Chapter Text
Today is a very important day for one Yosuke Hanamura. A very important day indeed. Today is the day Yosuke goes to his first Dojima family dinner as Yu’s boyfriend. He’s had dinner with the Dojima’s before of course, he’s even cooked dinner with Yu and Nanako, but this is different. Yu loves the Dojima’s, in his time in Inaba he has become just as much Dojima’s son as Nanako is Dojima’s daughter. He’s grown close to Nanako as brother and sister.
These people are his family. Yosuke has never really spared a thought to meeting Yu’s parents, and Yu never expressed interest in making that happen. So Yosuke is currently going through an about-to-meet-the-parents crisis, even though he’s already met Dojima on many occasions and Dojima is Yu’s uncle.
He begged Chie to help him re-dye his hair a few days ago and she eventually gave in, normally he does it himself but he wanted to make sure it was even. He’s usually fine with his roots showing through a bit, and Yu says he thinks it’s cute, but he needs to look put together tonight. He wants Dojima to know he can trust him to be good to his nephew.
He has his hair styled and gelled, he’s never fussed over his hair that much before which is saying a lot for him. He’s still not satisfied with it but he needs to figure out his outfit right away or he’ll be late. He opens his closet and starts rummaging through it frantically.
He pulls out way too many different options, he has a navy blue suit that he’s only worn twice (his cousin’s wedding and a weirdly formal Junes work event) but he thinks it might be too fancy. He looks through his closet and grabs a well-fitting pink t-shirt, he has a lot of American rock band shirts but he somehow doubts showing up in one of those will leave a good impression. He opens his pants drawer and desperately unfolds then refolds all his jeans. He doesn’t want to wear something faded but his newest pair of jeans are a little tight and he doesn’t want Dojima to think-
God he needs to stop freaking out about this. He knows Dojima already, he can’t make a worse impression than when they first met at the heckin’ police station! Dojima is not going to think he has bad intentions just because his jeans are a little tight!
After much deliberation he doesn’t even end up wearing jeans, he chooses basic beige pants, the pink shirt and a jacket. He looks himself over carefully in the mirror, he looks surprisingly put together, his hair has even settled into a good shape.
Then he promptly goes back to freaking out. What if everyone else is dressed up but him? What if he shows up in a t-shirt while Yu is in a suit (he doesn’t slow down to think, why Yu would wear a suit to dinner at his own house)? Surely that will make Dojima think he’s not putting as much effort into their relationship as Yu is.
Luckily before he can truly spiral into a panic his phone buzzes on his bed. He lunges for it and flips it open in one fluid movement. It’s a message from Yu.
From Partner <3 at 3:43PM:
Thank you for agreeing to do this. I know you think Dojima thinks you are a bad influence but I promise he does not. It does not show but he is grateful we became friends.
Somehow over the course of a year he has gotten used to Yu’s incredibly bizarre and formal texting patterns, so much so that he doesn’t even notice it and is just immediately calmed by Yu’s reassurance.
To Partner <3 at 3:44PM:
thx prtnr :)
To Partner <3 at 3:44PM:
also what should i wear like formal clothes or just normal nice clothes??
From Partner <3 at 3:45PM:
As much as I would love to see you in that suit I saw when I was at your place; everyone here is dressed casually. Dojima is still in his work clothes but Nanako was excited you were coming so she got me to do her hair all special.
Yosuke can’t help but blush at Yu’s flirting, he lets out a sigh of relief that he chose the right outfit anyways. He’s supposed to be at the Dojima’s at 4:30PM, he really needs to hurry so he can get the stuff he wants from Junes before he heads over.
When he arrives at Junes he buys Nanako’s favorite pudding then rushes to the flower counter. Once there he abruptly realizes he has no idea what kind of flowers to get. There’s too many options and he has no idea which ones are romantic or friendly or for events. That’s a thing right? DIfferent flowers being for different things? He has no idea so he frantically pulls out his phone to dial Rise’s number.
Just a few months ago he would have been a babbling nervous mess about calling Rise, now he calls her without hesitation for aid in his moment of crisis. He has no time to dwell on that though because if he wants to get to the Dojima’s on time he needs to be out of Junes soon.
Luckily she picks up on the third ring “Hana? What’s up?” Her lilting voice and giggled nickname does little to calm his inner turmoil.
“Rise, major emergency, I’m getting Yu flowers but I don’t want to get something that means like ‘I hate you. Die’ or ‘Get well soon’” He quickly hushes himself so he doesn’t get weird looks in the middle of his workplace. “If a guy got you flowers, what kind would you want?”
“Woah, woah, calm down Yosuke. For one, I’m sure Yu will love whatever you get him, and secondly, the flowers I would like would not be the same as the one’s Yu would like! C’mon Yosuke, I know Yu and I are both incredibly cool and attractive and well mannered and great and many other wonderful things, but that doesn’t mean we like the same things! Plus why would Yu know anything about flower language, that’s way more Yukiko’s thing.”
“Yeah okay. Yeah that makes sense. But still, how would I know what kind of flowers he likes?” He glances over all the pretty bouquets “There’s way way way too many options.”
“Yosuke, it really isn’t that hard. You’re overthinking it. You know Yu, look at the flowers and think about them. What does Yu find pretty? What colors does he like?” She sighs, like this is the stupidest conversation she’s ever had (which is totally unfair since Yosuke heard her debating with Kanji last week about if she could still be an idol if she was a worm) before continuing “Dinners going to go great. The Dojima’s love you. Nanako has found a way to mention you every time I’ve seen her in the last three days. She talks about you nearly as much as she talks about Yu. And you know Dojima, he just wants Yu and Nanako to be happy, so no matter how grumpy he seems I’m sure he actually likes you.”
Yosuke is silent for a moment, looking at the flowers, before he spots the perfect ones “Thanks Rise! That was great advice actually! I’ve got it!”
He hangs up and walks up to the counter to ask for one of the bouquets, this one is mostly orange lilies and white hyacinths, with a few red chrysanthemums mixed in. Rise was right, it was easy when he actually looked, Yu had told him on numerous occasions that his favorite color is orange and through observation Yosuke had managed to gather that Yu prefers soft shapes and tends to avoid sharp edges in his room decor.
More determined than ever, Yosuke makes his way to the Dojima residence. This is going to go well, sure Dojima’s a little scary and he’s not convinced he doesn’t hate him, but it’s always fun being with Yu and Nanako.
When he finally arrives he swiftly knocks on the door. He only waits for a few seconds before he hears the pounding of footsteps, the click of a lock, then the door swings open revealing Nanako excitedly grinning up at him.
“Yosuke! Yosuke, I’m so glad you’re here! Big bro has been talking about this alllllll week! He’s so excited, my friends say he always looks neutral but I can tell! He spent so much time figuring out what to have for dinner! He also tried super hard to convince dad to set aside time for tonight! I don’t know why since we normally just leave out food for him but he was super determined to make sure dad was here! He even did his makeup! He normally doesn’t let me play with his makeup but he said that since today is a special day I could use some of his sparkly stuff!”
While Nanako is talking excitedly about Yu the man himself comes running down the stairs, three at a time. Yosuke wouldn’t say this is the most flustered he’s ever seen Yu but it’s definitely up there, there’s a light flush to his cheeks and his usual polite smile is replaced with an awkward pout. Despite how scattered he looks from Nanako’s words he doesn’t say anything to stop her. It’s sweet, how even though he’s clearly embarrassed he just wants Nanako to continue on in her excitement.
“Big bro! Yosuke’s here! I’ll go get dad so you plate dinner!” With that Nanako runs upstairs, she’s so all over the place in her excitement she didn’t even comment on the paper Junes bag or the flowers in Yosuke’s arms.
With the entry hall settled Yosuke finally has a chance to get a real look at Yu. When he sees him it makes his heart and stomach and everything else that jumbles get jumbled up. He’s wearing a light gray sweater that hugs tight to his shoulders and softens everything about him. He looks warm, physically yes, but emotionally too. When he gets closer he can see that Nanako was right about the makeup, it’s not super noticeable, a bit of something around his eyes Yosuke can’t name. It makes his gaze more intense, Yosuke doesn’t think it’s fair that his partner is so pretty, he feels like all his words have suddenly gone missing.
“Hi Yosuke, Thank you. This really does mean everything to me. I hope you like dinner, Nanako helped with it a lot and we are both happy with how it turned out.” When they were first becoming friends Yosuke didn’t think Yu was a very expressive guy, and he isn’t really, at first glance at least. Even when he speaks true to his emotions his voice tends to come across as monotone and his expression stays fairly still. As far as Yosuke knows that’s intentional, but a year and a bit in he picks things up that which his partner automatically suppresses. The way his smile is different than the usual one, less pleasant and more happy, the fond tilt in his voice that he normally lacks.
“I wanted to come Partner! Sure I’m a little freaked out but I know this is important to you, I wouldn’t have missed it for the world!” The words flow easily for Yosuke until he finishes the easy part and comes to the part where he wants to tell Yu he looks nice. Eventually he just fumbles out “You look really pretty, um not that you don’t look pretty usually! You do! I um- I like your makeup, it suits you, I think, ah! That's the sweater we got when we went to the city isn’t it?” He looks away and scratches at his cheek to try to hide the flush burning his cheeks.
Out of the corner of his eye Yosuke catches a glimpse of a smirk painting Yu’s features. It had caught him off guard the first time he saw it, to be honest it still does. He hardly has time to brace himself for whatever dramatic, teasing, embarrassing words Yu is about to say. Instead of saying anything though he just leans in close, over the flowers and kisses Yosuke sweetly.
Yosuke, completely unprepared, somehow turns even redder. When Yu pulls away slightly he looks at Yosuke from beneath his long lashes, with the most fond, lovestruck look in his eye and whispers “Cute” almost more to himself than to Yosuke.
When he pulls back fully his expression is nearly neutral, which is completely unfair. It’s not like they haven’t kissed before but Yosuke still turns into a total mess every time while Yu keeps his composure.