, but it's about his Personas and every time he tries to explain how he gets new ones it's like my brain hazes over."

Kanji nodded, and stared down at his hand. Yosuke could see the scrapes on the back of his knuckles; geez, he must have hit that wall hard.

"The longer we wait, though, the more antsy we all get. And we're already pretty antsy."

Antsy was an understatement, thought Yosuke, biting his lip. He still wasn't quite prepared to think about how close they'd been to killing Namatame, how close he'd gotten to condemning a more-or-less innocent man. If Yu hadn't talked him down...

"I figure, we leave it too late, we'll be so frantic, we won't be able to deal with any of the kind of shit he'll say to us."

Yosuke considered that. "You mean, Yu won't be able to."

"Uh. Yeah, I do."

And he's probably right. Yosuke looked up at Kanji, and gave a weary nod of agreement.

"Look, senpai. Just... promise me you'll try and get him to go in again soon?"

"I promise." Yosuke reached out and squeezed Kanji's shoulder again. "Now go get that fixed up."

He watched Kanji walk away, and tipped his head back so it rested against the wall. Yu might not listen this time either, but maybe Kanji was right: that was no reason to give up on pushing.

Yosuke waited, impatiently, outside the main exit. Yu had to use this exit to leave the hospital, didn't he? Unless there was a side-door that was more convenient. Yu'd know, what with having worked here and aw crap that meant Yosuke would miss him and-

"Are you waiting for me?"

Yu stood just outside the main exit, looking exhausted but still much better than he had for, god, weeks before they'd gone in and thoroughly whupped Adachi. And the fog-monster, too. Sheesh, it was only a couple of days ago, but it felt like months.

"Hey, yeah. I got Kanji to invite Teddie over for tonight, so I'm going to come over to yours, make sure you eat something like real food before you crash. Admit it, dude, you know you need proper rest. I'll crash on the sofa."

Yu looked pleased, and kind of surprised. "If you insist."

"And I got tomorrow off work, too. Not that you have to hang out with me if you have plans already, but..."

"I... I don't. Except to come here."

Yosuke handed one of his bags to Yu. "Then we'll do that. That's the stuff for tonight's dinner, and I got some groceries for next week, so you're not just living off steak skewers and Aiya takeout."

Yu peered into the bag curiously.

"Gyudon. Feel privileged, I don't whip out my donburi skills for just anyone, you know."

"And here I didn't even know you could cook."

"That and the terrible roster of things I've learned at the food court, that's all I got." Yosuke nudged Yu gently. "This doesn't mean you're getting out of that deal to do all the cooking in college, you know."

He didn't even do too bad a job of it, all things considered. The beef was maybe a little rubbery, the rice a tad mushy, and he'd probably been overgenerous with the salt, but Yu fell upon it like a man who hadn't eaten in weeks. Maybe that wasn't too far from the truth; Yosuke felt like he hadn't really been tasting his food for the past few weeks either.

"So," he said, grabbing the plates, because he sure as hell wasn't letting Yu wash up tonight either, "this is when you go get into your sweats."

Yu gave him an amused look, tinged with faint disbelief. "Am I going to be mothered all evening?"

"Dude, suck it up, I'm representing the whole team here and it is time you let us look after you for once, okay?"

Yu grinned, but obediently trudged up the stairs.

Yosuke took his time washing up, humming to himself contentedly, vaguely wondering how he'd managed to use so many pots. Yu still hadn't re-emerged when he'd finished, so he got changed into his own pyjamas, then occupied himself with trying to evict anything possibly dangerous from the depths of the Dojima fridge before Yu decided it might be interesting to challenge his iron stomach again.

Yu came back down, hair damp and slightly tousled-looking, and stood there at the bottom of the stairs, as if unsure what was expected of him. He looked weirdly young and vulnerable. Yosuke half-wanted to wrap him in a blanket or something, to try and put another shield between that fragile new happiness and the outside world. Instead, he shut the fridge firmly, and smiled.

"Right, from here on is up to you. Until you fall asleep, you get to pick the entertainment. Whatever you want. So. Please, please, don't say studying."

"Actually," said Yu, sounding hesitant, "I was thinking... is there any beer in the fridge?"

Yosuke blinked, and opened the door again. There was; a six-pack of Sapporo cans on the bottom shelf. "Uh, isn't that Dojima-san's?"

Yu shrugged, looking sort of embarrassed. "I doubt he'll miss it."

Yosuke took them out and put them on the table, kicking the fridge closed behind him. "Is this a good idea, really?"

Yu wrestled one out of the box, and stared at it. "I just... last night, I was really exhausted, because I didn't really sleep the night before. And I woke up after an hour or two anyway. I'm getting nightmares when I sleep, and then when I'm awake, I feel guilty, like I didn't do enough."

"Dude, I-" Yosuke began, but Yu shook his head, cutting him off.

"And having you stay here will help, probably. But in the shower earlier, I just kept getting caught in those thoughts again. Maybe this would help, at least for sleeping." Yu took a deep breath. "Honestly, I'm sick of being responsible and good and sensible. I want to do something that's stupid now it's safe to do that."

Yosuke pulled a can out too, and rolled it between his palms for a moment. "I get that. I don't think... I think it's dumb. But you know it's dumb."

Yu nodded.

"No King's Game, deal?"

Yu nodded, a faint smile forming. "Deal."

"Then, well, whatever. Let's be rebels." Yosuke popped open the can, and took a sip. It tasted kind of terrible. "Glaergh."

Yu pulled a face in agreement, but took another gulp with a look of fierce determination. Yosuke sighed, and resigned himself to having to finish at least this can just to appease Yu.

They wound up in Yu's room, watching an endless procession of quiz shows. By the start of the third can, Yosuke wasn't finding the taste as repulsive, and the world had taken on a pleasing sort of fuzziness. Yu was leaning lazily against his side, warm and solid, and Yosuke's arm had ended up around his shoulders somehow, but that was okay. Everything was okay, really, now.

"Hokkaido," muttered Yu, just before the woman onscreen hit her buzzer and gave the same answer.

Yosuke couldn't help it. Yu's ability to know all the answers to all the things didn't get even slightly dented by alcohol, and that was just funny. He started to laugh, then sort of choked on the sip of beer he'd tried to take at the same time, then spluttered ungracefully for a while, dislodging Yu from the circle of his arm. He wiped his chin with his sleeve, trying to stop coughing. "Gah. Why do you know everything?"

Yu turned a bit in his seat, and gave him a long look. "I don't," he said, carefully, after a while. "There are lots of things I have no idea about."

"Oh?"

"Yeah." Yu ducked his head, suddenly staring at the pocket flap of Yosuke's t-shirt. "Hey. I'm glad you came here, tonight."

Yosuke felt a surge of fondness. "So am I." He put his arm out again so Yu could curl up against his side, but Yu stayed sitting up stiffly.

"No, I mean. Um." Yu looked exasperated with himself. "I don't know. Just... thanks, for caring about me. It means a lot."

"It's what I do, partner."

Yu shook his head tightly, still straight-backed and serious. "No, no. I mean. I like that you care. And I'd rather it was you than anyone else."

Yosuke fought down the sudden lump in his throat. "Dude, seriously, knock it off or I'm going to get weepy on you."

Yu smiled, and then relaxed down against Yosuke's side, resting his head on Yosuke's shoulder and draping his arm across Yosuke's waist in what was, frankly, very nearly a cuddle. "I just... I don't say it enough, how important people - you - are."

Yosuke gave in, and wrapped both arms around Yu, in a proper hug. "I... Me neither, okay?"

They stayed like that for a while, watching as the contestants won a fabulous trip for two to a traditional ryokan up in the mountains. Yu said he'd preferred the other option, a hiking trip around Daisetsuzan, and they argued good-naturedly for a while about if all that exercise counted as relaxing or not.

Eventually Yu fell asleep against Yosuke's side, his hair across his face and his mouth falling slackly agape in about the least flattering expression Yosuke'd ever seen him wear. After a few attempts to work out how to get Yu off the sofa and onto his futon, Yosuke gave up, and just draped a blanket over him instead, and wrangled the futon open enough that he could sprawl on it and stare up at the ceiling.

Yosuke woke up, startled. The room was unfamiliar; this wasn't his bed, and there was a shadowy shape in front of the window, peering out of the curtains, letting a slice of lamplight from outside cut across the room. It took him a few seconds to catch up with reality; Yu's futon, Yu's room, Yu in front of the window.

"You okay?" he said, blearily. Ugh.

Yu jumped, and then visibly relaxed. "Did I wake you?"

"Yeah." Yosuke sat up, and blinked. His eyes were still blurry, and the room smelt of sour beer. He wrinkled his nose. "What time is it?"

"Five." Yu let the curtain fall closed, and the room went dark again. "I woke up, and couldn't sleep. Sorry."

Yosuke squinted into the darkness. "Thinking too much again?"

"Yes."

Yosuke sighed. Yu sounded ashamed, like having nightmares and guilt tripping himself was his fault. "C'mere, will you?"

"Why?"

Yosuke pushed back the corner of the cover. "Because that sofa's a bitch to sleep on, and there's space in here for us both, and... and I'm too tired to mind sharing?"

Yu gave a snorting little laugh, but Yosuke soon felt the edge of the futon dip under Yu's weight. He shuffled over, and let Yu lie down next to him.

"I'm not sure this is really going to help," said Yu, facing him.

Yosuke ignored him, and took Yu's hand in his. "Hey, I'm a comforting presence. Teddy climbed into my bed when he was frightened of thunderstorms, and if that works for him, maybe it'll work for you."

In the darkness, Yu's expression was even harder to read than usual, but Yosuke could just about see his lips twist faintly into a rueful smile. "That's not the same, though."

"It better not be. Unless you have bladder control issues when you hear thunder?"

"He didn't."

"Now you know why I let him sleep in the bathtub. At least he can be hosed off if it happens again."

Yu snorted, and then he wriggled a bit closer, as if he was worried about falling off the edge of the futon. Yosuke could feel the warmth radiating off him.

"Alright, so, let's go over everything again. We caught Adachi. Nanako-chan's gonna be fine. Dojima-san too."

"I know," said Yu.

"And Namatame's not going to throw anyone in either."

"I know."

"But you're still-"

Yu sighed, and rolled onto his back, his fingers still tangled in Yosuke's, so their clasped hands rested on Yu's stomach together. "I just keep thinking how close we cut it. Adachi said this world would be swallowed by fog."

Yosuke swallowed, and moved a little closer to Yu. "We stopped it. You stopped it."

"...and I, I was friends with Adachi, before."

This was entirely new ground; Yu'd almost never said Adachi's name, not since they'd chased him in that first time. Yosuke swallowed back the bile in his throat. "Yeah. How close were you?"

"We talked sometimes. I made him dinner, here, twice. I don't even know why I offered; pity, maybe? But he seemed okay, kind of lonely and a bit pathetic, but... I liked him."

"Partner, he was an actual sociopath. No-" as Yu took a sharp inhalation of breath, "no, seriously. You heard him, right? He did it all for fun."

"No, he killed Yamano Mayumi and Saki-sempai because they wouldn't sleep with him," said Yu, his voice sounding very small and bitter. "After that, with Namatame, playing everyone for fools, that was fun for him, because he was bored. But the first two was personal. He wasn't even a sociopath, he was a monster."

Yosuke shuddered.. "My point is, he was a liar, and he was really good at it. He had Dojima-san fooled too, and they were together nearly all the time. I don't think you can blame yourself."

Yu turned his head away. "It's just - how many? How many people do I think are my friends, normal people, who could be capable of that? Is it just opportunity that's stopping them?"

Yosuke squeezed Yu's hand. "I... I don't think most people are like Adachi."

Yu shuddered, violently. Yosuke let go of his hand, and put his arm around Yu properly, wondering if Yu was right. If Adachi hadn't been able to stick people inside the TV, if he'd had to commit murders with his own hands, would he still have ended up killing, one day?

"Look," he said, finally. "Maybe you're right. Maybe there's a monster in a lot of people. But you know what? They don't kill. They keep the monster locked down, like... like a shadow, right? A really fucked-up one?"

Yu was staring at him now, those wide eyes unblinking in the dark.

"And, and maybe psychologically they should face up to it, all that stuff, accept their true selves so they can move on and become better people. But honestly, as long as they don't let the monster control them, that's the most important thing: they don't act on it. Adachi did. Maybe that's why the shadows liked him so much; he practically was one already by then."

Yu nodded, very slowly.

"And, y'know, I keep thinking about what he said about being bored, cause god, you know I thought Inaba was boring, that I should be somewhere more exciting. But I can't-look, he thought he was better than everyone else, that nobody was worth his time. He sneered at everyone here because he thought he was too good for them, and he didn't bother to find out the truth. He was a creep, and a coward, and he fooled you for a bit, but he lied to everyone including himself, right?" Yosuke was kind of babbling now; anything to fan the growing warmth in Yu's eyes that said he was saying the right sorts of things. "Partner, c'mon, you've made friends with half this town. One bad person out of that many is… well, it's pretty good going. Most people are just people. They're selfish and mean and stupid, but they're not broken like Adachi."

Yu exhaled shakily, his side now firmly pressed along Yosuke's front, Yosuke's arm keeping him from moving away. "Yeah. That... yeah."

Yosuke nudged Yu's closest leg with his knee. "You okay?"

"Better than I was, at least."

"Wanna try and sleep now?"

To Yosuke's surprise, Yu rolled away onto his side, within the circle of Yosuke's arm, and then wriggled back so that Yosuke was actually spooning him. Yosuke was too tired to point out that this wasn't quite what he'd meant. Maybe Yu felt he needed the contact still. Yosuke weighed up his options, and then decided he might as well just roll with this, even if it might be awkward in the morning. He curled his arm around Yu as protectively as he could.

"..'kay. G... g'night, partner."

"Wait. I actually... I know this. Hang on. That was... Alexander the Great, right?"

Yu grinned. "Yep. Good work, that lecture was from about four weeks ago."

"Shit, partner. I think your influence is finally rubbing off on me."

Yu snorted and closed the textbook. "You're smart enough, Yosuke, you just need to actually study. But that's it for tonight; I'm exhausted."

"Yeah, alright." Yosuke got up, and stretched. "Dibs on being first in the bathroom."

"Go on then."

Since New Year - actually, since before that, really, back in December - it had become routine for Yosuke to stay over regularly. Yosuke didn't much like the idea of Yu being all alone inside the Dojima residence, and thankfully Yosuke's parents didn't seem bothered by the lack of a responsible adult there. Kanji was grudgingly okay putting up with Teddie a few times a week, too, if it meant Yu had company.

Also part of the routine, now, was sharing the futon. Sometimes Yu slept facing Yosuke, one arm thrown across Yosuke haphazardly. Sometimes Yosuke woke up to himself curled around Yu, his knees tucked up tightly behind Yu's and his hand resting on Yu's arm. On the one occasion Yu had stayed over at Yosuke's place in the past month, he'd started off on the parentally-provided guest futon but had crawled wordlessly into Yosuke's bed about halfway through the night. Teddie hadn't turned a hair at finding his precious Sensei sprawled out all over Yosuke the next morning, thankfully.

In the darkness of Yu's room, from the futon, Yosuke watched the dim, barely-discernable shape of Yu get closer until the edge of the futon dipped and he was right there, under the cover, his knees touching Yosuke's. Yosuke held out his arm, and Yu wriggled forward so he was close enough for Yosuke to hug.

"Okay?"

It was just light enough for him to see Yu's face - content, sleepy, his eyes half-closed already. "Mm," he said, pressing up close, "You're nice and warm."

"It's gonna be weird," said Yosuke carefully, "not doing this, when they're home."

Yu's eyes snapped wide open, and his expression sharpened a little. "...it is. I'm going to miss it."

"Me too." Yosuke swallowed, alarmed at quite how much he meant that. "But, uh, I don't think Dojima-san would approve."

"You're right." Yu pulled away, and then he sat up. "Sorry, I know it's gotten a bit weird."

"Partner, we are so far beyond weird mattering. And wanting a hug at night? Still not as weird as fighting shadows inside the TV."

Yu gave a choked-sounding laugh, and then looked like he was studying Yosuke's face. "Thanks."

"I know. Now lie down, you're letting the cold air in."

Yu snorted out another laugh, then lay down on top of Yosuke's outstretched arm, allowing Yosuke to pull him in for a tight hug.

"Right. Now go to sleep, will you? We'll worry about everything else when we have to."

"Feeling better?"

"Mm," said Yu, propping himself up against the side of the sofa. "Much."

"Good." Yosuke nudged the table closer with his foot, and set the bowl of miso soup down on it. "Careful, that's still hot. And you're only to take small sips; you've not eaten properly in days, your stomach might be a bit sensitive."

Yu grinned cheerfully up at him. "Thanks, nurse."

"Hush, you. I'm just making sure you don't spew." Yosuke lowered himself down to sit next to Yu.

Yu peered at Yosuke's own bowl. "Okay, I get why I have boring food. Why do you?"

"In case the smell sets you off."

"Oh." Yu grinned again. "You must really think I'm going to throw up."

"The doctor said it was pretty likely. And I really hate cleaning it up."

"That sounds like the voice of experience. Teddie again?"

"If you think Yukiko's meals are bad, it's nothing compared to what Teddie puts together when he thinks he's 'cooking'. Though at least he only inflicts it on himself."

Yu shuddered, and then leaned on Yosuke's shoulder. "Hey. Thanks, seriously. Teddie's nice to have around for the company, but it's not the same, you know."

Yosuke hesitated for a second, and then put his arm around Yu carefully. "Yeah. I did come and check up on you as often as I could, but Teddie got kind of huffy about me not trusting him to look after you."

"Can you... can you come and stay over, again, a bit more? Teddie and I have been sleeping down here, but I'm getting sick of the floor, and I kind of miss… you know, um, nights."

"I can stay tonight, if you want. I told my parents I might. You'll have to loan me something to sleep in, though."

Yu gave him a sideways look, and then picked up his bowl. "If I told people how easily you just agreed to sleep with me, they'd be shocked, you know."

Yosuke fake-scowled, and pinched Yu's far shoulder. "Shut up. I've missed it too, you know."

Teddie arrived halfway through dinner and reported himself impressed at how much healthier Yu looked than he had done the day before. He also asked if he could stay over with Kanji, since Yu had Yosuke there to look after him. Kanji'd apparently offered to teach Teddie how to knit; it sounded like a pretty opaque attempt to give Yu the night off from Teddie's nursing methods, but Teddie was pretty excited by the idea. Yosuke sent a silent prayer of thanks towards Tatsumi Textiles, and gave Teddie his full blessing to leave them alone for the night.

Eating, even slowly, seemed to take a lot out of Yu; it took him a while to struggle up the stairs to the bathroom afterwards, though he fended off Yosuke's offers of help. Afterwards he stayed upstairs; Yosuke joined him, and they watched one of Yu's old drama DVDs until Yu started to doze off against Yosuke's shoulder.

Yosuke rolled out the futon, aware of Yu watching him blearily from the sofa, and then helped Yu stumble from the sofa around to the futon. They kind of collapsed together in a heap, and it took a moment for Yosuke to free himself enough to get up and switch off the light.

Yu wrapped himself around Yosuke, when Yosuke got back under the cover.

"Mm. Too warm."

Yosuke had to agree; Yu's skin was alarmingly hot and just a bit clammy too. He resisted the urge to cringe away, and instead put his hand on the small of Yu's back, where Yu's shirt had ridden up. Yu made a blissful-sounding noise.

"Ohh."

Yosuke grinned, amused. "That good, huh?"

"Yeaaah. Hang on," said Yu, and twisted around, sitting up a bit, and then pulling his shirt off. Yosuke drew back, faintly alarmed; cuddling was one thing, but shirtless was... and then Yu was curling around Yosuke again, pulling Yosuke's arm back around him to plaster it against his spine. "You're cold. It's wonderful."

"Compared to you, partner, volcanoes are chilly." Yosuke freed his hand from Yu's clasp, and felt his forehead. "Dude. I thought you were feeling better."

"I am." Yu appeared to consider this statement for a moment after saying it, but then nodded firmly. "I really am. I promise. I'm just warm."

Yosuke was starting to sweat in sympathy. He pushed back the covers, and Yu made a pleased sound and kicked the whole set towards their feet.

"Better?"

Yu sighed contentedly, and tightened his arms around Yosuke again. "Mm."

Yosuke put his hand on Yu's back again. Yu shivered, and then turned so he was lying on his back. Yosuke's hand slid to his side, then to his stomach; nothing Yosuke hadn't touched before incidentally what with all this recent contact, but the way Yu pushed up against his hand eagerly was new. Yosuke's hand seemed to continue moving almost of its own accord, moving up towards Yu's chest. Yu's skin was absurdly heated, and a little sweat-damp, and felt like it was stretched drum-tight. Yu had always been lean, but he'd lost what little extra fat he had recently, and now Yosuke could count Yu's ribs beneath his fingers. He let his fingers drift sidewards, into the dip just below Yu's breastbone, dreamily trying to map the patterns of heat and moisture.

Yu's eyes closed slowly, and he wriggled closer, his expression still blissful. Yosuke waited for him to seem comfortable again, and then moved his hand up across Yu's sternum, tracing Yu's left collarbone for a moment, then pressing the back of his fingers against Yu's neck.

Yu's eyes opened slowly, and he smiled at Yosuke. "Feels good."

Yosuke moved his hand back down to Yu's chest, delighted that he was allowed to touch Yu like this. Yu's skin was a different texture to his own; slightly rough under his fingers but in a good way, a bit like rubbing the wrong way on velvet. Warm, sweaty velvet, but still. "Too weird?"

"No. I like weird." Yu stretched, and Yosuke's hand slid with the motion, brushing over Yu's nipple. Yu twitched, and then glanced down at Yosuke's hand. "Oh. Wow."

"Um. Want me to stop?"

Yu held Yosuke's gaze for one airless moment, and then shook his head.

Yosuke rubbed the pad of his thumb across Yu's nipple again. It was already stiff, and Yu kind of shivered as Yosuke's thumb dragged across it; something dark at the back of Yosuke's mind purred at seeing that. He moved his thumb again, more slowly, and Yu tipped his head back, his eyes closed and his lips pressed together in a tight line.

"Okay?" asked Yosuke, and surprised himself with the roughness he could hear in his voice.

Yu swallowed visibly, and then opened his eyes. He stared up at the ceiling blankly for a moment, and then he rolled over and reversed their positions in one smooth motion, pushing Yosuke down onto his back with one hand. He stared down at Yosuke's face for a moment - Yosuke had no idea what his expression looked like right now, but apparently Yu read permission in it - and then slid both hands up underneath Yosuke's shirt, pushing the fabric up as he went.

Yu's hands were hot against Yosuke's skin, and when his thumbs grazed across both of Yosuke's nipples at once, it sent sparks arcing up Yosuke's spine and everything sort of spun as arousal swamped him. He gasped, and caught at Yu's hands.

"Okay?" Yu asked, his voice sounding as low and throaty as Yosuke's had a moment before.

Yosuke took a deep breath, and shook his head, overwhelmed. "...um. Uh. Hang on."

Yu's face went blank, and then one corner of his mouth pulled up into a wry, lopsided smile as he sat up. "Too weird?"

"Kinda." Yosuke sat up too, and that felt better, more like he was in control of things, less like the world was spinning around him. God. He'd known his feelings for Yu were skewed a long way from normal, but he'd avoided contemplating what that actually meant. "Partner, you know you're getting me... uh, well, getting me going, right?"

"You think you weren't doing that to me?"

Yosuke looked down, almost involuntarily; Yu's thin cotton pants were, in fact, very obviously tented. Oh, god, was that me?

Yu put a hand under Yosuke's chin, and forced his head up so that Yosuke had to look him in the eye. "Yosuke, I thought you wanted..."

"No, no, I do, I am," Yosuke babbled, startling himself with his vehemence. "I just - shit, I want this so much, you have no idea." Yosuke grabbed at Yu's hand, pulling it to his chest, fighting not to panic a little at the sudden flurry of questions in his head. "Are you sure you want this?"

Yu sighed, and lay back down. "Yosuke, I like you. Like I'm supposed to like girls, only... it's not a girl, it's you. And I'm tired of pretending it's just friendship."

"Oh." Yosuke took a deep breath. "I think... yeah, that, for a while now. I mean, don't get me wrong, girls are still hot. But you, geez, you know how much I missed just seeing you this past week? And it's been like that for months. My head is just full of you, all the time."

Yu just looked at him, eyes dark and hopeful.

"Shit, I'm babbling." Yosuke squeezed Yu's hand again. "Help me out here. What happens next?"

"I liked what we were doing before. But if you need time to-"

Yosuke pulled Yu's hand up to his mouth, and pressed his lips against Yu's knuckles slowly.

"-um."

Yosuke kept watching Yu's face, and, daring himself to be brave, let his tongue flick out across Yu's skin for a moment, making Yu's eyes narrow in surprise. He could taste the faint sour saltiness of Yu's sweat, and he blinked and pulled back in realisation. Ah, crap. "You're still sick, partner."

"I know what I want. That's not going to change once I-"

"No." Yosuke reluctantly let go of Yu's hand. "Once you're okay again, we'll... come back to this. I promise."

Yu looked so forlorn that Yosuke reached out and ruffled his hair for a moment, affectionately.

"I promise. You're kind of hot and sweaty and gross right now, you know."

"Oh." Yu glanced down at himself, and made a face. "Okay. I... yes."

Yosuke lay back down, and snuggled up to Yu's side. "So hurry up and get well, alright?"

Yu took his hand again, and slid his fingers between Yosuke's, and somehow Yosuke managed to fall asleep with all the new thoughts buzzing around his head.

Yu was back in school. Yosuke hadn't gotten to go over there in a couple of nights, not since that night; they'd had a handful of weirdly elliptical and awkward phone calls while Yosuke had explained the sudden panic at Junes, and Yu had made soft noises of suppressed disappointment while Teddie had declared his skills at nursing in the background. He'd managed to free up his shifts for this evening, so that he could go make sure Teddie hadn't actually managed to feed Yu something horrible or overheat him or anything.

But Yu was right there in school when Yosuke slid into his chair just before homeroom started. He wasn't sick any more.

Yosuke leant forward. "Hey partner."

Yu turned his head, and smiled over his shoulder. "Hey. You free later?"

"Yeah." Yosuke took a breath. "I might stay late. I already cleared it with my folks."

Yu's smile widened, his eyes warm. "I'd like that."

Ms. Kashiwagi chose that moment to enter the class, and Yosuke leant back in his seat to try and quell the sudden flurry of nervous butterflies in his stomach.

Weirdly, walking back towards Yu's house didn't make the nervousness any worse. Instead, Yosuke felt calmer the closer they got, until by the time he was kicking off his shoes he felt like he'd actually attained some sort of zen state of certainty and relaxation. He was going to kiss Yu, and maybe more than just kiss, and it was going to be amazing.

Yu set his bag down and made a beeline straight for the fridge. "Uh, you want a drink or a snack or something?"

"Nah, I'm good." Yosuke dropped his bag on the kitchen table, waiting for Yu to emerge. After a while he ventured, "You okay?"

Yu's head was still in the fridge, but his shoulders sort of visibly tensed. "Mmm."

"Partner?"

Yu emerged, holding a bottle of milk tea that Yosuke would bet money he'd just grabbed at random. "I'm fine."

Yosuke suddenly realised: Yu was nervous. Yu, who wasn't fazed by anything, was nervous. "Dude, I'm not going to just jump you, you know."

Yu inhaled shakily, and then let it out in a shaky laugh. "Ah, sorry. I'm... it's-"

"I know." Yosuke put out his hand, and Yu took it, looking grateful. "I've spent the last couple of days kinda convinced I imagined it all."

"-shut up. I meant it, I like you." Yu pinched his hand, firmly. "I'm just… I don't know where to begin."

"Me neither. Should we, I dunno, try to go on a date?"

"Hm." Yu gave him a dubious look. "We could."

"Or, I guess, we could skip it and just go for that first kiss," Yosuke said, hoping that wasn't about the lamest line possible as he pulled Yu forward and kissed him, finally.

Yu immediately put his arms around Yosuke's neck, and Yosuke felt the weight of the bottle of tea hit him gently in the shoulder; it was pretty easy to ignore because Yu was kissing him back, enthusiastically, and while it wasn't going to go down in history as the most elegant kiss ever, it was still brilliant. God. Mouths were amazing; put two of them together and suddenly it was like every nerve in your body was thrumming in response.

Yu broke the kiss pretty quickly though, pulling back and smiling more giddily than Yosuke could remember ever seeing. "Uh. How late can you stay?"

"As long as I'm home by about nine, it's fine." Yosuke grinned back. "I know Teddie'll be here later, but, uh, I kind of pulled some strings and stuck him with a late shift at work."

Yu tipped his head to one side, that huge smile still on his face. "That's okay. Um. So. Wanna come upstairs?"

"Hell, yes."

It was odd; they'd been so comfortable with casual touches for ages that he'd nearly stopped noticing them but now every time Yu's hands grazed his skin it felt like he was leaving heat trails behind.

And Yu wouldn't keep his hands still. First they were tangled in Yosuke's hair, then they were under his shirt - and then there was a confused tangle of limbs as Yosuke's shirt was just pulled off entirely - then the hands were back in his hair, then clutching at his arms. It made Yosuke's skin tingle all over, which was incredible but it made it hard to concentrate on kissing. Eventually he rolled on top of Yu, grabbed Yu's hands and pinned them firmly above his head, against the arm of the sofa.

"Oh," murmured Yu into the next kiss, and somehow moved his legs so that one of his thighs was pressed up against Yosuke's erection. If Yosuke had been distracted by the sensation of Yu's touch before, it was nothing compared to how Yu kept rolling his hips, until Yosuke released Yu's hands and pushed himself backwards hurriedly.

"Nn, we should probably slow down here, partner." He sucked in a deep breath. "Or I'm going to ruin my pants."

Yu sat up - god, he looked sexy, now that Yosuke was allowing himself to register that as an actual thought, with his hair tousled and his shirt hanging open and his face flushed - and nodded slowly, his lips curving into something that was either a smirk or a rueful look. Maybe it was both. Either way, it made Yosuke lean in and kiss Yu again, gently, and god the way Yu just willingly sank back into the kiss was amazing.

He pushed Yu back against the arm of the sofa again. This time, Yu broke away from the kiss after a few minutes. "You know, I could just lend you some spare pants."

Yu in a frantic cleaning frenzy was sort of sweet, especially since a) the place was spotless anyway and b) Dojima and Nanako actually wouldn't notice the odd bit of dust or clutter. Yosuke let Yu get it out of his system for a few hours, and then took the scourer off him before he actually wore a hole in the surface of the kitchen counter. "Partner, it's clean. Everything's clean now. It's fine. Stop."

"But-"

"No buts. C'mon, sit down, I'll make you some tea. Carefully," he amended, at Yu's badly-concealed flinch at the idea of any kind of disruption of the perfect orderliness of the kitchen.

Yu looked around, as if desperate to find something else to fuss over.

Yosuke sighed, and forcibly turned Yu around and began untying his apron strings. "Honestly, they'll be too happy to be home to care even if the place wasn't so clean you could eat off the tatami." He slid his hands around Yu's waist, under the apron, in a hug. "Stop worrying, will you?"

Yu leaned back into the hug, and then twisted his head and shoulders so he could kiss Yosuke. It made Yosuke's heart kind of skip, that Yu would just kiss him like that, so easily. "I just don't want Dojima to think I've been irresponsible without them here."

"Don't be ridiculous. You're the most responsible guy I know." Yosuke pulled the apron up and off over Yu's head, and bit his tongue before he said anything about Dojima's level of responsibility; Yosuke was pretty sure Yu wasn't blind to Dojima's faults, and it wasn't right to criticise someone else's family. "Go on, sit down," he said instead, and shoved Yu gently towards the kotatsu.

Privately, Yosuke was just as twitchy as Yu was. At the moment - and admittedly, it'd only been a week or so - their relationship only really existed within the bounds of the Dojima house; outside it, they'd been acting as if nothing had changed. It was great that Dojima and Nanako were well enough to come home now, but he had no idea how the hell he and Yu were going to ever get any real time alone together from now on.

Which was why he'd done some of the most careful reorganising of his life to get his parents to allow him to stay over at Yu's tonight while Teddie stayed with Kanji for the night. After their first - wonderful - evening of making out on Yu's sofa, they really hadn't had much of a chance to get any guaranteed alone time. Yu's recovery had spurred a string of well-meaning visitors to drop by each evening to check on him. They had snatched the odd chance to kiss here and there, but neither of them had dared escalate things much in case the doorbell rang again.

Tonight was… much the same, at first. Nobody actually turned up at the door, but they kept expecting company. They sat downstairs and watched the TV idly, legs tangled together loosely under the kotatsu, and even that made Yosuke feel kind of shivery at the contact. Meanwhile, Yu's phone beeped and trilled with messages regularly enough to make Yosuke first alarmed and then very amused.

"Never a moment's peace, being you."

Yu glanced up from his phone and pulled a face. Then he glanced down again, and turned his phone off. "I think it's late enough I can pretend to be getting an early night."

Yosuke grinned. That sounded promising. "As long as nobody's going to come knocking the door in a panic when you don't answer."

Yu shuffled sideways, closer to Yosuke. "If I'm lucky, I'll be too distracted to notice. Or care."

"I dunno if I should let you be that lucky, we've only been dating like a week," said Yosuke, and then bit his lip. "Uh. Are we dating?"

"I hope so," said Yu, his expression sort of stiff and careful. "Unless you don't want to call it that?"

Yosuke smacked him in the arm. "I'm just checking, idiot."

"Idiot? I guess you're dating me for my looks, then." Yu pressed the back of his hand against his forehead, assuming a woeful expression. "Ah, alas, my boyfriend doesn't appreciate me."

Yosuke flushed at the word boyfriend. "That drama club is a bad influence on you."

"Mm." Yu smiled at him. "I have to memorise a bunch of love poems for a recital soon. Want me to test them on you?"

"No."

"But, Hana-chan, with your lips as pink as blossom and your slender limbs that could entice-"

Yosuke shoved Yu sideways, blushing furiously. Yu just giggled, and pulled Yosuke down on top of him and into a kiss that yanked all Yosuke's thoughts firmly out of embarrassment and into a burning need to get Yu's shirt off as soon as possible.

"Mm," said Yu, as he pushed Yosuke off him and sat up, grinning. "See? Poetry totally works, drama club is awesome."

"Shut up," said Yosuke, fumbling at Yu's shirt buttons. "Or I'll tell Ohtani you have a crush on her."

"Too late, she already turned me down months ago." Yu ignored Yosuke's attempts to unbutton him, and kissed him again - briefly - instead, sliding his hands up Yosuke's back and into his hair. "Upstairs?"

They sat on the riverbank together - Yu'd bought a groundsheet from some camping kit of Dojima's, and Yosuke'd bought a blanket - and stared out at the river together. The weather was looking to turn pretty miserable, but then it was mid-March, and they'd known it was kind of a dumb, romantic plan.

At least the threat of rain meant they were mostly alone. There was an old man just visible, down by the floodplain, but Yu knew him and said he wouldn't be paying attention to anything but the fish. Yu knew everyone, thought Yosuke with a mix of fondness and disbelief. He draped the blankets around both their shoulders, and felt Yu huddle closer.

"So, um," he said.

"Yeah."

"Monday, huh."

Yu nodded, staring out at the river.

"I'm going to miss you," said Yosuke, and it was as inadequate as hell, but he had to start somewhere.

Yu leant into him. "Yeah. It's going to be hard."

"Do you… um." Yosuke took a deep breath. "Are we over, now you're moving away?"

Yu gave him a horrified look. "Are you breaking up with me?"

Yosuke felt the tenseness he'd been carrying in his chest for a few weeks snap. "Oh, god, partner, I don't want to, but you'll be gone and-"

Yu's hand slid across his back, around his waist. "I'll visit, you'll visit, we'll talk. You've still promised to buy all the groceries in university. It's one year, that's all."

"Yeah, but look at this last year. Everything can change. I'd never have thought I'd-" Yosuke cut himself off, and then steeled himself. If he didn't say it now, he might not get the chance. He stared down at the river, determinedly not looking at Yu. "I'm in love with you, partner."

Yu's arm squeezed tightly around him.

"And, and I never knew it would really feel like this, like in the songs and movies. It's like a fire in my blood. I never knew I had so much heat inside. I'm fricking crazy about you, and I can't handle the idea of you leaving-"

"Yosuke," said Yu, like a prayer, and then his mouth was on Yosuke's, kissing him desperately, and it didn't matter that they were outside or that it kept looking like it was about to rain or that Yu's hands under his shirt were icy cold. They toppled backwards, onto the sheet, until Yu was framed against the grey sky above Yosuke. "If I could stay-"

"I know." Yosuke felt the lump forming in his throat, and choked it down. He wasn't not going to cry, not now. "We'll make it work."

"We'd better." Yu pressed his lips against Yosuke's again, for just a moment, and then he sat up, pulling Yosuke up with him. "Failing all else, maybe we can get Teddie to help us figure a way to meet in the TV realm."

Yosuke snorted out a laugh. "Let's hope we never get that desperate, huh."

Yu smiled, faintly, and then he grabbed the blanket and hauled it back up around their shoulders. "I'm not gone yet, you know, and the rest of this tent is back at home. Want to come tell Dojima we're going on an impromptu camping trip tonight?"

Yosuke looked up. The air had that damp edge to it; it was probably going to pour down later on. And he'd always been awful at camping; the tents leaked, it was cold, there were insects, and he liked hot showers and home comforts too much to voluntarily give them up for a night.

And then, on the other hand, there was Yu.

He leant hard against Yu's shoulder, and grinned. "I'll race you there."

Author's Note:

I apparently can't help but write fluff for these two. I kept adding to it, and it kept getting fluffier because ugh, these boys.

(And then today I listened to the cut dialogue that was from presumably-a-Yosuke-romance-option, and knew I had to include that one line in the ending here. No apologies.)