#reader x yusuke

[nopekido]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Shadow: *hurts Yusuke*

Reader:

Shadow:

[no-mo-rules]

38. “Why can’t you appreciate my sense of humor?” prompt for yusuke?

You’re not so sure this is a good idea anymore.

A gently crumpled piece of paper sits on your lap,overturned, folded, unfolded, and then re-folded again. On it is the title‘couple strengthening exercises’ and several points beneath are listed andcrossed out: go to a place you’ve never been before, cook something together, say something nice, and finally (one of the only points that is yet to be crossedout) give them something to improve on.

Yusuke has the same piece of paper in front of him.

“Surely there must be something you think I could improvein,” he says, and sure, you can thinkof some points, but you know what he’s like with criticism; you don’t want tospend the next couple of days on an adventure to improve the shortcoming youpoint out. He can be quite a perfectionist, after all, and he holds a lot ofstake in your relationship. Nothing less than perfect will suffice.

“Hm, nope. Nothing’s coming to mind.”

Yusuke sighs and brings a finger to his chin.

“When I proposed this exercise, you seemed veryenthusiastic. May I remind you these couple strengthening activities are animportant part of cultivating our healthy relationship? It would be a shame togive up before we’re finished with them.”

You nod, because you appreciate that he’s taking yourrelationship so seriously, it’s just –

“A lot of relationships that end prematurely do so becauseof a failure to communicate. I wouldn’t want our relationship to end in thesame way,” he explains. It feels a little touching, because you realise theonly reason he’s going to such lengths in the first place is because he cares somuch about you.

With a drawn-out sigh, you give in.

“Well, maybe you could appreciate my sense of humour alittle more?”

There’s a pause, and Yusuke returns to being deep inthought.

“I – I see. I think I might need you to elaborate,” he says,after thinking about it. You resign yourself to spending the next couple ofdays reassuring Yusuke that ‘it’s not a big deal’ and that he ‘you were just exaggerating’.

“Well, a lot of the time you just don’t laugh when I wantyou to. Sometimes I feel like you don’t even realise I’m joking.”

He’s thinking again.

“I see. That is entirely possible,” he mumbles. “Perhapsbefore you make a joke, you should make some sort of loud noise? That way, I’llknow to laugh at the end.”

You laugh.

“Not sure that would work, Yusuke.”

Out of the corner of your eye, you see him fiddling with thesheet of paper nervously. It makes you feel bad, because you know for a fact he’staking this a hundred times more seriously than you could ever hope to.

“Is there anything else you could suggest? I’m willing totry any of your ideas as long as they have a chance of removing obstacles fromour relationship.”

“Don’t worry about it Yusuke, it’s not a big deal.”

His face scrunches in a way that looks no less anxious thanhis hands.

“But if there’s something to improve, surely we should beginwork on it? It seems unfair to ask you to overlook such a flaw for the courseof our relationship.”

“Honestly, it’s really not that important. I’ve come toaccept that some jokes are just harder for you to pick up on.”

Suddenly, he shuffles forward and grasps your hand in-betweenboth of his.

“It is important,” he says resolutely. Determination flaresin his eyes in a way that’s equally as endearing as it is overwhelming andintimidating. “I refuse to overlook anything that has a chance of puttingdistance between the two of us.”

If you had to pick an emotion to describe the way he’s holdingonto your hand, it would probably edge around ‘frantic’ and ‘desperate.’ It’srare that Yusuke doesn’t shower your conversations with sincerity when theytrail off like this, but it always manages to surprise you. He’s got the futurein mind when it comes to you, that much is clear. Still, you can’t help but laugh.

He recoils from you a little like he’s not sure what’shappening, but you pull him back. You use your other hand to clasp his own, andlean into him to give him a kiss that he returns gladly, if not withoutconfusion.

“Don’t be stupid. As if I’d ever leave you over something asstupid as that,” you say, honestly.

He’s inclined to believe you.