Yusuke Week Day 4
I cheated and used the “Food” prompt from the earlier list.
Ryukita
TW: Mentions of past abuse
“Sorry, I didn’t eat last night.”
It’s an apology Yusuke finds himself making often since joining the Phantom Thieves. He only really notices it because of the looks they give him every time a serious moment is interrupted by the rumbling of his stomach.
Ryuji sighs, “Man, seriously? Didn’t Akira give you leftovers curry yesterday?”
“I had to finish a painting.” Yusuke explains.
Ryuji shakes his head, then stands up as the train comes to a stop, and nods at the door. “Let’s go.”
“But this isn’t our stop.”
“It is now, I’m buying you a beef bowl before we do anything else.”
“No, we have plans.”
“They can wait."
“It's always better to do what you need to first before stopping for distractions like food." Yusuke recites. “Akira needs us to run these errands.”
Ryuji stares at him. “Fine, fine. But after, I’m buying you the biggest beef bowl.”
Yusuke nods as the train moves on.
The errands-- returning a movie, picking up some materials, and purchasing weapons to Akira’s specific modifications-- take about an hour and a half. Yusuke’s stomach feels like it’s trying to digest itself by the time they settle into the beef bowl shop.
Yusuke forces himself to eat his beef bowl slowly. “There,” he says between bites, “doesn’t food always taste better once you’ve done everything else you need to do first?”
“Food always tastes better when your hungry.” Ryuji mutters.
Yusuke frowns. “What’s wrong? I’m not used to you being this quiet.”
Ryuji pokes at his beef bowl. “I’ve just been trying to figure out how to say something.”
“Well just tell me.”
“Look.” Ryuji sighs, “this isn’t going to sound smart, but basically, I wanted to know if you got your whole eating thing from Madarame.”
“My... eating thing?”
“Yeah you’re ‘finish absolutely everything before eating’ thing.”
Yusuke blinks. “Well, yes.”
“It’s wrong.”
“I... don’t think I follow,” Yusuke sighs.
Ryuji runs his hand through his hair. “Look, I know I’m not going to explain this well but... Kamoshida used to do that too. He’d make us run lap after lap without giving us water and telling us it’d make us stronger or be more rewarding or some shit. What really happened is a guy collapsed from dehydration and the rest of us felt like crap. And then even after I was off the team I’d work out and think ‘oh I just gotta do a bit more and then I can drink’ and that was stupid because there wasn’t anyone forcing me to and like. Your body needs water. And food.”
Yusuke can only stare.
Ryuji takes a deep breath. “What I’m trying to say is: I don’t want someone I care about dropping dead on me, so if you have food, eat. You’re more important than your artwork, so taking care of yourself should always be at the top of your ‘to do’ list.”
“Oh.”
Ryuji’s shoulders fall. “That sounded stupid didn’t it.”
“No!” Yusuke quickly assures him. “I know exactly what you mean. I see your point. I suppose I’m simply… I’ve never heard someone say that aloud, I suppose.”
“That you should eat?”
“That I’m more important than my art.”
“Oh.”
“I-it’s not as though I’d ever explicitly been told that my art was more important than myself either.” Yusuke says quickly, an instinctive response to the pity in Ryuji’s eyes. He’s almost ashamed of himself for it.
“But it didn’t need to be.” Ryuji says.
Yusuke nods.
“Well, I’ll tell you the truth as many times as you need to hear it,” Ryuji says clapping Yusuke on the back.”You matter more than your art. If you wanted to throw out all your supplies tomorrow and never pick up a paintbrush again, you’d still matter to me. And Ann, and Akira, and Morgana.”
“I…” Yusuke picks at his bowl. “Thank you.”
