Itâs been a while, huh? I finally finished a little Souyo fic I started almost 2 years ago. 5k words, T-rated. I hope you all enjoy it--itâs probably the last fic Iâll write in this fandom, but Iâll never stop loving Souyo đ
âSo, whatâs in the bottle, Yu?â
Yu spun the small vial around by the chain it hung on, holding it up to the light so the emerald liquid inside shimmered. Squinting, he bit his lip and took a deep breath as he focused; there was a trick to this, a little like trying to see an optical illusion, one of those spinning images that could be mentally reversed with just the right⊠Ah, there.
âTruth.â
Chie raised an eyebrow at his concise answer, and he laughed softly before elaborating. âWell, not truth itself. Something related to it. Maybe a truth serum of some kind? Though, Iâm not sure what a Shadow was doing carrying that aroundâŠâ
Rise hummed, looking over their notes from the dayâs fighting. âThat reminds me a little of those sedatives we got off the Trance Twins back in Yukikoâs castle. Remember? You said they made you feel⊠âsanity,â I think it was.â
âYeah, youâre right. Itâs definitely some sort of mental-impairment remedy, but I donât remember us getting hit by any new status effects. Do you?â
Rise flipped through her notebook. âHm, nope. Well, we only got the one, right? You should save it, maybe weâll need it later.â
Yu nodded and slid the truth serum, if that was what it was, into one of the many inner pockets of his TV world supply bag, before they moved on to discussing how Yukikoâs new improved fire attack could best be used for their next excursion.
The vial stayed in the bag, unused, for many months afterwards. In fact, Yu entirely forgot its existence until early February. On a particularly snowy Sunday, Yu, trapped at home, decided to clean up his now-unused TV world equipment. Heâd emptied and sorted all the supplies in his bag, and was about to put the bag itself through the wash when he heard a clinking sound. After five minutes of searching through empty pocketsâthere truly was such a thing as too much organisationâhe found the vial, remembering that theyâd saved it in case it might come in handy later. Now that he thought about it, perhaps it would have been useful during Namatameâs interrogation, or with Adachi, but theyâd figured things out fine without it. He set it aside for now, figuring heâd sell it at Shiroku along with the rest of the leftover supplies, and continued his cleaning.
To his surprise, Old Lady Shiroku refused to take the serum from him.
âThis may yet come in handy to you, young man,â she told him with a twinkle in her eye as she pushed it back across the counter.
Not for the first time, Yu wondered who this woman truly was. There was more to her than a casual shopkeeper-turned-midnight-bartender; how else would she have known where to find Goho-Ms and Vanish Balls, known what they were called even, when outside the TV world they resembled nothing but shiny overpriced marbles? Heâd asked once, and sheâd only winked at him and held a finger up to her lips. âYou should know a lady never tells, darling,â sheâd replied, and the next time heâd gone shopping all her prices had gone up a hundred yen. Yu wasnât an idiot. He hadnât asked again.
So when she left the vial on the counter and ignored his confused look, he took it back without any further questions. It wasnât as though he was hurting for money, and it was a rather pretty bottle if nothing else; it would look nice on the shelf over his desk.
The bottle looked nice on said shelf for approximately three days, until Teddie, invited over by Nanako, bounced into his room one afternoon and spotted it.
âSensei! Can I have this?â he asked as he snatched it up, turning puppy dog eyes on Yu.
Yu knew better than to fall for the look, but he didnât see anything wrong with letting Teddie have the potion if it made him happy. Maybe something about its link to the TV world appealed to him, or maybe he just liked how it looked; Teddie did have a certain fascination for shiny, pretty things.
âSure,â Yu replied as he gently ushered him back downstairs before he could touch anything else in his room. Heâd had to spend a good two hours doing damage control after the last time heâd visited, when heâd smashed two of his models together because, âTheyâre fighting, Sensei! Thatâs what theyâre made for!â
Heâd thought that was the last he would hear of that small bottle, but unfortunately, it showed up again a very short time later. The entire Investigation Team was gathered in a large reception room at the Amagi Inn, which theyâd hijacked for a sleepover party. The guys had just finished relaxing in the hot springs, and everyone was sitting around on pillows chatting while waiting for the girlsâ turn. Then they would have dinner, gracefully provided by the inn, and after that probably stay up way too late telling ghost stories that would make Yukiko giggle and Chie and Yosuke scream. Yu smiled as he leaned back on his hands and looked at the ceiling, a bit of a bittersweet feeling coursing through him. He only had a scant month of this left to enjoy, and then it would be back to the city for himâand for all that Yosuke kept making plans for them to go to university together, for all that Rise and Naoto would be moving back there too, well⊠he was still going to miss this, right here. Everyone, together under one roof, with nothing more important to think about than school and what theyâd do next weekend.
He pushed himself back upright, and all his nostalgic feelings fled in an instant as he saw Teddie jump to his feet with a mischievous expression that heâd learned was always followed by a very bad idea.
Silv makes cute cosplay ears and tails, and the coronavirus situation closing down cons isnât ideal for people working these artistic jobs that mostly make money on irl sales. If youâre interested, now would be a great time to grab a pair! :D
Erasermic fic, T rated, 6.5K. Fluffy mutual pining, confessions, all that good shit ;) Written as a pinch hit for the erasermic secret valentine event!
Shoutaâs a little overwhelmed when he adds âtaking care of Eriâ to his usual responsibilities. Luckily, his best friendâs here to help, with absolutely no ulterior motives at all.
Eri had only been living at UA for about a week, and Shouta was already exhausted. It wasnât that she was a particularly hard kid to care forâreally, she was more well-behaved and quieter than most of 1-A, not that that was saying muchâbut she had been having nightmares every night, sometimes multiple times a night, and combined with Shoutaâs insomnia it was making for a particularly painful combo.
He hadnât noticed right away, because she did her best to keep them quiet; heâd only heard her the first time because heâd happened to be up when she started crying. Sheâd seemed so worried when heâd walked into her room, apologizing over and over for waking him up. Shouta wanted to go find the Eight Precepts of Death and beat them up all over again for what theyâd done to her when he thought about it too much. It had taken a long time for her to calm down and accept that she wasnât going to get in trouble.
After that, heâd put a baby monitor in her room so he could hear her more easily, but heâd found himself more on edge, waking up at every small noise, from her soft tears or the aborted moans sheâd let out before she woke up, to the more benign sounds of an owl hooting outside or Hizashi singing in the shower two floors and three rooms away. He didnât blame her for the nightmares, but he really, really needed a nap. Or three.
So when Hizashi dropped into the seat next to him at breakfast with a bright smile and told him he looked âso tired, dude! You really need to sleep more!â Shouta nearly threw his cup of coffee in his face. It was only the knowledge of how much he needed that coffee that stopped his hand.
âThank you, Yamada. I hadnât noticed,â he hissed through gritted teeth.
I went BNHA for this drabble night on the r/fanfiction discord. Drabbles are 100 words exactly, T-rating max, with assigned themes serving as titles, and 1hr time limit. Iâve never written BNHA before, so hopefully these are good! :)
There when I need you
kiribaku, fantasy!AU
Being a good fighter means being a smart fighter, and engaging one-on-three in his enemyâs natural habitat would be idiotic, so yes, Katsukiâs running. Shh. He weaves through the forest for a few tense minutes before the trees finally give way to empty air. He speeds up, sighing with relief as he runs right off the cliff edge. Thereâs a moment of weightlessness, and then he hears the flapping of wings and feels a scaly red back break his fall.
Canât you ever be a little scared?
Katsuki grins. âNah. I know youâll always be there when I need you.â
Game Night
kamijiro
Jirouâs calm and down to earth, so at first no one expected the monster she turns into during the weekly game night, but by now theyâre all used to it. Most people refuse to team up with herâsheâs been known to get vicious with her jacks if she thinks you made her loseâbut Denki doesnât mind; the fewer people want to play with her, the fewer people he has to discreetly zap until they go pick someone else. Playing with Jirou, itâs high-risk, sureâ
âAce, six, aaand done! We win, suckers!â
âYES! I love you, Kaminari!â
âbut itâs also high-reward.
Stop finishing my sentences
kiribaku
âWeâve been studying in my room a lot,â Katsuki starts, trying to keep his voice steady. âAnd uh, I was thinking maybe we couldââ
âStudy in mine? Sorry bro, of course!â
Katsuki squints. âNo, I was gonna say I donât want toââ
âTutor me anymore?â Eijirouâs face falls. âIâm sorry, I know Iâm annoying, Iâll ask someone else.â
âNo! Stop finishing my sentences if youâre gonna do it wrong! I was gonna say maybe we could study in a cafe this time. Just you and me. If you wanted.â
Ah, so thatâs how to get him to shut up. Noted.
Number 1 cheerleader
bakugou mitsuki and midoriya inko. You have no idea how much I just wanted to keep going with this concept!
Many people think the biggest rivalry of the decade is Deku vs. Ground Zero. Theyâre wrong. Certainly, their childhood friendship turned enemies turned friendly rivals is the stuff of stories, but behind the scenes, an even harsher fight unfolds.
âThis is a first run Izuku figurine, homemade costume and all,â Mitsuki says with a sharp grin.
Inkoâs breath catchesâdamn it, she wanted that one!âbut she knows how to fight back.
âLovely. That reminds meâhave you seen my new print of Katsuki? They only made 5. Had to wait in line 3 days for it, but it was worth it!â
Hold my X, I gotta fight someone.
kiribaku
Katsuki would like to know how he ended up holding his boyfriendâs shirt and pants while said man straddles one of their⊠acquaintances (not friends, never friends) in the middle of the common room. Around him, class 1-A cheers while 1-B boos and calls for Tetsutetsu to get up. Hah, like that copy cat ever could. Still, while Katsuki enjoys watching Eijirou show off, usually he has the decency to keep his pants onâbut no, it was all âTheyâre Best Jeanist exclusives!â and âPleaaase, babe!â
Eijirou grins at him, and all Katsukiâs annoyance disappears.
Posted to my new bnha tumblr (which I made to spare all you guys who followed me for Persona from my new obsession ;) Guys, it has best friends-to-lovers potential... my one weakness...)
With a 2+ month delay, the epilogue to Interrupted Lines. Sorry this took so long, for those who were waiting :)
February had felt like a slice of heaven, the taste of Yu like ambrosia on his lips, but all good things had to come to an end. So it was that Yosuke found himself running alongside his friends in a little train station unused to such fervent goodbyes. When the train finally went too far for even its taillights to be distinguishable in the distance, he slowly walked back, and sat on the solitary bench on the platform, right underneath the great clock. The others crowded around him to cheer him up, but he only gave them absent smiles when they tried to suggest one activity or another to occupy the rest of his day.
He knew they meant well, trying to distract him, but Yosuke found that he wasnât quite ready to go home and get on with his life yet. He was⊠sad, of course, but that was a given. That was fine; it would have been much more worrying if he hadnât been sad. That wasnât why he wanted to sit here a while longer.
Yu would come to visit for Golden Week in just a few short months, and maybe Yosuke would get to go see him before that, so this wasnât some permanent goodbye, but his departure still felt like the end of a chapter, if not of the whole story. That feeling, of endings and new beginnings, had Yosuke feeling uncharacteristically introspective as he watched clouds flow across the sky.
He wasnât the same person whoâd ridden into this very station a year and some months ago anymore. He knew he had a few months left before he could call himself an adult, but sometimes it surprised him how much heâd grown over so short a time. He felt like he knew who he was, these days, in a way he never truly had beforeâback when heâd only been going through the motions, letting magazines and TV tell him what he liked and disliked, what his dreams were. Somehow, in the process of saving the world, he wondered if maybe he hadnât saved himself, too.
The others were long gone by the time he finally picked up the wrapped package that sat next to him; even Teddie had headed home after giving him an uncharacteristically gentle hug and a pat on the head that had made him laugh.
âFrom Yu,â the elaborately handwritten tag read. Yu. Everything had revolved around him this past year, of course. It was almost strange to imagine life in Inaba moving on without him, so completely had he permeated every layer of the small townâs society. Last year, Yosukeâd resented him for that. Heâd been jealous of the way the mantle of leadership settled on his shoulders like it had always belonged there, of the magnetic way he drew others to him; and then thereâd been that colossal mistake of a summer, and heâd been angry at feeling like a joke, like a toy to be discarded and replaced when it didnât perform as expected.
But even that had been part of the journey; heâd learned a lot about himself on those late, lonely nights sitting by the Samegawa. In that darkness, heâd finally managed to stop lying, at least to himself, and admit that maybe what heâd been most scared of all this time was of himself, and of the dreams and hopes that didnât fit the mold heâd expected his life to fit into. It was a strange thing, honesty; it was both so much harder to face, and yet so much simpler to live with, than denial. Then again, that shouldnât have come as a surprise after the TV world; hadnât that been its message all along? Accept yourself.
So Yosuke had accepted himself. Heâd accepted that he wanted more from life than slowly climbing the ladder of retail work at Junes, spending his money on whatever he was told the right clothes and the right movies were that month. Heâd accepted that he couldnât always be the happy, comic-relief friend people expected him to be. And, perhaps hardest of all, heâd accepted that he didnât dream of soft curves and sleek long hair at night, but rather of a silver bowl cut and muscles that were anything but delicate.
Heâd been jealous at the beginning, but it was much harder to resent someone when youâd seen them broken, sobbing in a cold November snow, and when all the envy and the anger and the fear had fallen away, all that had been left was love.
Yosuke smiled as he sliced through the tape on the expertly-wrapped package with the edge of his nail. He wouldnât have expected anything less from Mr. âGood With His Handsâ Narukami. To his surprise, it revealed a worn novel he recognized; he knew that specific copy, having seen it on Yuâs shelf every time heâd come over to his house. It was one of Yuâs favorite books, which heâd had from childhood. Yosuke had promised to read it over their time apart so they could discuss it the next time they met, but he hadnât expected to be given the original copy.
He carefully opened the front cover, mindful of the threadbare spine, to find that Yu had not only given him one of his most prized possessions, but had even defaced it for him. The entire double page was filled with Yuâs neat handwriting.
To my beloved partner, Yosuke started reading, letting his fingers trail over the slight indentation the ballpoint pen had left in the paper.
Thank you for this past year. Iâm sorry that I havenât always been the best friend I could be to you; I can only promise not to make the same mistake again, and hope that you will stop me if I ever am too much of a fool for my own good again.
Itâs hard to put into words how deep my affection for you runs, but unfortunately I canât simply show it to you anymore, so words are all that I have. I could ramble on about the color of your eyes, the perfection of your face or the charm of your smile, but Iâm sure youâve heard me do that often enough to be tired of it by now. Nonetheless, let me reiterate how lucky I am that someone as beautiful as you would love me.
But more than your appearance, it is your very being that I loveâyour optimism, your kindness, your relentless motivation to do good. I feel that I am the best person I can be when I am next to you, if only because your goodness reflects onto me. I hope you will allow me to continue standing by your side for many years to come.
I wrote this in pen so I wouldnât be able to go back and change anything, because I was afraid of being too much of a coward and erasing everything, but I think I kinda got way too sentimental there. Sorry! I know weâve only been dating for a month and this is all a bit much. I have to admit, while I hope it doesnât scare you, I truly mean all of it. It feels like itâs been so much longer to me. I canât imagine anyone ever being as close to me as you are.
Speaking of things that are maybe a little premature, you should go see Daidara. Heâs got a gift for you, from me. Before you freak out about itâno, it doesnât mean anything. Itâs just something I wore a lot this past year that I wanted you to have to remember me by. The day when I get you one that means something, Iâll make sure itâs much more special than that one, I promise.
Iâm going to miss you so much, Yosuke. Thereâs no place Iâd rather be than in your arms. Iâm really sad I have to leave, but Iâm not afraid. We took a long and twisted path and still managed to make it to each other; whatever life tries to throw at us, I know weâll overcome those obstacles, too. After all, youâre my one and only partner.
Love
Your Yu
-------------
In a train not so far away, although getting steadily farther by the minute, Yu pulled on a familiar pair of orange headphones. Yosuke had shoved them around his neck moments before the train doors closed, probably well aware that he would have tried to give them back otherwise. They were such an integral part of Yosuke that it seemed wrong for the two to be separated. Now, as he felt their familiar weight on his headâYosuke often slipped them over his ears to share his latest favorite song with himâhe was glad he hadnât had a chance to return them. In a way, it was almost like a piece of Yosuke was coming with him.
As the train picked up speed, he unlocked the small music player that dangled from the cable. On the main screen, a single playlist appeared, titled, in true Yosuke fashion, âlistn2me.â Yu smiled and hit play.
The opening chords of the song were unfamiliar, which didnât surprise Yu. He didnât listen to music much, and rarely knew any of the songs Yosuke shared with him. It was more unexpected when the voice that started singing turned out to be very familiar. Yu gasped out loud, causing the person sitting next to him to glance in his direction with a concerned expression.
He gave them a small shake of his head and they turned back to their book while he started the song over from the beginning. Now that he was listening for it, the sound quality was clearly not that of a produced album, as beautiful as it sounded. Yu closed his eyes and reached up to place a hand over one of the earpieces, losing himself in Yosukeâs singing voice.
He didnât quite follow the lyrics; there would be time for that later, for deciphering every word, for picking out the meaning of every line. For now, he let himself just experience the music and the emotions they carried, an eclectic mix of melancholy, joy, excitement and determination that perfectly reflected Yosuke himself. They werenât love songs, at least not in any obvious way, but that was right, too. Yu spoke Yosukeâs language well enough by now to easily translate thisâthe headphones, the playlist, the painstakingly recorded songsâinto the love letter that they were meant to be, and he wouldnât have changed any part of it for the world.
Souyo, 1.9k words, gen. Yosuke and his mom bond over his attempts at cooking.
Thirty minutes ago, Yosuke had held a pretty optimistic view of the next 24 hours. First, he was going to make a perfect bento with the ingredients heâd picked up at Junes on the way home, with the vegetables cut into pretty shapes and even some little fake grass decorations. Then, heâd get to school early so he could ask Yu to eat together before anyone else got to him. And finally, heâd give him the bento, and with a single look at it Yu would understand all of Yosukeâs feelings. Then theyâd spend the rest of the hour making out, taking a break just so Yu could eat the food and declare it to be even better than his own cooking.
That was before. With two bandages on his fingers where heâd slipped while trying to slice the carrots, steak strips that had managed the unlikely feat of being both burned and raw, and even his rice having come out crunchy, Yosuke was beginning to believe the universe was trying to give him a sign about his projected confession, and it wasnât a good one.
Signs apart, Yosuke actually thought he had a pretty good chance with Yu. It wasnât so much that Yu had shown any particular interest in him â there had been no blushes, no shy glances or fleeting touches â but rather, it was who Yu had not shown interest in that comforted him. Yuâd been in Inaba almost a year at this point, and heâd become the very definition of the term chick magnet. Every girl in school, and even some outside of it, even grown women, had thrown herself at him, with shy letters and chocolates and even one hastily rebuffed kiss. Yosuke knew this, because every time it happened, the first thing Yu did afterwards was call him up to complain about it. And every time, the story ended the same way: with Yu explaining how bad heâd felt turning the girl of the day down.
Now, Yosuke could understand being picky. He couldnât empathise; before his feelings for Yu had manifested themselves, he would have accepted any girl whoâd so much as hinted at being interested. Not because he was a pervert, as Chie liked to imply, but because he was a hopeless romantic who wanted nothing more than to have someone special to him; so sue him if that didnât fit his usual carefree attitude. Yu had had his choice of every kind of girl, though, so it wasnât likely to be pickiness, which meant he clearly wasnât interested in dating a girl.
That left two options: either Yu wasnât interested in dating at all, or he was interested in guys. If it was the first option, well, there wasnât much Yosuke could do there, but he trusted Yu wouldnât hold his confession against him. And if it was the second⊠Yosuke didnât exactly have great self-esteem, but even he knew there was no one was as close to Yu as him. He got to see sides of Yu most people rarely did â bright laughs, sarcastic jibes, quiet admissions of fear or worry â all sorts of emotions he usually kept smoothly hidden behind his impassive silver eyes. So if Yu liked guys, then Yosuke thought there was a pretty good chance that he might be willing to give him a chance.
Except there was no way a half-burnt, sloppy bento with crunchy rice was ever going to manage to carry his meaning across, which would mean heâd have to confess out loud, putting his feelings into words he knew heâd get wrong because he always did, always managed to end up with his foot in his mouth, and Yu wouldnât understand, and there would be no bright smile and no making out on the roof and no walking home hand in hand.
He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. He still had enough ingredients left to give this another shot; heâd just save the ugly bento for himself. He picked up a carrot and a knife, trying to cut it into more even slices this time.
Then the front door slammed shut and startled him, he sliced his finger a third time, and he screamed in exasperation as much as pain as drops of blood fell onto the cutting board.
âYosuke?â a voice called out in a worried tone, before hurried footsteps brought his mom to the kitchenâs door. âHoney, are you alright? What are you doing?â
Yosuke shoved his cut finger in his mouth and glared at the spread of food and tools surrounding him, then at her. âWhat does it look like Iâm doing.â
She blinked at the display, and sure, Yosuke didnât cook very often â or maybe ever â but she didnât need to gape like sheâd found Chieâs pet dog trying to cook dinner, either. Before he could turn his anger over the whole situation on her, she stepped forward to pull his hand out of his mouth.
âDid you cut yourself?â
Yosuke nodded sullenly, and she grabbed the first aid kit that sat nearby on the floor, where heâd left it after bandaging his previous injuries.
âAlright, letâs get that fixed up, and then maybe you can tell me why you suddenly decided to become a chef?â
âI was trying to make a bento for school tomorrow,â Yosuke replied grumpily as she disinfected his cut and wrapped a band-aid over it.
She gave him a calculating look, but the gods must have decided heâd suffered enough for today, because she didnât ask the question that was obviously burning on her tongue, ut instead started cleaning up the mess heâd made, looking through the ingredients on the counter.
âHmm⊠grilled steak strips, vegetables and rice?â
Yosuke gave a short nod. It wasnât anything special, as bentos went, but even before his culinary failure heâd known better than to expect too much out of himself.
His mom pulled some items out of cupboards, shuffling items around until she had everything set up to her liking.
âFirst thing, that knifeâs no good,â she explained. âIâve been meaning to get rid of it, but you know how your dad is with throwing stuff away⊠It doesnât take a good edge, so for hard vegetables like carrots it tends to slip.â She handed him another knife, one heâd stayed away from because of how large it looked. Heâd been, ironically, afraid of hurting himself with it. âThis one will be much better. And let me show you how to hold the carrot so you donât hurt yourself if you slip.â
With his momâs help, the meal started to take shape, and soon enough the smell of grilling meat â at the right temperature this time, because apparently turning the heat up so itâd cook faster wasnât a good strategy â was filling the room while a new batch of rice cooked. Yosukeâs optimism was making a good comeback as he tasted a perfectly cooked carrot, and then his mom had to go and open her mouth.
âSo, whoâs this bento for?â
Yosuke dropped the bowl of vegetables heâd been holding, scattering them across the counter.
âNobody! Itâs for me!â
Which would have been more convincing, perhaps, if his voice hadnât cracked in the middle and skipped an octave. Or not â his mom seemed to have some sort of Yosuke-bullshit detector built-in. She said it came with parenthood, which seemed entirely unfair to teenage boys just trying to survive.
â...Who do you think,â he muttered.
âOne of those sweet girls who came to see you at work the other day?â she asked, and really, only a mom could call Chie a sweet girl, but he passed on pointing that out in favor of shaking his head. His mom hummed as she worked to gather up the vegetables Yosuke had dropped.
âThen⊠is it a girl I havenât met? Is she from school?â
âYouâve met them,â Yosuke replied, reticent but well aware she wouldnât give up until she found out anyway.
Something seemed to light up in her eyes at his words. âAh⊠not a girl, then, hmm.â She smiled knowingly, an all-too-perceptive glint in her eyes. âIt wouldnât happen to be your best friend, would it?â
âHeâs my partner, mom, not my best friend,â Yosuke huffed. It wasnât the same thing. Best friends were for people like Yukiko and Chie, or Daisuke and Kou; what he and Yu had went deeper than that. Partners meant standing side by side, always supporting one another; it meant having each otherâs backs in life or death situations, and knowing what the other person needed without even having to ask. And ok, maybe Yukiko and Chie had that, too, but what he had with Yu was special, and that was that.
âPartners, huh?â his mom asked. âSo are you twoâŠâ she trailed off and raised her eyebrows at him.
It took him a moment to understand what she was hinting at, and he shook his head, feeling his cheeks heating up against his will. âNo! No. Not⊠yet.â
Yosukeâs mom reached forward to pick up the little heart-shaped vegetable cutters heâd bought, then placed them in his hands.
âWeâd better get back to work, then. This bentoâs going to be perfect,â she told him with a fond smile, ruffling his hair before she turned back to check on the grilling steak.
They finished up a short time later, and after the two bentos were securely in the fridge, Yosuke did the dishes while his mom cleaned up the kitchen.
âDo you⊠do you think heâll say yes?â he asked half under his breath, barely audible above the sound of running water.
There was no immediate reply, and he thought she hadnât heard, but after a few seconds she came to turn the tap off and looked at him with a serious expression.
âI canât tell you that. Heâs the only one who can. But, whatever he says, Iâm proud of you. It takes a lot of courage and honesty to confess your feelings,â she said, pulling him into a hug. âHeâd be lucky to have you, you know â anybody would. Youâre a good kid.â
Yosuke blushed, unused to such praise from his mom; they were close, often pranking each other or playing games together, but they werenât often emotionally open like that. âThanks, mom,â he mumbled as he turned back to the dishes.
When they were almost done, Yosuke working on the last pot, she came to lean against the counter next to him with a mischievous smile.
âNow, I meant what I said â heâs the only one who can answer your confession. But, just so you knowâŠIâm pretty sure you have a chance. Iâve seen that kid spend 20 minutes hiding by the door at Junes just so he could âaccidentallyâ run into you on your way home.â
âWait, what?! You never told me that!â
She winked at him. âI also never told him you stalk the security cams to make sure you can go restock whatever aisle he happens to be in, so I think you two are even.â
Yosuke spluttered. âIâ I donâtâ I neverâ erghhhh,â he groaned, pulling his shoulders up to hide his flushed face while his mom patted his back and laughed her way right out of the kitchen.
