Work Text:
A small part of his artist's soul withered inside him as he typed the words, letter by letter, into Google. Yes, this was unfortunately necessary due to his wallet being comically empty - he practically expected a fly to flitter out of it - but he felt as if he was committing a moral sin.
It's just this once, Yusuke promised himself. All I need is a specific pose reference. Palace rulers and Monarchs did much worse, right? Even Sensei himself?
Yusuke's pointer finger trembled ever so slightly as he pressed enter. Thousands of answers to his query ("'Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean' manga read online") appeared. Perhaps he should ask Futaba, the tech genius who was mere feet away from him playing some console game, which one was the best?
No, he shouldn't bother her, Yusuke reasoned. After all, if he glanced at Futaba, he could be transfixed for several minutes, and then Futaba would notice and scold him in that way that he could never quite tell if it was affectionate or truly frustration-induced. After a moment of deliberation, he clicked the first link on the list. Sure enough, he was able to find a list of chapters and scroll to the one he was looking for. So far so good. He found his desired panel, whipped out his sketchbook, and began to make preliminary marks on the open page. All was well for a couple minutes more, until-
A giant pop-up invaded the screen, completely obscuring his reference image. The pop-up depicted a scantily clad woman with wavy black hair covering her nipples, pictured from the bust up with blaring red text: BEAUTIFUL WOMEN IN YOUR AREA! CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION!
Two thoughts went through Yusuke's mind as he processed the image before him:
1. The way the woman's hair was covering her chest reminded him of Botticelli's classic painting The Birth of Venus. Props for that.
2. He already had a beautiful woman in his area...she was in the room with him.
Unfortunately - or fortunately? - for Yusuke, his second thought was in fact not just a thought, but a vocalization that was not even murmured, but said clearly aloud for Futaba to hear. Tomato-redness instantly flooded her face, a second before curiosity took over: What was he doing on there?
"Ah, Futaba? How do I remove this pop-up from the screen? I don't see any "X"s or "back" buttons," Yusuke called out to her.
"I-I-Inari..." Futaba stammered.
Yusuke finally glanced over at her, noticing her flushed expression. "What's wrong?"
"Did you...just call me a beautiful woman?"
Now it was Yusuke's turn for pink to color his pale complexion, though not to the extent of his girlfriend. "I didn't intend to say that aloud...but yes. That's not a problem, is it?"
Futaba leaped from her gaming chair to Yusuke's side, burying her head into the crook of his neck and wrapping her arms around him as best she could with the way he was seated. "No, I appreciate it a lot! It just...that was a critical hit..."
Yusuke chuckled. "It's the truth. But, that comment came from this...image that showed up on my screen. I don't want it here. Could you please help me remove it?"
Futaba's legs still shook madly. It was clear that there would not be any more browsing for quite a while yet.