Had to read this cuz UNIFORMS but was nicely surprised by the well crafted story.

I really like how these two characters first truly love each other as friends first, and deeply value this connection. They've inspired each other to succeed in their careers, so they're really important to each other in a platonic sense. I also really liked that Kousuke knew that they couldn't just hop into bed together just cuz they got turned on, it could possibly damage their relationship. In order for them to move to the next step, they needed to communicate that their feelings had changed and that they wanted to embark on a new relationship, which I think is a really mature way of handling a tale of friends becoming lovers.

My only big nitpick is that due to translation or just writing, it's a bit hard to tell if Ayumu was in love with Kousuke from the start. It's very clear that he was always looking at Kousuke, but I didn't see a distinction from platonic love to romantic love. I know ultimately it doesn't really matter in the end, but I think the story would have a better impact if Ayumu came to love Kousuke during the story (after seeing the gap moe in Kousuke lol). I also really appreciated that Ayumu also gets gay jokes about him, which really bothers him, but Kousuke, who is ACTUALLY gay, is like "these guys are stupid, obvi Ayumu isn't gay". Reminds me of that video where one of the queer eye guys dresses John Mulaney, a straight guy who is a bit more flamboyant than most haha, but next to the ACTUAL gay guy it is very clear that he is straight lmao.

Recommended!