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It’s a normal night in Leblanc when Yusuke bursts in panting with wild eyes and a breathless demand of Akira’s time.
“Food?” Akira asks automatically, moving towards the small kitchen in the back before Yusuke can even get his breath back. Akira loves Yusuke, but he’d love it even more if his boyfriend could take care of himself for once instead of splurging all of his school money and his part of Metaverse money on art supplies instead of food items.
“Always— no! That is not it, Akira!”
Akira stops hands hovering over the leftover curry in the fridge.
“Are you okay?” He asks, spinning around quickly.
“I’m fine, do not worry about that, no, I need a favor, Akira.”
Reluctantly, Akira closes the fridge door, promising himself to heat up some of the leftover curry for Yusuke later anyway, and walks around the bar to put his hands to his boyfriend’s shoulders and push him gently to one of the booths.
“Okay… Deep breath, darling, I didn’t understand what you said first.” Akira coaxes, taking hold of one of Yusuke’s hand after they are sitting side by side.
There is a flush to Yusuke’s cheeks that Akira isn’t sure are from running around, and the wild look in his eyes is ever persistent, but now that Akira looks at him closely it seems almost…
“I need you to model for me, Akira.”
Ah.
Akira snorts, letting his head fall back with a quiet thud on the booth seat.
“You had me worried, Yusuke.” He says with a grin, reorganizing Yusuke’s expression into excitation. “Why rush? You could have texted me, I’d meet you wherever you wanted, babe.”
Yusuke shakes his head, almost vibrating out of his own skin by how hard he is keeping himself in place. “No, there is no place for us to go, this is not a study on the church’s glassworks or the park’s water, I need you .”
Akira smiles quietly. He knows exactly what Yusuke means, but also, having someone look at him that intently and say they need you will never not be a bit flattering, and Yusuke is his boyfriend and Akira is allowed to feel just a little bit smug about it.
“Oh? What, is this another attempt at nude paintings?” He teases, grin sharp.
It… quickly melts away when Yusuke nods firmly, eyes unwavering.
“Huh.” Akira blinks, looking off to the side of Yusuke’s face. “Well. Can’t say I’ve done that before.”
“It is no issue, I only need you to be comfortable, which is why I came to you here. Leblanc is your home and sanctuary, after all, and I know it is best to unrobe where you feel safe.” Yusuke explains, earnest and fervent. “Will you? Please?”
As if he’d ever say no to one of his friends’ requests, nevermind Yusuke’s.
“Of course, darling.” Akira agrees easily. Honestly, this could even be fun. Maybe. If he doesn’t die of embarrassment first. “But only if you eat first. I won’t have you working on an empty stomach.”
“You are an angel, Akira,” Yusuke breathes out with a wide grin. “Thank you.”
Akira is just glad Futaba has only microphones here, not cameras, that’s all.
He heats up some food while Yusuke explains the school assignment, gesticulating widely as he talks about the somewhat unspecific prompt of it.
“It is supposed to be about the creature behind the mask,” Yusuke says, “but I could not show my Mementos piece for it, because I’ve already showed it off, unfortunately, and the professor requested a new piece. I wondered about going to a theater, of course, but it seemed too impersonal, how could I know what hid behind the mask? But then, what person is a better example of masks than you? Joker, the wild card with too many masks, and also Akira, hiding behind your fake glasses and slouched posture and oh, it will be beautiful.”
“I don’t see why I need to be nude for it, but if that’s what you wish…” Akira trails off, laying down Yusuke’s plate in front of him.
“Oh.” Yusuke quickly says his thanks for the food and starts scarfing it down. “Yes, it is not… mandatory, but it would be gorgeous, would it not? I suppose if it makes you more comfortable, you could keep your pants, but…”
Akira huffs lightly, starting to eat his own portion. He doesn’t want to stand around for who knows how long with an empty stomach either, after all.
“We’ll see. Now, tell me more about the process so I can decide, please.”
It takes the entire dinner time plus Yusuke procuring his extra art set from Akira’s shelves for him to explain and Morgana to come back, take a look at it all, and immediately leave with loud complaints about being banned from his own house.
In the end, they agree to do a sketch today, with proper painting coming into play another night of the week, as long as they don’t delve into the Metaverse before that, so Akira makes himself comfortable in his own bed, naked but for his underpants and the blanket over him.
“Perfect,” Yusuke nods cheerfully. “Make yourself comfortable and we can start. Do turn this way, the light is better — yes, like that, thank you, my love.”
Akira flushes with the pet name, as he always does, and decides to reward his boyfriend with a bit more of skin and the most salacious pose he can pull of.
It’s a bit embarrassing to have so much of his chest exposed, and it feels weird that Yusuke can see the bruising and scarring still slowly disappearing around his ribs from their last Metaverse trip, but it’s Yusuke , so Akira twists a bit, crosses his arms behind his head, and raises a teasing knee.
“Paint me like one of your French girls, darling,” he drawls teasingly.
“I have never painted a French girl, is that any different from painting another person?” Yusuke asks distractedly, organizing his pencils by his side, not even looking at Akira.
It’s such a distinctly Yusuke answer that Akira immediately breaks pose, laughing too hard to keep it up, weakly managing a choked off “Never change, Yusuke, never change.”
“Why would I… Oh. That’s beautiful,” Yusuke breathes out enchanted, and Akira blinks away some of his amusement to look up at his boyfriend who is… staring at him like he’s the new coming of Sayuri.
He flushes from ears to chest, feeling like there’s a blazing flame in him at the absolute devotion in Yusuke’s eyes.
He is just… Akira , curled around towards Yusuke, an arm under his head but the other thrown awkwardly over the edge of bed, blankets twisted around his legs enough that he’d have a hard time getting up, and probably more disheveled than when he wakes up, and Yusuke…
Yusuke is staring at him like he’s a masterpiece .
It’s still somewhat embarrassing and Akira feels way too exposed but if this is what posing nude for his boyfriend looks like…
Akira thinks he might have to do it more times after this.
(it takes then three nights of too much skin shown off but Yusuke’s eyes are never anything other than mesmerizing when he looks at Akira and Akira feels… he feels , so much, that each night ends with kisses and distraction that probably could have lowered the time needed in one night, but in the end, Yusuke has a piece that could never be called a portrait of Akira , except he knows it is, and it’s… if the Sayuri is about motherhood, Akira thinks, this has to be some other sort of love, because there is no doubt in Akira’s mind that Yusuke loves him fiercely , looking at it)