It was a growing curiosity of Yu's, the way Yosuke's fingers were able to flick so easily over the strings, drawing out seamless melodies from his guitar.
So he couldn't quite help it, when Yosuke was out at class, and Yu pulled out the old, well-loved guitar case, setting it on the bed and sitting cross-legged in front of it. He traced his fingers over some of the scratches and fading on the case before slipping to the smooth metal clasps and flipping them open.
He'd seen the guitar plenty of times before, when Yosuke played for him or just in general, but without his boyfriend around it felt almost like Yu was looking through his diary – not that Yosuke kept one, at least to his knowledge. He pulled the instrument out carefully and cradled it in his lap, not sure exactly why he was treating it like it was so fragile. Yu had seen Yosuke toss the guitar on the floor, accidentally stub his toes on it, and hit the body when he broke a string or got frustrated.
That wasn't going to stop Yu from being cautious with his first time holding the guitar himself though. He may've had a natural talent for learning new things, but he wouldn't dare risk damaging something so important. Recalling the way Yosuke held it, Yu draped one arm over the body and curled his other hand around the neck of the guitar, placing his fingers over the strings lightly.
A pause hung in the air for a few seconds, almost hesitating before he strummed once, releasing a tuneless noise. Nothing like what Yosuke played. Yu pursed his lips slightly, pressing down on the bottom, thinnest string with one finger on the neck before picking it with his other hand. He repeated the process, moving his hand closer down the neck of the guitar and listening to how the tone changed.
It wasn't much use though; as easy as it was for Yu to teach himself new things, music was one of the things that he'd struggled with whenever he tried. He could tell the difference between different notes, but for some reason, arranging them into something that sounded like music was almost impossible.
He spent a few more minutes strumming single notes, his tongue sticking out as he attempted to focus, but he couldn't seem to make any progress. Giving a small sigh, Yu reluctantly gave up and set the guitar back in the case gingerly, closing and fastening the clasps before setting the case back against the wall it had been leaning against before.
A little disheartened, Yu sighed once again and pressed his knuckles against his spine, his back popping from sitting slouched over the instrument for so long. He glanced at the alarm clock on the bedside table, a little comforted when he saw that Yosuke's class would be over soon – meaning he'd be back soon – but also a little surprised that he'd gotten so invested in trying to play that an hour flew by.
'Suppose I can't be great at everything,' he sighed internally, moving to his feet and stepping over the laundry and miscellaneous items of Yosuke's that were scattered on the bedroom floor. No matter how often or thoroughly Yu cleaned up, Yosuke somehow managed to dirty his room to the same state of disorder without even trying, so Yu just let it be.
He finally made it through to the small apartment kitchen, opening the fridge and leaning down to peer inside. There weren't many ingredients – not that he expected much, as one college student in another's apartment, but Yu had spent enough time cooking for himself as he grew up that he could figure something out by the time Yosuke got back.
Yu pulled a couple ingredients from the fridge and small pantry, busying himself with the familiar task. He hummed softly to himself, at least musically inclined enough to be able to do that, recalling one of the songs Yosuke played for him every once in a while. It was a catchy tune, he couldn't help that it got stuck in and popped into his head at least twice a day.
Almost as soon as he finished cooking the food, he heard the front door unlock, and turned around with a smile. Even after they'd been dating for months, the sight of his denim jacket over plaid button-up-wearing boyfriend brought both a sense of secondhand embarrassment (seriously, how could he wear that in public), as well as giddy flutters in his chest.
"Hey, I'm home," Yosuke greeted, his sagging shoulders from the stress of class perking up immediately at the smell of food. "Already got dinner done? You're too good to me," he said with a laugh.
"Welcome back. I thought I'd whip something up, since I wasn't busy," Yu replied, setting his hands on Yosuke's cheeks to cradle his face lightly before closing the distance between them for a kiss. As much as he would've liked to linger against his boyfriend's lips though, his stomach wanted otherwise.
Yu pulled away from the kiss, moving to turn back to the counter where he'd left the food, until Yosuke grabbed one of his hands gently, a curious expression on his face. "You were up to something?" he guessed, looking at Yu's fingers which still stung slightly from strumming and pressing on the strings earlier.
Yu blinked a few times, tilting his head slightly. "How could you tell?" he wondered out loud.
Yosuke's face darkened a bit, closer to matching his dyed hair. "Your fingers," he said, running his thumb over the tips of Yu's fingers. "I'm, uh… used to how they normally feel, y'know, and they're different now," he explained in a mumble, averting his eyes.
It was Yu's turn to be embarrassed then, not expecting he'd be caught so easily. "Yeah, I tried playing your guitar earlier," he admitted. "I'm not very good at it though."
He expected Yosuke to be mad or something that he messed with his instrument, but Yosuke just laughed and pulled his hand up, placing a few soft kisses on the pads of his fingers. "Of course not, it was just your first try," he pointed out. "You need to practice to get better."
"Well, that's one thing that's hard for me to practice on my own," Yu said, looking down slightly. He didn't like not being good at something – but, he realized, it's not like he was alone and had to learn completely from scratch. Looking back up to meet Yosuke's eyes, he gave a small grin. "Why don't you teach me how to play?" he suggested.
It took Yosuke a moment to process the request, not used to being the one with more experience in something. "Wait, really?" It was obvious he was surprised, but he couldn't help but glow a little with pride.
Yu nodded in response, pulling his hand away after a second. "Of course, you know a lot more about music than I do, so who better to teach me?" He turned back to the food, dividing it onto two plates and handing one to Yosuke before moving to the table to sit down. "Consider it like… paying me back for all the things I've taught you," he said with a wink.
Yosuke tried not to choke on his food, and failed.
At least one of the many things Yu knew and was good at was mouth-to-mouth.