Attempt #1

The whole spiel begins on Valentine’s day.

Yosuke had, much to his own demise, been hopelessly pining for his partner since the first time he called him by that totally innocuous nickname, and in a bout of determination, decided that Valentine’s day would be the day of reckoning - where he’d finally confess his feelings, they’d kiss, get married, and live happily ever after, or something along those lines.

And what better way to do it than with chocolates?

Before any of his classmates can get to school, Yosuke is standing at Yu’s desk, placing a box of Junes-branded chocolates on the table. They’re dark chocolate - Yosuke made sure to get Yu’s favorite flavor - and have a simple note attached at the bottom: From your partner. The scene replays in Yosuke’s head: Yu will see the chocolates, think “oh, what a delightful gift from my secret admirer!”, flip the box over, notice the note, and leap into Yosuke’s arms (preferably after school, where no one will see them) before they happily sail into the sunset. It is the perfect plan.

The next moment, Yu walks into the room and notices the chocolates, clearly taken by surprise. Yosuke commends himself for the perfect execution of step 1 of the plan. He watches in anticipation as Yu sits down to inspect the box, eventually noticing the note. 

Yosuke stares daggers into the nape of Yu’s neck for what feels like forever until he finally turns around.

“Yosuke, did you give these to me?”

“Oh- yeah, uh, I’ve been wanting to tell you for a while now, I really-”

Yu’s eyes suddenly light up. Yosuke loves that side of him; he loves that Yu can be stoic and serious when he needs to be, but so earnest with Yosuke. “I would love to be best friends!”

Yosuke blinks. Yu looks adorable, but at what cost?

“What?” Yosuke mutters.

“You gave me these chocolates as a symbol of our friendship, right? We’re officially best friends now?”

“Uh, right, totally…” If Yosuke had to choose, he’d say that he was the denser one of the two, but at the current moment, Yu was really proving him wrong. Besides, weren’t they already best friends before this?!

A complete and utter failure. That’s what Yosuke’s plan was. Who on earth would believe Valentine’s chocolates to be a symbol of friendship? Yu really was like no other; perhaps that’s what Yosuke loved most about him - but this time, Yu’s endearing eccentricity was to Yosuke’s detriment.

It’s fine, Yosuke thinks. There are many other opportunities. He’ll just have to be a little more forward about it. 

As he lies in bed that night, he thinks of a million different ways to confess to Yu. In his dreams, they all end with a kiss and eternal happiness. He sleeps like a baby.

Attempt #2

Yosuke is sulking about the events of the day before in the Junes food court when Marie appears out of nowhere, strutting into the area cautiously clutching the strap of her bag, as if something is about to jump out at her. 

Yosuke is bored. His lunch breaks are usually spent moping around, picking at his food, making sure Teddie doesn’t pull anything he’s not supposed to. But today, Teddie isn’t here and Yosuke’s thoughts are clouded in disappointment. Perhaps it’s Yosuke’s desire to think about literally anything else that compels him to call out Marie’s name, gesturing her over to the table. She’s clearly startled by Yosuke’s presence but makes her way over to his table anyways, taking a seat directly across from Yosuke. 

“Hey Marie! Whatcha doing out here all alone?” Yosuke winks, leaning his head on his hand.

“W-well… I just wanted to try going around alone for once.”

“Oh, I see! What brings you to Junes, then?”

“Yu mentioned it once, so I wanted to see it for myself. He said they have big TVs and stuff that you can throw people into-“

“Ssshhhhhhhh shush! Not too loud!” Yosuke whisper-shouts at Marie, putting a finger inches from her lips. She recoils at the movement instinctively.

“What?” 

“Nevermind, just, don’t talk about that typa stuff too loud out here!”

“…Ooookay?

Yosuke sighs. “Hey, look, uh, you mind if I ask you something?”

“I guess…”

“What do you think is the best way to confess to someone?”

“Con…fess? Like for a crime?” 

“No! Like, confess your love! Tell a person that you like them!”

“Oh.” Marie looks deep in thought, staring at her lap. “Well… the other day, I was listening to the radio. And it said, that the… “sure-fire” way to get a girlfriend is to go to her house with flowers and ask her out on a date.”

“Huh, so that’s the surefire way, huh…” Yosuke ponders. “Thanks Marie! I’ll try that!” Yosuke looks down at his watch, suddenly realizing his lunch break ended 5 minutes ago. 

“Yosuke… what does “sure fire” mean?”

“It means it’ll definitely happen! I gotta go Marie, nice talking to ya!” Yosuke speeds off into the store, stranding Marie at the food court table.

“So, like, a fire that will definitely happen? I hope everyone who reads my poems surefires,” Marie grumbles with no one listening.

Right after his shift, Yosuke is extra prepared for Yu’s evident naïveté, holding a bouquet of flowers that he randomly selected from the Junes selection. He mentally thanks Marie for the idea as he pulls out his phone on his free hand and taps on the contact named Partner. 

Yosuke: Yooooooo can i come over

Yosuke: i got smth imprtnt to ask

Partner: Sure. nanako is here btw

Yosuke: ok perf

Yosuke arrives at Yu’s house riddled with anxiety. What if Yu rejects him? What if he thinks he’s disgusting and never talks to him again? 

Yu opens the door and stares at the bouquet blankly, until his face suddenly lights up in realization.

“Ah, you got flowers for Nanako? Thanks, partner.” Internally, Yosuke sighs the deepest sigh he’s ever sighed. His anxieties are replaced with exasperation.

“No, Yu, they’re for you,” Yosuke proclaims as Yu grabs the bouquet from his hands and searches for a vase, searching through cabinets, bumping various glass products together.

“Huh? What’d you say?”

“I said they’re for - nevermind, just, will you go out with me?” Yosuke sounds more desperate than he had intended and winces at how much of a fool of himself he’s making. Whatever, It’s worth it for Yu; everything is worth it for Yu.

The clattering of plates pauses as Yu replies, shoulders-deep into a random kitchen cabinet. “Yeah, where do you wanna go?”

“No, like… do you like me?” Yosuke winces once more, this time at his middle school-esque confession. Only his partner could make him act so silly.

“Of course I like you, you’re my best friend,” Yu states like it’s the most obvious thing in the world. Yosuke’s heart aches at the words. “So, do you wanna go watch that new movie in Okina? I’ve been dying to watch it, and -” Yu pulls out a vase from the cupboard, filling it with water - “I heard it was really good from Chie, so I think you’d like it.”

Yosuke slumps in defeat as Yu stuffs the bouquet into the vase, setting it on the middle of the table. “Yeah, sure, if you say so.”

“You sure? You sound a bit off.” Leave it to his partner to notice when Yosuke’s feeling down. Yosuke mentally records Yu’s beautiful soft smile; seeing that smile fills Yosuke with warmth, it makes him feel as if he could face anything. 

He’s an easy man, so he gives in immediately.

“Don’t worry about me, Yu, let’s go watch that movie!” Yosuke feigns excitement, putting on his most pumped up voice possible.

For a second, Yu looks at Yosuke with what Yosuke recognizes as concern - or Yu’s version, anyway, which is a subtle pout and a blink of the eyes; it’s incredibly catlike and Yosuke’s chest squeezes - but it’s only for a moment before he goes right back to smiling that warm, sunny smile. “Okay, I trust you.” 

Hearing those words come out of Yu’s mouth makes Yosuke’s heart skip a beat. There’s something about being told that someone who you look up to so much has faith in you, enough to leave your apparent internal turmoil unquestioned.

Yosuke enjoys spending time with his partner so much that he completely forgets about the failed confession. Yu was right, he loved the movie. He especially loved having an excuse to cry with Yu at the sad scenes, to see the most vulnerable parts of Yu that he showed no one else. It made him fall in love even harder than he already had, and he wondered how much left he’d have to give to Yu, because it felt like Yosuke already loved Yu with all of himself.

Attempt #3

9. Write a love letter.

Nah, that’s way too corny…

10. Make a handmade gift.

Yu was the one that was good with his hands; if Yosuke even attempted to make anything remotely heartfelt, it would look like total shit. Especially in front of the origami master himself. That wasn’t an option.

11. Make a playlist of songs that remind you of them.

…huh. Yosuke knows Yu isn’t a big music guy, but he is, and what’s more romantic than sharing your favorite things with the one you love? Plus, he could possibly convert Yu into becoming a fan of his favorite bands through this. Win-win!

Yosuke closes the website titled 15 ways to confess your love to your best friend and fishes his MP3 player out of his schoolbag. 

After kicking Teddie out of the house to work his shift at Junes, he begins constructing the most romantic playlist that he can conjure up, full of songs he loves.

The Background - Third Eye Blind

1979 - The Smashing Pumpkins

There Is a Light That Never Goes Out - The Smiths

(Perhaps his own definition of romantic is a bit different to others’.)

Eventually the playlist has a good 20 songs in it, and Yosuke innocuously invites Yu over to listen to the playlist on his speakers. He prays that today is finally the day that Yu gets the damn hint already, and they kiss, and start dating. Forever. Assuming that Yu likes him back, of course. And that he’d choose Yosuke over the entire school population who all seem to be understandably infatuated by Yu’s wordless charm. 

The more Yosuke thinks, the worse he feels about the chances of his feelings being reciprocated, so he shuts off his brain.

Eventually, they’re sitting on the edge of Yosuke’s bed together, with Yosuke mentally preparing himself. Yu interrupts Yosuke’s thoughts, looking around the room curiously.

“It’s been a while since I’ve been here… guess you took all of those posters down, huh?”

“What? What posters-” Yosuke cringes as he realizes. The risque photographs of women that once adorned the walls of his room were all ripped down a few months ago when Yosuke had realized he was in love with Yu (although he’d actually fallen in love a while before that). “Yeah, uh, just stopped doing that kind of stuff, if you know what I mean…”

“Yeah. I’m happy about that.” Yu shuffles where he’s sitting in the bed, glancing everywhere but at Yosuke. Awkward silence fills the room.

“A-anyways! The reason why I asked you to come over is because,” Yosuke lifts his pillow and grabs the MP3 player from under it. “I made a playlist… for us? It’s just songs that remind me of you.”

Yosuke sees a glint in Yu’s eyes as he turns and stares at the player in Yosuke’s hands. “Wow… really? Thank you so much, I’ll listen to it as soon as I get home-”

“No! Uh, I mean, I was hoping we could just listen to it right now?” Yosuke sets down the MP3 player and produces a pair of wired earbuds from his pocket, handing one of the sides to Yu.

Yu smiles, taking the earbud and placing it into his ear. The two listen in silence, save for a few interjections from Yu about how great the songs sound. By the last few songs, they’ve made themselves comfortable, lying down with legs hanging off of the bed and touching the ground. Yosuke feels his heart beating faster as the final song comes to a close. He hasn’t looked at Yu for the entire hour-long playlist; he has no idea how he reacted, if he even got the hint at all. 

“So, what did you think?” 

Yu doesn’t say anything, and Yosuke feels his heartrate speed up even more. He slowly turns his head around to look at Yu.

Yu faces the ceiling, earbud still fitted snugly in his ear. His eyes are closed, and his chest moves up and down slowly and rhythmically, with his hands placed over his belly, folded over each other. Yu is fast asleep.

Despite this being fail number three, Yosuke can’t help but smile at how cute his partner is, having fallen asleep to the music Yosuke chose for him, in his own bed. His heart feels inexplicably warm. He wishes he could relish this moment for the rest of time.

He carefully takes the earbud out of Yu’s ear, hoping not to wake him, and drapes a blanket over his body. Yosuke spends way too long admiring Yu as he sleeps before he eventually drifts off to the smell of silver hair.

Attempt #4

When Yosuke wakes up, Yu is gone. He’s left nothing but a text on Yosuke’s phone that reads:

Didn’t wanna wake u, I gtg to work, see u!

Yosuke adds aerobics to his mental list of things Yu seemed to be instinctually good at, given his masterful avoidance of Yosuke’s very obvious hints.

Yosuke is officially out of options. He’s browsed through forums, Reddit, even random teenage girls’ online blogs. He has no idea what to do.

So he turns to the only person he knows he can trust that isn’t Yu.

Yosuke: yo… Can we meet? I need sum advice

Chie: Onlyy if u pay for my beef bowl at Aiya’s :3

Yosuke: bitch fine. B there in 10

Chie: yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yosuke stares at the boatload of cheering emojis Chie sends alongside the exclamation, questioning why he sacrifices so much (the “so much” being the cost of a single beef bowl) for Narukami Yu.

Chie is 5 minutes late, as always, and hops into the bar seat next to Yosuke’s at Aiya’s, ignoring him completely and going straight for the beef bowl in front of her.

“Chie?”

“Yeah?” Chie is mid-bite, mouth full of food.

“Uh, so, about that thing I needed help with it…”

“Hold on-“ Chie gulps down the last of her beef bowl. “Ahh, that was so good… anyways, whaddya need?”

Yosuke stares at Chie in a mixture of concern, judgment, and admiration.

“Well, basically, I’ve been trying to confess to Yu for the last three days-“

Chie throws out a palm in front of Yosuke’s face. “You like Yu?!?!”

“Dude, I thought I told you.”

“This is the first I’m hearing of this! Oh my god, congrats for finally accepting your undying love for him!”

“Huh? Don’t you remember, that one time we were on the roof, and I told you I liked Yu, and you were like “Well obviously” or some shit like that?”

Chie makes a noise of realization. “I thought you were saying you really liked him in a friend kinda way!”

“Are you stupid or something? Well- whatever, the issue is, I need some ideas! He’s so dense, he hasn’t realized I’ve been trying to confess!”

“Yu? Dense? No way…”

“Yes way! I’ve given him chocolates, asked him out, I even made him a whole playlist, and he’s still oblivious!”

Chie puts her hand on her chin, clearly in deep thought. “Jeez… at this point, it might be on purpose…”

Yosuke chokes on his beef. “Fuck, do you really think so?”

“Uh- well, no, Yu isn’t that type of guy! If he didn’t like you, he’d just say it!”

“I guess so…” It’s too late. The possibility is already engrained into Yosuke’s brain, a slowly growing void in his love for Yu that makes him feel a certain way that he never wants to feel ever again.

Chie notices the doubt in Yosuke's expression and places a hand on his shoulder. “Hey, don't think too much, okay? Yu would never do that. Trust me.”

“…Okay. I trust you.” Guess Yu was really rubbing off on him.

“Anyways, if it were me, I’d just outright say it.”

“Say what?”

“Say that you love him! Just invite him out somewhere nice and atmospheric, tell him that you love him, and ask to be his boyfriend!”

“Really? I always thought a more romantic gesture would be better…”

“That is the most romantic thing you can do! If Yukiko did that to me, I think I’d die happy…”

“Ew, don’t spread your gayness to me Chie.”

“Shut up! But think about it, okay? He’ll definitely get the hint this time!”

“Alright…” Yosuke sighs and considers Chie’s words. Since Yu had proven himself to have a very thick skull, a more direct confession that couldn’t be interpreted any other way would be best. A smidge of optimism returns to Yosuke as he dials Yu’s phone to invite him to Samegawa Riverbank on the weekend.

The weekend rolls over, and Yosuke spends the entire week practicing the confession in the mirror. Teddie overheard and offered to pretend to be “the lucky girl you’re confessing to!” It takes a hundred rejections and even more bribery to get Teddie to leave him and his “girl problems” alone. 

As he heads to Samegawa Riverbank, he feels strangely confident. There’s no way for Yu to somehow elude an outright proclamation of love… right?

As he descends the stairs, he sees Yu already sitting on the grass, staring out at the horizon. It’s late in the afternoon, so the sun will be setting soon; a confession against the sunset was the most romantic thing Yosuke could think of. 

Yosuke sneaks up on Yu, who’s absorbed in the scene in front of him. He sneakily places two hands on Yu’s eyes. “Guess who?”

Yu is surprised but only for a second before placing his hands on the ones on his face and smiling. “Hmm… who could this possibly be?”

Yosuke giggles. “Do you need a hint?”

“Yes, I don’t think I can figure this out on my own.”

“It’s the handsomest man in all of Inaba!”

Yu feigns shock, gasping. “Wait… it couldn’t possibly be… my identical twin?”

“Yeah yeah, whatever Yu!”

“I’m just joking, we all know the handsomest man in Inaba is Hanamura Yosuke.” Yu’s earnest tone brings a blush to Yosuke’s cheeks. Was he really just joking?

Yosuke shakes the thought off as he takes his hands off of Yu’s face and plops down next to him on the grass. “That’s right!” Yosuke grins at the sight of Yu’s face.

Yu looks back at him, smiling. “So, why’d you want to meet me here?”

Yosuke suddenly remembers his mission. “Right, well, I need to tell you something really important. So, uh, don’t talk until I’m done, okay?”

Yu is clearly curious, tilting his head, akin to a cat seeing something completely foreign. Yosuke notes how cute Yu looks as he nods in acceptance of Yosuke’s request.

“Good. So, well, the truth is, partner… I wanna be more than just partners,” Yosuke starts. His heart is beating out of his chest. “I… I love you!”

Yosuke shuts his eyes as he vocalises the confession, knees pulled to his chest and hands balled up in fists. The confessions in the mirror were certainly more coherent than this. He’s completely red, face burning in embarrassment.

Yu stays silent for what feels like forever. 

“I love you too, Yosuke.”

Yosuke slowly opens his eyes, not realizing he’d been holding his breath.

“Wuh- wait, really?“

Yu pulls Yosuke into a tight hug. “You’re the best super-partner I could ever ask for!”

Yosuke is nothing short of speechless.

It has to be on purpose at this point, right?

“Super-partner? Huh?”

Yosuke feels Yu turn slightly on his shoulder. “More than just partners, right? We’re super partners!”

Yosuke wonders what exactly Yu was doing over in the city to develop such flawed ideas of what “more than friends” is.

“No, Yu… I… I want to be boyfriends!”

“Aren’t we already? We’re both boys, and we’re friends, so…”

Okay. It has to be on purpose at this point. Yu isn’t that stupid; he must be doing this for a reason - he probably doesn’t like Yosuke in that way, but wants to protect their friendship by avoiding an explicit rejection.

“Forget it, Yu… y’know, if you need to tell me anything, you can just say it, right?”

“Yeah, of course. We’re super partners, aren’t we?”

“Uh huh…” Yosuke sighs through his nose before digging his head into Yu’s shoulders in dejection.

Yu strokes his back gently. It feels nice, but Yu just rejected him - why was he still doing this kind of stuff?

Regardless, Yosuke had no more attempts left in him. He was devastated, but part of him felt thankful that Yu had at least rejected him subtly; he’d avoided losing his best friend, even if Yu didn’t feel the same way that Yosuke felt.

They stay at the riverbank for a long while, until the sun sets and the sky becomes dark.

Attempt #1

Yosuke didn’t expect it to hurt this bad. He thought the fact that he hadn’t lost Yu as a partner would dampen the effects of the implied rejection, but it made it even worse. Knowing Yu was always by his side, so close yet so far, just out of reach - it felt terrible, like wasted potential. 

It had been 3 days since Doomsday (as Yosuke nicknamed it) and Yosuke’s heart still ached, harder than it had for the last 2 days. He tried his best to keep his usual happy-go-lucky mood, but it was fruitless; heartbreak shone through the cracks of the facade. 

Everyone notices. Yu notices. He notices it the most, it seems, because he’s been paying extra attention to Yosuke recently: asking if he’s okay, checking on him through text, looking back at him more than usual in the TV world. 

Yosuke appreciates the thought, but it doesn’t help; Yu is the cause of his suffering. 

Yosuke wonders when his misery will ever end.

It turns out the answer is an entire week from Doomsday, when Yu randomly barges into his house.

Yosuke is doing the thing he’s been doing everyday for the past week: laying in his bed, staring at the ceiling, and listening to breakup songs that make him sadder than he already is. 

When Yu slams the door to his room open, he barely even notices from the volume of music blasting through his headphones. When he spots gray hair in his peripheral, he immediately chucks off his headphones in confusion.

When he gets up, he finally sees the state of Yu. He looks disheveled and out of breath, like he ran to Yosuke’s house without getting ready. He’s holding a small note, a bouquet of flowers, and an MP3 player.

Yosuke recognizes the items as the gifts he used to attempt to confess to Yu. What kind of sick joke was he playing now?

“Yu, what are you doing in my house?” The words come out more coldly than he had intended, but Yosuke had been depressed for the past week because of Yu’s audacity. He felt it reasonable.

“Yosuke, I figured it out.”

“What?”

Yu plops down on the floor in front of Yosuke’s bed, cross legged, laying out the items on the floor in front of him. He picks up the note.

“You gave me my favorite chocolate on Valentine’s day.”

He gestures to the bouquet.

“And then you asked me out with a whole bouquet of flowers.”

Finally, he takes hold of the MP3 player, waving it around frantically. “You even made me a playlist of love songs!”

Yosuke squints in confusion and anger. “What, are you just rubbing it in my face now? I get it, it’s corny!”

“No, it’s not that. You were… trying to confess to me? Trying to ask me out?”

Yosuke suddenly feels self-conscious for some reason. “Uh… yeah? And you rejected me. So what’s the point of all of this? Could you just leave me alone to mourn?”

“Yosuke…”

Yosuke becomes bitter. “Just get out.”

“No, wait. Listen-”

“Out.”

“Please, Yosuke, just let me explain! Please!”

Yosuke had never heard Yu as desperate as he sounded now. He crosses his arms, clearly conflicted.

“Fine.”

“Yosuke, I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize what you meant at all… even what you said at the riverbank. I just, I never thought that you’d ever like me like that. Not in a million years! It just didn’t register in my brain as a possibility, I guess.”

“Just reject me already, Yu…”

Yu stays silent for a while as Yosuke stares at his own lap, fighting with himself to hold back tears. He doesn’t notice Yu inching closer and closer to Yosuke until their faces are almost touching. 

“Can I kiss you?”

Yosuke’s brain short circuits. “Uh- yeah?” Yosuke squeaks out, almost yelling out of pure shock.

Yu plants his lips on Yosuke’s, lingering for a few intimate, butterfly-inducing seconds before pulling away. 

Yosuke quickly recovers from the initial shock of Narukami Yu kissing him, backing away until he lies against his bedroom wall. Everything’s blurry, but he can tell that Yu’s face is as red as a beet.

“Wh-wh-wh-what? But I thought- you rejected me!”

“No. No! I never meant to do that… Yosuke, I like you. Like, like like you. I love you! As more than partners. As, a boyfriend! Romantically! I just didn’t realize it before. Until today.” 

Yosuke’s brain officially stops working.

Yu takes the opportunity to ramble on, making meaningless hand gestures between his words. “I was just thinking about all the stuff you’ve been giving me, and it all finally clicked in my head. That I love you. Everything about you. Your smile, your face, your personality, the way you make me laugh, the way you just get me… I just thought that the fact that my heart kept going crazy around you was a side effect of the TV world or something. But now I know! It’s because I love you!”

“But- so then- Why- Why did you reject me?”

“I never rejected you! I just…” Yu clearly hesitates. “I would’ve never thought in a million years that you’d like me! Of all people… you could choose anyone, I never thought that’d be me…”

Yu’s ridiculous words snap Yosuke back to reality. “Wuh- are you stupid or something? If it was between the two of us, it would be you who could get any girl or guy you wanted! How could anyone not like you? You’re literally amazing! You’re my partner! You’re like, the singular best human being I’ve ever known!” The praise leaves Yosuke’s mouth before his dignity can protest against him.

Yu’s tomato-red blush somehow deepens. 

A meek “Really?” is all that Yu can vocalize, and even then the sound is akin to a mumble.

Yosuke is in shambles, witnessing what is hands-down the cutest Narukami Yu has ever been in his entire life. Here he is, blushing like a loser over Yosuke. He cannot believe it. He must exploit this.

Yosuke, out of his daze, scoots back forward, stopping inches from Yu’s face. He smirks.

“Yeah.” He leans in to kiss Yu, a kiss that Yu immediately sinks into, using the contact as a distraction to pull him onto the bed and roll around so Yosuke is on top of Yu. 

“Yosuke…”

Yosuke takes the moment to appreciate how flustered Yu looks below him. “I love you too, by the way.”

Yu’s lips quiver like he’s about to burst into tears. “Can we be boyfriends? Please?”

Yosuke looks up, feigning a look of contemplation. “Meh, I’m gonna need to think about it.”

Yu visibly shrinks. “Oh…”

Yosuke panics and starts speaking rapidly. “I’m joking, stupid! Duh! I’ve been the one trying to confess for the last week! Why would I not want to be your boyfriend! That’s like, the only thing I want at this point!”

“Oh!” Yu immediately lightens up, pulling Yosuke down into a hug.

Yosuke leans his head on Yu’s body, feeling the rise and fall of his chest and the racing of his heart, which seemed to be speeding up.

“Yosuke, I’m sorry for not realizing it earlier. I think you’re really amazing. I’m lucky to have you. I’m lucky that you’re mine.”

Yosuke blushes, head buried deep in Yu’s neck. “Yeah… same.” 

Yu sighs in pure bliss and contentment as Yosuke reaches up to start playing with his hair. 

He’s smitten, Yosuke thinks. He’s down bad. And all of that confession-suffering was worth it, even if just for this moment. 

As they fall asleep in each other’s arms, they sail into the sunset, living happily ever after.