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"All right," said Yosuke, peering through the window of the old-fashioned instant camera that was set up on a tripod. "Let's do this!"

His friends on the Investigation Team were crowded together in front of the Inaba overlook's railing. It was the perfect backdrop for a group picture: a clear blue sky, the sun beaming down from high above, a couple of trees at the edges for scenery.

"Ted," he said, motioning his hand above the camera, "move a little closer to Naoto—not that close! I swear—all right, that's good. No, Kanji, you gotta stay in the back. You're too tall! Not that far back, you're out of the picture now. Stopstopstop. Perfect! Now on the count of three..."

He pressed a button on the camera and rushed to join the group, barely managing not to trip over Teddie, who was having trouble staying still long enough for even this one single picture, and stopped next to Yu, who sent him the briefest of amused looks before turning back to the camera.

"One!" Yosuke announced. He winked right as the camera emitted a sound indicating it had taken the picture.

Now that the picture-taking was over, the group spread apart to put more comfortable space between each member. Yosuke noticed Naoto heading for the camera and decided to let her take care of it. She'd been excited about the old thing ever since she saw it, but Dojima-san had firmly told them all that he wanted it back in one working piece. Hearing that, Naoto had reluctantly been forced to put away her screwdriver.

Naoto handed the photograph it had printed out to Rise, who fanned it in the air until the picture showed up. "Wow, Yosuke-senpai!" the idol said, inspecting it. "You got it right the first time. We won't have to take another."

"Why do you sound so surprised?" he protested.

"I was expecting Teddie to get in the way," Kanji admitted. "Hog the picture, y'know?" The bear protested with a 'Hey! So rude!'

"I was expecting Yosuke to put bunny ears on me!" Chie followed up.

"Oh, Yosuke-senpai couldn't do that," Rise remarked, "because his hand isn't free."

Yosuke didn't comment as everyone in the group looked at him and noticed how Yu was holding his left hand. In fact, Yu now hugged the trapped hand to his chest at the sudden attention.

"Oh, Senpai~" Rise put her hands together in front of her and released an over-exaggerated sigh.

"Partners to the end, huh?" Chie teased.

"Oh, I know!" Yukiko announced with excitement. "Take his other hand, Yu-kun! And then we'll take another picture."

"What, while they gaze deeply into each other's eyes?" Chie's grin was diabolical, and Yukiko nodded.

"That's too much, even for me," Yosuke complained, but Yu was definitely trying to grab his other hand to make it happen. "Come on, partner, I'm not letting them have any blackmail!"

Yu let him go with a sigh so overdone that it rivaled Rise's. Yosuke rolled his eyes and rubbed the back of his neck with the hand that was still warm from being held.

Rise took her phone out and took a picture of the photograph with it. She pressed a few buttons on the phone. "There... it's sent! And Senpai gets the hard copy." She handed the photograph to Yu, who looked at it for a moment before tucking it safely away in his day planner.

"I suppose we could take other pictures," Yosuke mused. Dojima-san hadn't said he needed the camera back with any film in it, after all.

"Oh, oh!" Teddie began to dance around. "Me-me-me! I want everyone to have a picture of me! All the pretty ladies, so they'll always have moi with them~"

"...I'd probably burn it," Yukiko said.

Teddie flinched dramatically. "Oh, my heart!"

"Naoto!" Kanji called. "There's a kingfisher on the rail. M-maybe you could take a picture?"

"Ah, that might be a problem," Naoto replied, barely glancing up from what she was doing with the camera. "It will most likely be gone by the time I've reattached the primary lens."

"That answers that," Yosuke said. "No more pictures."

"That's what phones are for, Yosuke-senpai!" Rise declared. "Honestly, I wondered why Dojima-san gave us that old thing to use, anyway."

"It has the instant-gratification thing going for it," Chie pointed out. "Since it prints out the pictures for us."

"It is not an 'old thing,'" Naoto murmured. She had one eye closed while she looked through some opening in the camera. "There are plenty of uses for a camera like this, even today. For one, it provides an aesthetic that newer cameras simply can't."

"Sure, if you like grunge," Rise said. "But you can do a lot of that with photo editing now."

Naoto began to elaborate on her opinion, but then gave up to focus on her work. A few moments later, she put her screwdriver away and handed the camera to Yu. "There," she said. "Your uncle complained about a problem with the flash button not responding. I was able to fix it."

Before Yu could reply, Rise was calling for his attention. "Senpai~ Is everything set for tomorrow?"

Yu paused for a second, looking down at the camera in his hands, then nodded at her.

"Speaking of tomorrow, partner," Yosuke said, "you probably ought to get home. We've got a lot of cooking ahead of us."

"'We'?" Rise asked. "You're going to help Senpai?"

"Well, yeah," Yosuke replied. "Cooking for all of us is a big order. Maybe I can't help with the actual cooking, but at least I can be moral support."

"More like a distraction," Chie commented. "I can see it now. They're still in the kitchen past midnight because they're too busy kissing instead of cooking."

"Which is why we should be going now," Yosuke said, knowing full well that his face was burning up despite all the self-control he was exerting on it not to. He picked up the tripod and looked at Yu, who nodded. After a round of goodbyes, they headed on their way.

"Are you all right?" Yosuke asked Yu during the walk back to the Dojima Residence. It was just the two of them on the empty street. "You've been quiet all day. Well, quieter than normal, that is. About as quiet as you used to be when you first came here."

As if to prove that, Yu didn't answer the question at all. Yosuke glanced sidelong at him, and then wished he wasn't carrying the bulky tripod, because his boyfriend definitely looked like he needed some hand-holding right now.

"Partner?" Yosuke prompted.

Yu lifted his head, not quite meeting Yosuke's eyes. "Y-yeah, I just..." he began, his voice hoarse from lack of use. He cleared his throat before continuing. "I just didn't have any words to say."

"...You're thinking too hard. I can tell."

Yu looked away, apparently out of words again.

They walked in silence for a minute or two. Yosuke noticed it was starting to get dark out. Already? Their group photo hadn't taken that long. He was supposed to have a whole afternoon left to spend with Yu.

Well, on the bright side, he still had the entire night with him. One more sleepover. What number was it now? He had kind of lost count.

"Wh-when..." Yu began, breaking the unnatural quiet.

Yosuke glanced at him as he slowed in his steps. "Yeah?"

Yu cleared his throat again, not that it helped very much because his voice was always a bit dry. "When do you work next, Yosuke?"

"Oh, don't worry about that," Yosuke answered, freeing a hand from the tripod for a moment to wave at him. "I got this whole first week of spring break off. I'm totally free. We could hang out every day, if you want."

"Of course I want, silly," Yu said, meeting his eyes now with the soft expression that made Yosuke always want to use the bathroom. "But you really took that much time off just for me?"

"Of course I did," Yosuke countered, although his brow furrowed a bit while he thought about it. He hadn't actually taken the time off for Yu. He'd put in the time off request a long time ago. So long ago, it was before they were dating. But looking back, maybe even back then he'd wanted to spend that time with Yu.

"That's..." Yu said slowly. "Well, umm... Thank you."

Yosuke blinked at him. His cheeks were all pink, and... Why was he so flustered about something so simple? It wasn't like him. "Geez, you can be such a dork sometimes..."

"But, umm... Do you think..." Yu went on, ignoring his comment. "Do you think you could help me pack on Monday?"

"A-ah..." Yosuke stalled, almost tripping in mid-step. Anything that reminded him of, well... the end... It was something he didn't want to think about.

At the same time, he'd jump on any opportunity to spend more time with his best friend before that end.

"Sure," he answered, hoping he actually sounded sure.

"Then it's a date!" Yu announced, and it was so hammy that Yosuke had to chuckle and shake his head. He'd probably said it like that just to cheer him up.

Though it wasn't as if tonight wasn't a date of its own. Well, as much of a date as the two boys could have with a seven-year-old present.

"Big bro, big bro! And Yosuke-nii!" Nanako exclaimed, running to the door when the two entered the Dojima Residence. She hugged Yu's legs, and after Yosuke set the tripod against the wall, she hugged him in turn, too.

"How was your last day of school, Nanako-chan?" Yosuke asked politely.

The little girl beamed up at him. "My homeroom teacher gave everyone a goodbye letter, and after school I went with Miwa-chan and we played with jump ropes. And then Takeyoshi-kun came by and Miwa-chan tripped."

"Uh, is she okay?"

"Yep!"

"Well, that's good—what's the matter, partner?"

After setting the camera down on the kitchen table, Yu had opened his day planner. Now he was frowning down at the photograph they'd taken earlier in the day. "We... we should've taken the picture with Nanako..."

Nanako tugged on his shirt until he brought the picture down to her height so she could see it. "Oh, it's big bro and big bro's friends."

Yosuke picked up the camera and held it up to his face. "We'll take a picture of you two right now, how's that? Let's see... Let's have you sit behind the kotatsu together. That'll be cute."

Nanako tugged on Yu's hand, and together they went to the kotatsu and posed for the picture. The little girl hugged her older cousin's arm, smiling so hard that her eyes were shut. Yu smiled, too, mostly at her enthusiasm. When the picture came out of the camera, Yosuke handed it to Nanako, and she aired it out with obvious delight.

"Yay, I'm gonna hang it on the wall!" she declared, running to her room.

While she was away, Yu asked Yosuke to come sit by him and take another picture. "Set it on a timer and..."

"Actually, it's out of film," Yosuke said. "It really is! There's a little light right here, see." He turned the camera's backside towards his partner as proof. "We'll take a picture with our phones later, okay? We gotta get that sushi made soon, or else we really will be in the kitchen 'til midnight."

"Check the fridge," Yu murmured. He was tracing patterns on the kotatsu's tabletop. Upon closer inspection, Yosuke recognized that they were hearts. He rolled his eyes, an action totally unnoticed by his preoccupied partner, and went to the kitchen and opened the fridge.

Inside he found several packs of already-made sushi. It was enough to feed the Investigation Team and then some. "Wha... when did you...?"

"I made it all last night," his friend admitted. "I had some free time and extra Inaba trout on hand, so..."

Yosuke hid his disappointment. He'd wanted to watch Yu work in the kitchen one last time. At the same time, though, he didn't really want to be around the guy when he was preparing fish, so he wasn't going to complain.

"We can still do what Chie suggested." Yu's voice came from right behind him. Yosuke jumped, slamming the refrigerator door shut in the process. He hadn't heard his friend move!

And before he knew it, Yu was kissing him softly on the lips. Yosuke kissed back, his eyes closing halfway. Today there wasn't a flavor to the other boy's lips, no, actually there was a slightly metallic tang, he'd been chewing on his lower lip too much recently, and Yosuke knew why, it was the same reason he'd been so quiet earlier today...

Which reminded Yosuke of something that had been on his mind for a while now. Something that he'd been wanting to say before... before it was too late and his partner was miles away. They were alone now, and holding each other, and it was the perfect opportunity, so... He stopped kissing to look into his boyfriend's eyes. "Say, Yu, umm, I..."

There was a giggle from behind him. He pulled a few inches away from the other boy instinctively in embarrassment. Nanako was watching them from the hallway, her eyes dancing with delight at having caught them in a precious moment.

"N-Nanako-chan," he stuttered.

"It's okay," she said. "I think you're really cute!"

"Thank you, Nanako," Yu said, pulling Yosuke back into a hug. It didn't embarrass him to be affectionate in front of her. Probably he just liked seeing Yosuke's face change colors.

They had takeout for dinner because Yosuke wouldn't let Yu cook after learning how he'd spent all that time making the sushi platters on his own. He made Yu choose what they were going to order because he'd always wanted to take Yu out to a restaurant on an actual date. With one thing or another, it had never happened; this would have to be good enough for now.

The rest of the evening was spent playing board games with Nanako until it was her bedtime. After Yu tucked the girl into bed and told her goodnight and that he loved her, he and Yosuke relocated to his room to watch a movie together.

Yosuke put a DVD that he'd brought from home into the player. It was an action movie, the first in a series that he really liked. He was hoping to share the love with his partner.

He sat down next to Yu on the couch. Within just a few seconds, the other boy was cuddling up next to him, his nose nuzzling against his neck. "Isn't this nice, Yosuke?"

"You're so gay," Yosuke told him. And then he clamped his hand over his mouth, because holy cow, that was definitely not what he'd wanted to say.

"Yeah, I am," Yu replied without any shame, not pausing a single moment in rubbing against his neck. "You just now noticed?"

Yosuke let out a small chuckle. "S-so much for that sliding scale, huh?"

"I did say that some people are firmly on either end," Yu murmured. "Does it bother you?"

"If it did, I wouldn't be letting you do that," Yosuke pointed out, wriggling a little because it was starting to tickle. And then Yu started kissing his neck instead and that made him squirm even more...

It didn't bother him, and they were once again alone. He could... he could tell Yu now, tell him what he'd tried to say earlier.

But as Yu began to lightly nibble his skin, he decided it really wasn't the best time. "Ah, p-partner, d-don't we have a movie to watch?" he whimpered.

"I, ah, I'm not all that interested in the movie," Yu murmured, his breath warm against Yosuke's neck.

"I-it's my favorite," he protested further. "Come on, we have all night. It's not that long, really."

The gray-haired boy pulled away with a sigh. He reached over to the work table to grab the remote and soon enough the movie was playing. He snuggled up next to Yosuke again and found his hand to hold, but kept his eyes on the TV screen instead of doing anything more, well, personal. Even so, it wasn't long before he was resting his head on Yosuke's shoulder.

Yosuke didn't pay much attention to the movie, despite it being his favorite. He hadn't seen it in a long time, actually, and now that he thought about it, it wasn't 'his movie' anymore. He'd changed over the last year—heck, just over the last three months—and maybe he thought about things differently now. The hero wasn't all that heroic, unlike Yu or any of his IT friends, really, and the love interest, despite her beauty, was kind of annoying and unhelpful. She wouldn't have been on their team, that was for sure.

So he spent the movie focused on the boy next to him, trying to commit everything he could to memory. The warmth of his skin, the softness of his breath, the careful pressure he applied when toying with his fingers...

And before Yosuke knew it, the credits were rolling. What, it was over already? He didn't remember the movie being quite that short, but he glanced at the time on the DVD player and it was definitely late enough.

He wondered what Yu had thought of the movie. Come to think of it, the guy hadn't said much during it. Usually he'd ask some questions, or laugh sometimes at the jokes, but...

He tried to free the hand Yu was holding and it came away without resistance. He frowned, then turned his head just enough to look at his partner and... seriously?

Yu had fallen asleep. During an action movie.

Yosuke sighed in vague frustration. He was doomed never to spend a real night with his partner. There was so much he'd wanted to do, and so much more to say and talk about...

Well, I can at least do this, he thought with another sigh. He took out his phone and snapped a picture of the two of them together.

The next day was already here. Yosuke hardly remembered waking up or getting changed, but here he was, carrying a cooler full of drinks and following Yu to the flood plain, where all their friends were gathered at the picnic table.

It wasn't going to be their last get-together. There were still a couple of days left, after all. But it was the last time they'd experience Yu's cooking, which was why everyone had accepted his offer to feed them all, despite everyone thinking that they should be treating him instead.

And today Yu had recovered his voice, or at least enough of it to warn them that it was his first time making sushi. "But I guarantee that the fish is local and fresh," he said. "I caught it myself."

"You can fish, too, Senpai?" said Kanji. "You're a man of many talents."

"I wouldn't say I'm talented at it," Yu protested. "It mostly requires patience. But I like it. It's relaxing."

"Y-yeah, that's why I like knitting," Kanji admitted. "Plus when you're done, you get something that someone can use. I s'pose that's how you fed all those cats."

"I also like skinny dipping," Yu went on.

Yosuke spat out his soda, fortunately only onto his own plate of sushi. "Wha... Nobody asked that, partner!"

"I think about that when I'm fishing," Yu explained, as if it was a perfectly normal segue from the topic. "How easy it would be to strip off and jump in the water and have a swim. Especially when it's hot out."

"W-wow, Senpai," Rise said weakly. "Guess we should've volunteered whenever you asked if anyone wanted to go fishing with you."

"I didn't know that it was a euphemism either," Chie said. She shook her head and patted Yukiko's back to help her calm down her giggles.

"There may be decency laws against that," Naoto said. "I suggest you check first. Dojima-san may know for sure."

"I've only gone swimming twice this whole year," Yu said with a sigh.

"And it was Kanji who had the wardrobe malfunction," Yosuke remarked. "Wait, why are we talking about this!?"

"It's way more interesting than the story about how Senpai caught the Guardian," Rise pointed out. "Uh, no offense, Senpai!"

"Which Guardian?" Yu asked. "River or Sea?"

"There was more than one? Uh, just pass the wasabi, will you? Thanks." Rise applied a liberal amount of wasabi to every piece of sushi on her plate. After she ate a piece, she gushed on about how good it was.

But Yu's mind was apparently focused on swimming. "We'll have to go to the beach again sometime."

"Oh!" Rise exclaimed, a wasabi-caked piece of sushi halfway to her mouth. "We should make plans for Golden Week! You are coming back for Golden Week, right Senpai?"

"I'll try my best," Yu promised.

Rise popped the sushi into her mouth and pushed aside her plate to pull out a school planner and opened it to the appropriate page. "Well, Senpai, you'll probably get here either Wednesday night or Thursday morning," she reported, "so our plans should begin then. Maybe we'll go out to lunch. Or we could have another picnic! Oh, but Senpai shouldn't have to cook again. Maybe we could—"

"The food's on me," Yosuke interrupted quickly.

"But we know you can't cook!" Chie said, glaring at him.

"Give him a chance," Yu said. "I think he'll surprise you."

Chie's eyes went wide. "Have you been giving him lessons?"

"Nnnnn," Yosuke began, then bit his tongue. He wasn't sure how much he'd lie to get out of Mystery Food X: Round 2. He settled on saying, "You'll see." Truthfully, he'd probably just order Aiya for everyone. Chie couldn't very well complain about that.

"Okay, so, picnic if it's not raining, food courtesy of Yosuke-senpai." Rise wrote it down on the planner. "If it is raining... Movies instead?"

"N-no, not the movies," said Yosuke. "We're all gonna wanna catch up with Yu. Can't do that in a place we can't talk."

"Oh, I thought you'd like that, Yosuke-senpai! The theater is dark, and you can have a lot of fun in the dark~" Rise teased.

Yosuke pointedly ignored both her and the way Yu began to teasingly stroke his hand under the table.

Naoto spoke up. "I believe Dojima-san wouldn't mind if we brought the picnic indoors if needed."

"You mean just having it at his place?" Yosuke mused. "It would probably work."

They spent some time coming up with further ideas and discarding the more ridiculous ones. The girls collectively decided against the beach—that was what summer was for—and a trip to the Amagi Inn's hot springs was also out of the question because it would be busy with customers over the holiday. They decided to have one day focus on simply walking around the town. It didn't sound fun when written on paper, but it was what Yu liked best: being able to see people, and then it could include people outside the team.

When the schedule was filled out, Rise took a picture of it with her phone's camera and emailed it to everyone. "There! Now everyone knows the plan."

"Sounds good to me," Yosuke commented, not looking up from the plate of sushi he was slowly working on. His partner really was the best. None of his pieces had any fish or tofu.

Yukiko began to laugh. Instead of trying to calm her down, Chie began to laugh with her. "Y-Yosuke," Chie gasped. "Did you even look at the schedule?"

"Not really, I mean, Golden Week is so far away, plans are gonna change..." He frowned down at the paper that Rise now slid towards him. She was grinning so wickedly that her nose was wrinkled.

On the schedule, Rise had marked off 10pm to 10am with 'Yu-senpai & Yosuke-senpai private time~~~ Don't ask~~~.' Several hearts were drawn around it.

Yosuke gave the laughing girls a flat stare and told them it wasn't funny, but that only made them laugh harder. He opened his mouth to complain, but Yu kissed him, and that made him stammer. "N-not in front of everyone!" he squeaked. "Besides, I'm not even..."

Yu tilted his head. "Not even...?"

"Err," said Yosuke, lowering his gaze to his plate of half-eaten sushi. "S-sorry, I spoke without thinking again."

"You're not going to get away with that, Yosuke!" Chie said. "We all heard you. 'Not even' what?"

Yosuke emitted a resigned sigh. "It's just that..." he began miserably.

"What's wrong, Yosuke-senpai?" Rise asked.

"I'm not even happy with that schedule. It's not a good time. That time you marked off."

"It's not?" Rise gave him the most skeptical look she could manage. "It's night time!"

"Exactly," he said. "Yu, he... he always falls asleep."

Rise blinked at him for a moment, and then laughed. "I didn't know you were that boring in bed, Yosuke-senpai!"

"It-It's not like that!" Yosuke retorted. "Dammit, I knew I shouldn't have said anything..."

"That is too much information," Chie remarked. "Although we did kind of ask for it."

"I'm... I'm sorry..." Yu murmured. "I didn't know it was a problem. You could have told me. I would've made an effort to stay awake for you."

Yosuke shook his head. "I figure if you fall asleep, it's because you need the rest. I don't... I don't really mind it, but..." He looked at Rise. "Just two hours earlier on one of the days. Is that possible?"

"Yosuke-senpai," Rise began, then paused, a thoughtful look on her face, like she was possibly going to probe for more information. Then she smiled. "Of course."

"Oh... really?"

"You're right. This isn't set in stone. Who knows what'll happen when Golden Week finally rolls around? I'm going on my comeback tour soon, so I might not even be able to come."

"What, really?" Yosuke said, leaning his head back in surprise.

"Yes, really. Which is why... I'm so glad Senpai made this sushi for us! It was my request, did you know that? And it's sooo goood." Rise ate another eye-wateringly wasabi-laden piece.

Yosuke moved a piece of sushi around on his plate with his chopsticks. Rise was leaving Inaba. And so was Yu, and... Their whole group really wasn't going to be the same, was it? "H-hey, Naoto. Are you going to stay in Inaba? Now that the school year's over..."

The detective canted her head to the side. "Unless a case comes up that requires my urgent attention, I plan to continue my education here."

His shoulders slumped a little in relief. He wasn't particularly close to Naoto or anything... but at least most of the team would still be together. Not that he and Yukiko and Chie would have all that much free time to hang out as a group outside of studying, if their teachers were to be believed about the third year workload.

Now he began to worry about whether or not he'd be in the same homeroom as the two girls when the next term started. What would he do if he didn't have Chie to poke him awake when he drifted off? What would Yukiko do if Chie wasn't there to calm her down when she started laughing at something. Though admittedly, without Chie, she might not laugh much at all.

There were only three homeroom classes, which wasn't too many compared to the city. So the chance that they'd be together was...

He was in the middle of trying to do some mental math to figure it out when Yu interrupted. "Umm, can you finish your sushi?"

Yosuke blinked and noticed that Rise, Chie, and Yukiko were no longer at the table. Huh... when had they left? Kanji was away, too, but Yosuke soon spotted him by the river, playing a ball game with Teddie. Most of the table had been cleared off—only Yosuke's plate was left.

"Oh... I think I'm not hungry anymore, partner," he said.

Yu gave him a sympathetic look, then reached over and took away his plate.

How could it be Tuesday already? Yosuke stared at the date listed on his phone's screen. March 20th? It couldn't be.

But it was. Yu's last full day in Inaba.

What the hell had happened to Monday? He had some vague memories of taping up boxes, and his closet at home was now overstuffed with Yu's old Yasogami uniforms. Cookies had been involved at some point, too, because Teddie had been gushing this morning about Sensei's skill at cooking them.

And that was all he knew.

How did that much time pass, and so fast? And he hadn't said anything, he hadn't said what he wanted to say to Yu and now...

Now he just had to wait for said boy to get done saying goodbye to everyone in town. Yosuke sighed to himself and looked up at the clear sky above. He was sitting at a table in the Junes food court, losing ever more time.

Yu had promised him there'd be alone time later. Yosuke didn't have any more chances. Was it even worth saying now? He'd look desperate and maybe it was too soon in their relationship or maybe it was too late...

Augh.

To distract himself from his growing anxiety, he began to look through the pictures he'd accumulated on his phone. He didn't have as many pictures of Yu as he'd thought.

Here was a picture he'd taken of Yu standing next to the big TV at Junes, the one they used to enter the TV World. He'd tried to get Yu to pose in front of it with a golf club, but he'd refused for some reason. Yu had ended up standing there with his hand resting on the TV's upper frame, like he was patting it for being good. What amused Yosuke the most about the picture was how careful his friend was not to touch the TV's screen.

Ah, in this one Yu was taking on the Aiya Rainy Day Mega Beef Bowl Challenge. Chie was forcing beef-laden chopsticks into his mouth. Despite the sickly look on his face in the picture, he'd had actually won that day. More power to him!

Here was a cute one of Teddie cuddling up next to Yu in his floor futon at the ski lodge. Silly bear loved his Sensei, huh?

The next one was a group picture he'd taken after they'd saved Marie. The strange girl was clinging to Yu like, well, like she liked him. It was Rise all over again, wasn't it? Haha...

Oh, here was Yu on Valentine's Day, all wrapped up in blankets under the kotatsu. The poor guy had gotten sick with a cold that was probably induced from the time they'd been trapped in that cabin in that blizzard on the ski trip, and then worsened by the following day spent running through Marie's dungeon. Because of that cold, Yu had skipped school and missed out on all his chocolates. As a result, Yosuke hadn't been able to make use of Nanako-chan's 'hot tip' that Yu didn't like chocolate. It was quite a shame, but it wasn't like Yosuke'd really wanted to get him anything for Valentine's anyway. He wasn't a girl!

Ah, he didn't want to think about that right now, so he flipped to the next picture.

Which was his favorite picture, though he'd never admit it to anyone. It was just a picture of Yu sleeping peacefully in his futon. He was cute when he was asleep, okay...?

He stared at that picture, time trickling past him.

"Yosukeeeeeeee!" cried an all-too-familiar voice. He looked up to see Teddie in his costume heading towards him. "Can I have a soda?"

"Teddie," he said with a sigh. "Yeah, sure."

He did even better than a soda: he bought Teddie a Topsicle, too.

"You're so generous today!" the bear remarked. He moved into Yosuke's personal space and whispered too-loudly, "What happened to the real Yosuke?"

"It's all me, Ted," Yosuke said with another sigh, running his nails through his floppy hair. "And there's no catch. Just work hard, okay?"

"I always work hard!" Teddie claimed. "At least for the ladies." He quieted for a moment, and his big eyes blinked at Yosuke. "Yosuke? Is Sensei really leaving?"

"Ted..."

"Where's he going, Yosuke? They say he lives somewhere else, but... isn't Nana-chan's house his real home?"

"...I don't actually know where he lives now," Yosuke admitted.

The costume's eyes widened. "He's your honeybear and you don't know where he lives?"

"H-honeybear!? Ted, where the heck did you come up with that?"

"Papa-mura called Mama-mura that one night when she cooked his favorite meal," Teddie reported. "And then she kissed him!"

Yosuke sighed. Too much information! He could've lived without knowing that about his parents.

Honeybear? A spark of memory came to him, a memory of his childhood. His mother was the mama bear, and his dad was the papa bear, and he was the baby bear. Wow, what had happened to those nicknames his family used to use for each other? Well, they were kind of embarrassing...

But huh, maybe it was fitting that he was the one taking care of Teddie.

"Look," he said, trying to get back on topic, "even Yu doesn't know where he is going—huh?" His phone began to ring. The boy in question was calling him. "Hang on, Ted. What's up, partner?"

"Yosuke, umm..."

"Sensei!!!"

"Yeah, I'm here," Yosuke said. "So's Ted—calm down you crazy bear!" He expertly kept the phone away from the team mascot. "Partner, are you still there?"

There was a pause that made him think the call got dropped, but then he heard Yu very quietly say, "Yosuke? Something just came up."

Bad news... His throat began to tighten. It's okay, he told himself. Maybe it just means we'll have to meet up later than planned. That's no big deal. "Wh-what is it, partner?"

His partner's voice remained almost inaudible. "Can you gather everyone at the food court? See, I received a letter this morning..."

Yosuke didn't sleep at all that night. It wasn't from the horror of what they'd had to fight, although indeed that thing had been horrifying—he'd shut away those memories for the moment. No, what had priority right now wasn't horror but a cocktail of anger, frustration, and sadness. Because of that damned final battle, he'd never gotten that alone time with Yu. He'd never been able to say it.

Now time was up.

Here he was, up bright and early at the train station with the others. None of them had been able to sleep much, he noticed with a cursory glance. Naoto was continuously rubbing her eyes, not from tears but from tiredness, and she had a rather large coffee with her. Rise, on the other hand, was already dabbing her eyes with a tissue. Kanji seemed as stoic as ever, and Chie and Yukiko were standing quietly together, Teddie somehow allowed between them.

Yu himself wasn't even there yet, and as they waited for him to show up, Yosuke wondered for a hopeful moment what would happen if he missed the train, but it didn't take long before Dojima's car arrived and he stepped out of it with Nanako. Of course he wouldn't miss the train, that had been a stupid thought.

"Hey," Yu greeted, setting his duffel bag on the ground for a moment.

Silence followed. No one knew what to say.

Then Dojima broke it with an awkward chuckle. "Well, I know everyone's going to miss you, Yu. You've still got a few minutes. Why don't you say your goodbyes?"

A few minutes? Yosuke sighed. That was hardly enough time, and with everyone gathered, there was no privacy.

An elbow nudged him. He looked and found Chie smiling sadly at him. Although she didn't know the details of his turmoil, she could guess what he was feeling. He met her eyes for a moment and then looked away.

Yu cleared his throat, drawing everyone's attention, but when he opened his mouth to speak, nothing came out. He tried again, but the problem persisted. Yosuke almost stepped in to cover for him, but eventually he breathed a simple, "Th-thank you. Everyone."

Now Chie set her hands on her hips. "Silly! You don't have to thank us for anything!"

Yu's overly-tense posture relaxed as everyone chimed in, saying what needed to be said and taking the pressure away from him.

"She's right, Yu-kun," Yukiko followed. "Without you, I might not be here."

"Damn right, Senpai," Kanji agreed. "You saved all our asses. You're the man!"

"Indeed," said Naoto with a nod. "We should be thanking you, senpai. It was your resolve that saw us through to the end."

"P-please don't," Yu managed. "I only did what was right."

"Yeah, but you trusted us, and you led us, even when things got rough," Yosuke added, finding his own voice. "Not everyone would've done that. You're, umm, amazing, y'know."

"Aww, is Yosuke-senpai blushing?" Rise teased.

"He's as red as a cherry Topsicle!" Teddie declared.

"I am not!"

"Oh, Sensei's face is red too!" the bear observed. "Is it catching?"

"S-sorry," Yu murmured. "I'm just... really happy that I met all of you. I know I'll think of you all every day."

"Goes both ways, Senpai," Kanji said. He wiped his nose with the back of his hand.

The station blared a boarding announcement. A-already? Yosuke bit his lip hard and mentally cursed Dojima-san for buying such an early train ticket.

"Ah, that's... that's my sign to go," Yu murmured. He picked up his duffel bag and turned towards the train, but hesitated before going on. "Umm..."

Teddie suddenly tackled him in a hug from behind. With an exasperated sigh, Yosuke tried to pull him off, but then Nanako was there, and then Rise was there, and it turned into a big group hug. Dojima had to be the one to break it up. He pushed Yu onto the train and restrained Nanako from trying to join him there, and moments later the train's door closed.

Yu looked through the window from the other side of the door, his eyes shining with unshed tears. He lifted a hand to wave at them as the train began to chug away.

And the reality dawned on Yosuke in that very moment.

Yu was leaving.

"N-no," Yosuke whimpered.

He walked after the train, his walk turning into a jog and then outright running to keep up as it picked up speed.

Partner, no...

His friends were running with him and shouting their own words of affection and reassurance. He hardly noticed them.

It was his last chance, wasn't it? His last chance to tell him...!

With the train nearly out of sight, his feet at the very edge of the platform, the words finally escaped from his throat.

"Partner—! I love you!"

He barely manage to keep to his feet and not fall over the edge. Tears streamed down from his eyes, blurring his vision. "I love you," he whispered to the wind.

Whether Yu had heard him or not... Well, it didn't matter.

He would tell him in person the next time they met.

[Final Author's Notes: And as the train goes off into the distance, this song starts to play. Or maybe not. My best friend pointed out that it's a great SouYo song, hehe. This story's title came from it.

So, yeah! It was a long time coming, but here it is, the end of this little SouYo series!

It has been a very interesting experience. Honestly, I didn't have any interest in the boy's love genre at all until I started reading Persona 4 fanfiction on AO3. The first SouYo I read was scatter's "There's No Need to Go It Alone," and at the time, I was weirded out by it. Souji loves Yosuke... what...? It kinda racked my mind, haha, but then I was curious and looked for more, so from there I read scatter's other works, Chocchi's "Close Calls," and Chisotahn's "Ten Steps," and several others until I came to the realization that I really loved these two dorks. (I recommend all of those for anyone looking for more, hehe)

Then I ran out of stuff to read, so I wanted to try my hand at writing it myself, and that's where "Like Amazake" came from. When writing stories, I tend to get focused on the how and why. I was trying to answer how the two would even get together and figured that it made sense to be after the game's main events. Why not a holiday like New Years? The game even had a relevant cutscene for it!

It was just going to be a one-shot, but my friend encouraged me to continue, so I wrote more and more, hehe. As I kept going, I decided that there are already plenty of stories exploring the homophobia aspect, so in the later installments of the series I tried to focus more on him realizing how important his partner is to him instead of worrying about 'the gay.' I hope it worked, haha.

Anyway! I think this is where I want to end the series. Anything more I write for these two will probably be, uhh, one-shots of the M or E rated variety, heh heh. It was hard enough to keep the series G-rated to the end! Really, I've been into this pairing for over a year now. I can hardly believe it!

Thank you, thank you, for reading!]

"Yosuke~"

The brown-haired boy whirled in surprise to find Yu trotting up to him, and his stomach seemed to do a little flip. Damn, it hadn't been that long since he'd seen his boyfriend, but the catty way Yu had called his name and the obvious excitement in his step almost made Yosuke's knees go weak.

"Y-yeah, partner?" Oh boy, he was tripping over his tongue already.

Yu sidled up next to him and they began to walk towards school together. The silver-haired boy waved a hand at the sky. "The weather report indicates we're in for some snow, so..." he trailed off.

"So...?" Yosuke prompted.

Yu's cheeks turned a little bit pink, more than the cold warranted. "So... I was thinking maybe we could study at my place again...?"

Yosuke chuckled and then told him, "I'll think about it."

Yu clicked his tongue in disappointment. Yosuke snickered, then took his hand and they walked together like that until they got closer to school.

All throughout class, Yosuke daydreamed about, well, the after school activities in his immediate future. He noticed Yu glancing out of the classroom's windows every so often, wondering, maybe, if the weather was going to cooperate with them.

Maybe they'd kiss in Yu's room this time. Maybe Yu would take him up on his offer to touch him. Yosuke suppressed a shudder. He'd been so scared the last time he stayed the night at the Dojima residence, but now... He crossed his arms at his desk and imagined they weren't his own. Then he wondered if that was creepy...

When class was over Yosuke told Yu he'd be over soon because he had to stop by at his own house to get his books for tomorrow and a change of clothes. He wasn't being entirely truthful. The main reason was that he had a gift for Yu that he wanted to pick up.

It was something silly, almost not worth bothering with, but...

"Yosukeeeeee! Where are you going?"

Crap. He'd just been caught in the middle of packing by Teddie. The bear was in his costume, standing right in the doorway, and…

"Is that Sensei's clothes?" the bear observed, his already comically large eyes widening further. "You're going to Sensei's house? No fair! I want to come, too!" Teddie lunged forward and grabbed Yosuke's arm and wouldn't let go.

Crap times two. Teddie had noticed that Yosuke had packed the uniform he'd borrowed from Yu during the last sleepover.

"We're just going to study for a bit. And we can't study with you around, you dumb bear!" Yosuke pushed him off, but the bear bounced right back up.

"Don't lie to meeeee," Teddie whined. "I know you're going over there to score with Sensei!"

Yosuke's jaw dropped, but he recovered enough to stammer, "What are you talking about!"

The bear folded his hands behind his back and waggled his ears with a smug (and disturbingly knowing) smile. "Rise-chan told me you're scoring!"

Crap times three. He and Yu hadn't quite figured out how they were going to explain their relationship to Teddie. The bear was so excitable that he'd probably announce it to the world, including Yosuke's parents. Yosuke didn't know how his parents would react if they found out he was dating a boy, and he didn't want to find out.

He obviously have to get Yu to have a talk with Teddie soon. He always listened to Sensei.

"Your face is all red, Yosuke! What's wrong? Are you sick?" The bear leaned his face in uncomfortably close to his. Yosuke could see the stitching around his costume's eyes and it was kind of creepy.

"I'm fine!" Yosuke declared, backing away. "It's just... scoring? We're not... ugh!"

"Yosuke!" Teddie picked up the backpack in his claws and pressed it into Yosuke's hands. "Go to Sensei and score and come back and tell me all about it!"

Yosuke swore at him but took the backpack and went downstairs. He'd just have to hope the bear wouldn't say anything to his mom. His parents considered Teddie 'eccentric,' so even if he did, Yosuke could probably find some way to explain it away.

He stopped in the kitchen to pick up Yu's 'gift' from the freezer—it was a box about the size of a shoebox—then headed into the garage where he grabbed a screwdriver from the workbench and then affixed the detachable metal wire basket to the front of his yellow bike. Only after he'd gone to the trouble of screwing all the bolts in did he realize he hadn't even checked if the cardboard box would fit in it. He was in luck: it did, but fit so snugly that his finger got caught when putting it in. Dammit, maybe it wasn't worth it... Yu was just gonna make fun of him... but he'd already gone this far to bring it...

He sped down the road to Yu's place, his heart in his throat half from pumping the bike pedals and half from anticipation. He squinted into the weak winter sunlight beaming in his face. Dammit, where was that snow? 

Sleepover sleepover sleepover...!

Wh... What would Yu want to do...?

He was in the middle of a daydream about just that when he realized he was already there. The way to the Dojima residence was now second-nature to him, like going to school or work. He could get there with his mind in the clouds.

He parked his bike and spent a long time cursing while prying the cardboard box out of the wire basket. He hefted it under his arm and immediately regretted it because damn it was still cold from being in the freezer. He felt it even through his uniform jacket.

He rang the doorbell with his free hand. "Hey, partner," he greeted when Yu opened the door.

"Hey," Yu said with a snow-melting smile. Damn, it was so great to see Yu's smile... But Yosuke couldn't take the time to appreciate it because the box was slipping under his arm. He awkwardly hopped his way inside and deposited it with an unceremonious slam onto the kitchen table and then rubbed his cold-numbed side with a small hiss.

"What's...?" Yu asked.

Yosuke turned the box around so the label was prominently displayed. He watched Yu's eyes brighten with delight.

It was a box of half and half berry flavored Topsicles.

Yosuke shrugged. "You said they were your favorite so—mmph!" Yu's mouth was suddenly on his.

Yu pulled away and rubbed his face against Yosuke's, humming contentedly.

"D-dude, it's just a box of Topsicles," Yosuke murmured. Damn, Yu was happier about this than the damned flowers he'd brought last time. "And it's already been opened because of Teddie."

Yosuke tried to return to the entryway to remove his shoes but found that Yu had snaked his arm around his waist. Yu pulled him in for another kiss. Yosuke didn't stop him and relaxed into the embrace. His friend's body was so warm after his trip through the cold, and if Yu was being this affectionate then probably no one was home...

"How long are you planning on keeping that door open?" Dojima's dry, smoke-coarsened voice came from the living room.

Yosuke yelped and pushed Yu away, though the detective probably couldn't see them. At least, Yosuke couldn't see him, at any rate.

Yu just smiled and patted his shoulder, then closed and locked the front door. Yosuke toed off one shoe before Nanako-chan came running out of nowhere and tackled his legs. "Yosuke-nii!"

He laughed and bent his knees to give the little girl a hug.

"Look what Yosuke brought," Yu said. He pointed to the Topsicle box and she did a little dance. "Oh~ Topsicles!"

This family is so easy to please, Yosuke thought, shaking his head in amusement.

Yu took the box and made room in the refrigerator for it while Yosuke listened to Nanako-chan tell him a story about an adventure her stuffed animals had gone on.

Yosuke wondered if they'd go to Yu's room next, but Yu said he had to start making dinner. Nanako-chan volunteered to help, but Yu told her to watch TV with her father. "You too, Yosuke."

"But watching you cook is..." Yosuke blushed instead of ending his sentence. Way more interesting than television...

Yu smiled at him but made a shooing motion with both of his hands and Yosuke had no choice but to join Nanako-chan at the kotatsu. It seemed like Dojima had turned the TV to a kids' show, some sort of cartoon. The little girl was quickly engrossed.

Yosuke tried to watch it with her, but he was aware that Dojima-san was watching him. The detective was only a few feet away, anyway, on the couch. Yosuke bit the inside of his cheek. Should he try to talk to him or something? He was pretty sure the detective didn't like him. Anything he could say would probably make it worse...

Dojima broke the silence himself. He nodded at the back porch. "Seems like we're in for some snow," he commented.

Yosuke looked out the window. Soft flakes were pouring down from the sky. Ah, so the weather was on their side! He smiled to himself.

"Was it your idea to come over, or his?" Dojima asked slowly. "If this keeps up, you might have to stay the night."

Yosuke quickly wiped away his smile as he recounted the excuse he'd come up with earlier. "W-well, we have a trigonometry quiz coming up, so..."

Dojima snorted and shook his head. "Make sure you get your studying done before you start goofing off. And make sure to stay quiet."

Dojima was looking at him with a stern and steady gaze. Wh-what exactly did Dojima-san suspect him of?

"Yessir," Yosuke squeaked.

Dojima's eyes softened, and then he sighed and scratched his head. Then his eyes roamed to the TV and Yosuke relaxed a little.

When the cartoon was over, Dojima switched it to the news, and Nanako-chan asked Yosuke to play with her in her room. 

To his embarrassment, he found the little brown Yosuke bunny that Yu had knitted a while ago sitting prominently next to Chan-chan, Nanako's favorite, a large purple rabbit.

"Umm," he said when she picked it up and showed it to him. He absently touched his headphones around his neck because the Yosuke bunny had a set of miniature headphones too... Yu had done a great job with it, he had to admit.

"I want big bro to make a big bro bunny!" Nanako-chan declared. "Then we could have a lot of fun!"

Wh-what, was she going to make them play house or something? 

As if to demonstrate, she put the Yosuke bunny on the back of a plush pony and had it ride across the rug until she had it stop in front of 'Princess Maimai,' which was a doll with a surprisingly intricate lace dress.

They were enacting a scene from a fairy tale she'd learned in class recently when she suddenly put down the little black dog she was holding. "Hey, Yosuke-nii... U-umm..."

Still holding Chan-chan, he glanced at her quizzically. "Yeah, Nanako-chan?"

"Are you going to make chocolates for big bro for Valentine's Day?"

Yosuke clutched the plush rabbit to his chest reflexively in surprise and blushed furiously. "I, uh, I don't—"

"Shh!" she said, holding a finger to her lips. She motioned him to move closer. He leaned in, curious, and her tiny hands turned his head so that she could whisper in his ear. "Big bro doesn't really like chocolate."

"Huh," said Yosuke, pulling away to look at her. "What does he like?"

She didn't answer, but her intense brown eyes bored unblinking into his face… like he should know already.

He chuckled nervously. "A-all right. Thanks for the, uh, tip."

She smiled impishly at him and then picked up the dog and began to play again.

Later that evening the two boys were finally alone in Yu's room. Yosuke was sitting at the desk, and Yu was on the couch reading a book.

It wasn't a surprise that Yu had actually made him work on his math homework. What was possibly surprising was how much Yosuke could focus when he knew he'd be rewarded after. Yu promised him a kiss for every problem he got right...

"Ah, Yosuke, you were so close," Yu said, leaning over his shoulder and checking his work on the very last problem in the set.

"Aww, man... Where was I wrong?"

Yu's finger pointed out that he hadn't distributed a number properly, which had thrown off the rest of his answer.

"Can't I get partial credit?" Yosuke asked, looking up at his partner hopefully.

Yu shook his head and stepped away. "You know we won't get any on the real test."

Yosuke looked as disappointed as he could to get Yu to relent, but his partner could be really stubborn sometimes. "Come on..." Yosuke whined when it was obvious he wasn't going to budge.

"I'll tell you what," Yu said. "If you do well on the actual test, then..."

"Then… what? And how well?" Better than Chie was probably doable, but better than Yukiko, not so much.

"Then I'll..." Yu trailed off. Whatever he was going to say apparently embarrassed him greatly, because he stopped and turned his head, shielding his face with his shoulder.

Damn, Yosuke thought. Now he really had to study!

Done with their homework, they decided to relax with a video game since Yu hadn't yet obtained a new model kit. Yosuke had chosen a racing game because that seemed more likely to keep them excited for... whatever their late-night activities were going to be. A fighting game might be better for that, but Yu was a button-masher on a worse level than Teddie. It was quite annoying.

Yu moved his futon out a bit from the corner of the room so that he could see the TV while sitting on it. Yosuke was on the spare futon placed directly in front of the TV.

Before they started, though, Yu said he was going to get changed. "You brought pajamas this time, right?"

Yosuke glanced at his duffel bag wedged between the spare futon and the model kit shelf. "Uh, yeah." He turned back to the game, controller in his hands, trying to set up the grand prix with the maps he wanted.

"Take them out?" Yu suggested.

"I'll get changed later," Yosuke replied, his eyes still glued to the TV.

"Please take them out."

Scowling at the interruption, Yosuke bent down and rummaged through his duffel bag with his left hand, holding his controller in the other, glad that he'd left it unzipped earlier when he'd taken out his math notebook. He tossed his pajamas behind him on the futon and returned to the game.

"Okay," said Yu. "I'm gonna get changed!"

Yosuke hunched his shoulders and tried to focus on setting up the game and definitely not trying to see his partner's reflection in the TV screen. He heard the soft rustle of fabric behind him, and when he heard a zipper he bit his lower lip hard and tried rather unsuccessfully to keep his mind blank instead of imagining what was happening.

A grunt and a sigh later, Yu shuffled past him and took a seat at the edge of his futon and picked up his controller. "Okay, so I'm, what, the red racer?"

"Yu, what the hell!" Yosuke squeaked.

His partner was wearing his pajamas.

Yosuke didn't wear pajamas normally, but when it was cold, boxers and an undershirt just weren't enough. The top was just a plain orange pajama top with long sleeves, and the bottoms were tiger-patterned, orange and black. He had matching slippers at home.

The pajamas didn't quite fit Yu—they didn't quite fit Yosuke, either, and with Yu being just a little bigger in size, the tightness was even more pronounced, and a few inches of his leg could be seen above the ankles.

"You can close your mouth," Yu teased.

"Partner, you, wha..." Yosuke's mental train was derailed and it took just a little longer for it to get back on track. "Wh-what am I going to wear, then?" he demanded.

Yu stretched his legs out in front of his futon and ran his fingers across the stripes. Then he looked up at Yosuke. "Well, you can wear mine again. You did last time." He had that smile on his face, the weird one he used when he thought he was being funny but was worried that he wasn't.

"Only if it's a set you actually wore this time!" Yosuke declared. He then immediately covered his mouth in surprise at his own words.

"Yep," said Yu, ignoring his embarrassment and tossing his set from his futon and onto Yosuke's. "Enjoy."

Yosuke stared at the pajamas in the messy pile right next to him as if mesmerized. He was going to wear Yu's pajamas. Yu's used pajamas. Well, unless Nanako-chan had done the laundry today...

He tentatively touched the top of the pile with his hand as if to test that, but drew back at the sound of Yu's sultry voice. "Don't be shy."

"Dammit, partner, don't say stuff like that!" Yosuke crossed his arms, aggravated.

Yu's shoulders were rolling with suppressed laughter.

Yosuke grabbed the pajamas and headed to the bathroom to get changed. There he discovered that... Yu's pajamas hadn't been washed recently. They smelled distinctly like Yu—a combination of sweat and cat dander and some brand of deodorant that Yosuke wasn't familiar with but wanted to become familiar with—and Yosuke almost decided to use the pajama top as a pillow instead of wearing it so that he could smell it while he slept.

The pajamas were well-worn, too. The top's collar was starting to wear and the material had been stretched out. They felt very loose on his body.

He returned to the room and Yu told him he was looking good. Yosuke ignored the compliment and threw himself onto the spare futon and grabbed the controller. "Are we gonna race or what?" he grumbled. Out of the corner of his eye, though, he could see Yu watching him with that stupid grin...

They'd passed the first two stages when Yosuke noticed the second player driver was no longer moving. He glanced at Yu and found him leaning back with his eyes closed, mouth hanging open, snoring lightly. The controller was resting on his chest.

"Come on, partner, it's barely 10 o'clock!" Yosuke hoped his voice would wake him up. When it didn't, he decided to stop trying to win the race and instead drive his car right into Yu's and crash it over a barricade. It made him feel a little better.

Then he sighed and turned off the console. He took the controller from Yu—his partner still didn't wake up. He thought of nudging him, but... if he'd fallen asleep he probably needed it. Besides, the team's fearless leader looked so... vulnerable.

Yosuke watched the rise and fall of his partner's breathing for a long moment before trying to resettle him so that he was more comfortable on the futon. He needed to be a little more centered at least so that he wouldn't fall off at some point during the night. Then he pulled the blanket over Yu until he was tucked in nice and tight and sure to stay warm... though he knew from experience that his tiger pajamas would do the trick.

Yosuke looked at his partner's calm, sleeping face. Should he steal a kiss?

What kind of question was that? He kissed Yu lightly on the cheek. "Good night, partner," he whispered.

Yu seemed to rouse. "Love..." he mumbled.

Yosuke froze. "Dude, don't say things like..."

"Top... sic..."

Yosuke almost shoved Yu. There was no way he was asleep!

But Yu was snoring again. Yosuke watched him a closely to make sure he wasn't faking it, but it was soon clear that he was down for the count.

Yosuke sighed. He guessed Yu was really happy about his gift. Was his boyfriend weird or what?

The situation had made Yosuke a little nervous and now he needed to make a trip to the bathroom. He left the room, opening the door as quietly as possible so as not to disturb Yu, though it probably wouldn't wake him even if he slammed it open. Still, they weren't alone in the house. He suspected Dojima didn't stay up too late and had retired already.

He'd just finished using the bathroom when he heard something that sounded suspiciously like a sob coming from downstairs. In the quiet of the house, the sound seemed magnified. With a puzzled frown he stepped downstairs, wincing when one of the steps creaked loudly.

It was coming from Nanako-chan's room. Her door had been left partly open. He paused by the door and peeked inside, but it was too dark to make out anything except the little girl's silhouette in her child-sized futon.

"Big bro..." There were sniffles. "H-help me...!"

Without hesitation Yosuke rushed to her side. "N-Nanako-chan?" He put a hand on her shoulder, wondering if he should shake her awake.

Nanako-chan's eyes fluttered open at the contact. They reflected the faint light coming from the night light in her room. She turned her head to peer up at him. "Big bro?"

She probably couldn't recognize him in the dark. "Ah, umm, it's me, umm... but I'll go get him!" he declared.

He tried to move away, but the girl's hand clutched his arm with surprising strength for a seven-year-old. "Yosuke-nii! Don't go!" She tugged on his arm and he allowed himself to be pulled close to her. He could feel the wetness of tears on her face.

He put his arms around her and then tried to pat her on the head to calm her down. "Nanako-chan... Did you have a nightmare?" he asked.

She nodded against his chest. "Y-yeah... I was scared."

"Well... It's all right. I'm here!" he declared.

She snuggled up against him, much like he'd seen her do with Yu by the kotatsu before. "Yosuke-nii... I dreamed I couldn't breathe. And it was really bright, but everyone was there, and they were worried... And big bro was angry and scared and... And I couldn't breathe, it hurt."

She was either remembering her stay in the hospital, or when they'd rescued her from the TV World... Damn that Namatame!

Yosuke continued to hold her. "It's all right. You're home and safe, Nanako-chan. Big bro is upstairs. Your dad's probably in his room. And I'm... here."

"Mm," she mumbled. "Don't go... Please stay..."

"All right. I'll stay," he promised her.

"Mm, you smell like big bro..."

He felt her body relax, and slowly her breathing became softer until she fell asleep. He tried to pull away, but her arms were around his waist, and she stirred when he tried to pry them off. Well, he'd promised he'd stay with her, so... He tried to make himself comfortable, and her quiet breathing and her heartbeat on his chest soon lulled him into sleep, too.

The next morning, Yu and Dojima stood next to each other in the doorway to Nanako's room. They both stared in silence for some time.

Dojima glanced at Yu for a second before turning back to the sight of his daughter in Yosuke's arms. "Are you sure I don't have anything to worry about?"

Yu brushed away some of his hair. "She has nightmares, sometimes," he said softly.

There was a significant pause. "I know."

Yu looked at him in surprise.

"You and your friend aren't the only ones who've heard her crying out in the night," Dojima said. His hands clenched and then unclenched. "I found her last week. My back killed me the next day, but... Damn it."

Dojima... had stayed all night in Nanako's room to comfort her? Yu looked at his uncle with new respect.

"You wake them up. Rather not have Hanamura break anything." Dojima turned away to head towards the kitchen, but paused after a single step. "By the way, Yu."

"Yes, uncle?"

"What are you wearing?"

Startled, Yu looked down and realized he still had Yosuke's tiger-patterned pajamas on. "Oh, uh," he said, but Dojima had already walked away. Soon the smell of coffee filtered in from the kitchen.

Alone now, Yu watched his cousin and boyfriend sleep for a long moment. Then he took out his cell phone and snapped a photo of the two. He'd need it soon, when he left Inaba...

[End Notes: I wish the "Nanako nightmare comfort" scene was my own idea but it was definitely inspired by a scene in No Beginning, No End by strangestquiet.]