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It starts in home room. Josuke slouches over his desk, surly and still tired from being woken up by his mother’s yell. Surely being late one day wouldn’t end his entire educational career, would it? He sighs and rests his chin on his hand. Oh well, staying up late last night had been worth it. He and Okuyasu had spent most of the night playing video games, secretly thrilled that Tomoko had her days messed up and had forgotten they had school the next day. They made it almost to 1 a.m., talking and laughing before his mom came down stairs and raised hell, calming down only to shoo Okuyasu home before frog marching Josuke up the stairs and to bed.
Josuke smiles vaguely at the memory before being pulled out of his reverie by a girl who’s standing in front of his desk, looking nervous but determined. “Good morning, Josuke,” she says shyly. A group of girls behind her are standing grouped together and watching. They’re talking in hushed whispers. He catches a ‘his smile is so dreamy!’ and a ‘there’s no way she’ll go through with it!’ from them as they all huddle closer.
“Good morning,” he says, hoping that he manages to hide his sigh. He really hopes she’s not here to confess to him. It’s been happening a lot more frequently as he gets older, always from girls who don’t know him at all beyond his good looks and awesome hair. They’re all nice, he supposes, but he really is a true love kind of guy, and for that to happen, you gotta know someone first, right? His thoughts drift quickly to Okuyasu, as they have been whenever he thinks about love lately, but he shoves that particular train of thought aside and gives the girl a polite smile. He doesn’t even know her name. He really hopes she doesn’t say she loves him. Turning girls down always leaves him feeling vaguely guilty.
“Um, would you like some Pocky?” the girl asks. Sure enough she’s holding a box of chocolate Pocky tightly against her chest.
“Oh, sure,” Josuke answers, slightly taken aback. The group of girls a few feet away all gasp as the girl in front of him quickly slips a stick from the box. She puts it into her mouth, letting it hang there as she closes her eyes. It looks like she’s waiting for something, the girls behind her look the same, they’re all clutching at each other and watching eagerly.
Josuke only grows more confused, but shrugs it off, reaching forward and taking a stick of Pocky from the box himself. “Thanks,” he says before munching it in half in one bite.
The girl in front of him opens her eyes and immediately looks rejected, tears well up in her eyes as she bolts away from his desk. The group looks torn for a moment between swarming Josuke’s desk themselves or following the distraught girl out into the hallway.
Josuke is officially lost now, but he’s saved from any further girl weirdness by the appearance of their teacher. He finishes the Pocky and settles in with a yawn for the days’ announcements.
-oOo-
By lunch, Josuke is aware of what is happening, but is only slightly less confused. There is apparently a game that has been started that involves two people, Pocky, and the chance of a kiss. He’s seen people playing it in between classes, in the hallways, and now at lunch. He’s seen enough crumb covered PDA in one day to last a lifetime.
He’s sitting with his lunch when he notices a group of guys gathered around two of their friends who are staring at each other with looks that can only described as fierce. They’re playing the game and Josuke can’t help but be interested in these particular proceedings. The two guys put the Pocky between them and Josuke is suddenly flooded with images of him and Okuyasu trying the game out. His gut clenches as they move forward, waiting to see if they’ll meet in the middle. But the one kid tosses his head back violently, snapping off all but the end of the stick before throwing his hands in the air victoriously. The rest of them laugh and go back to eating their lunches.
Something twists in Josuke as he turns away, but he doesn’t get to dwell on it since Koichi appears beside him.
“Hi, Josuke,” he says brightly, sitting down with his lunch.
“Hey, Koichi,” he replies, pointedly not looking around the lunch room. He wonders vaguely how Okuyasu feels about the new trend and almost dreads his appearance at their table.
“Okuyasu told me to tell you he’s doing a make-up quiz, so he won’t be here for lunch, but he’ll wait for you to walk home,” Koichi recites dutifully.
“Oh,” Josuke says, something in him deflating. “Sounds good. Say, you haven’t seen what people are doing with Pocky today, have you?” he asks, deciding to at least get some other input.
To his surprise, Koichi flushes scarlet. “The Pocky game? Y-yeah,” he says, rubbing at his neck nervously. “Yukako got me earlier.”
“Woah, really?” Josuke perks up. “She did? And it’s really a real game and everything?”
“I guess,” Koichi answers, blush slowly fading. “You’re supposed to see who can hold on to the Pocky the longest. Though, I think it’s really just an excuse to get to kiss people.”
“And you and Yukako did it?”
“Yeah.”
Josuke can tell by Koichi’s tone of voice that he probably didn’t have much of a choice. “And?”
Koichi shrugs nonchalantly. “And we kissed.”
A surge of wonder and slight jealousy swells up with in Josuke. His opinions on Yukako and the relationship she has with Koichi aside, he’s honestly curious about kissing. His opinions on love and relationships haven’t exactly made him a kissing Casanova. In fact he’s never been kissed at all, but it looks nice, it seems romantic…and Okuyasu does have nice lips that look even nicer when he smiles.
Josuke mentally shakes himself and tunes back in when he realizes Koichi is still talking. “It was kind of weird though. I mean, I guess the kiss wasn’t bad? But we both had our mouths full, so it was weird having to hold the cookie in there, but you kind of have to stop chewing to kiss?” he says, wrinkling his nose at the memory.
The face plus the image of Koichi with his cheeks full of cookie kissing Yukako is enough to get Josuke laughing. Koichi’s face goes red again, but he eventually joins in and the rest of their lunch break passes by normally and thankfully free of any further talk of kissing.
-oOo-
He sees a few more people playing as the afternoon goes on. During math he allows himself to fully daydream about playing the game with Okuyasu. When he’s really bored and looking to zone out, he allows himself the indulgence of daydreaming about his friend for real and not just entertaining passing thoughts. He really likes Okuyasu… a lot. They’re best friends, no doubt, but Josuke definitely wouldn’t mind being more. Unlike the girls that have confessed to him, he really knows Okuyasu and Okuyasu knows and understands him too. And it’s not just stand related stuff, but normal everyday stuff too. Josuke has never had someone in his life quite like Okuyasu.
But he’ll be damned if he can get a read on the situation between them beyond them being friends. There are times when he thinks there might be mutual interest, but they either ignore it or laugh it off and, his usual bluntness aside, he’s too afraid to ask outright. What they have is too good to risk ruining.
Either way, he wonders if Okuyasu would agree to the game and, if they did play, if either of them would chicken out before meeting in the middle.
The thoughts keep him occupied and distracted up until the final bell rings. It’s not until he remembers that Okuyasu is going to meet him to walk home that he wishes he hadn’t spent so much time thinking about it. When finally sees Okuyasu by the gate, Josuke’s eyes immediately fixate on his lips. He feels his face grow warm.
“Hey, Josuke!” Okuyasu says cheerfully. “Ready to go home? Do ya think we could go over to your place and finish that level we got stuck on last night?”
Josuke watches his mouth the entire time. He really wants to kiss this boy. “Huh?” he eventually answers. “Yeah, man, of course!”
Okuyasu beams at him as they make their way down the sidewalk. They small talk about their days as they go, Okuyasu lamenting how he thinks he bombed the makeup quiz that he only had to take because he bombed the original one in the first place. The whole time Josuke wonders if he should breach the topic of the Pocky game but keeps deciding against it.
They reach Josuke’s house and head inside, taking off their shoes and tossing their bags haphazardly next to the door.
“You want some snacks?” Josuke asks, pointing his thumb at the kitchen.
“Yeah! Go on and grab ‘em and I’ll get the game started up,” Okuyasu says, heading to the TV.
Josuke makes his way to the kitchen and heads over to the pantry cupboard. His mom keeps a little basket full of snacks for the two of them to munch on after school. Flinging the door open, he notices that his mom must have gone shopping earlier because the basket is freshly stocked. There’s some chips and gummy candies and on the top of the stack is a box of strawberry Pocky.
Josuke’s heart immediately jumps into his throat, beating fast and hard, all of his earlier day dream scenarios come rushing back and in a fit of bravery, he decides to let the box stay there, featured proudly up front. If anything, it’ll breach the topic of how Okuyasu feels about the whole thing. Depending on what he says Josuke can either laugh it off or… well… he’ll see how things go.
He makes his way back to the living room, trying his best to act casual. Okuyasu is sitting on the floor, idly staring the start menu as he flicks the controller back and forth on the options, watching each one glow and bing in a cycle.
“All set?” Josuke asks, sitting on the floor in front of the controller Okuyasu left out for him.
“Yep! Oh sweet, freshly stocked!” Okuyasu says in reference to the basket of snacks. Josuke nods, sliding it closer to him on the floor. Okuyasu reaches out but hesitates slightly upon seeing the box. “Pocky?”
Josuke nods again with a gulp. “Yeah, mom must have bought it.”
“Oh, ha,” Okuyasu laughs nervously. “Did you, uh, did you see what all them kids at school were doin’?”
“That Pocky game thing? Yeah, everyone in my class was doing it too,” Josuke says, hoping his nerves aren’t evident in his voice.
“Yeah, like that movie with the spaghetti dogs,” Okuyasu continues, hand reaching out to touch the box before he apparently thinks better of it, pulling his hand back to rub at his neck.
“Spaghetti dogs?” Josuke says around a laugh, nerves forgotten for a moment.
“Augh, you know the one! The cartoon with the dogs and the spaghetti! They eat a noodle and kiss ‘cause the whole spaghetti is one noodle!”
Josuke keeps laughing, “Oh yeah! I remember now! It’s that Disney movie, ‘Lady and the Tramp,’ right?”
“That’s it!” Okuyasu shouts, before joining in on the laughter. “But you know what I mean, they eat and then, you know, kiss…” he says, voice growing a little quieter. “Yeah, all the girls in my class were, like, really into it today. They were going around asking every--, well almost everybody.”
Josuke hears the pause and something in his chest twists again. “Yeah, a girl asked me in home room—”
“Woah! Really? Did ya do it?” Okuyasu asks, turning towards him with his eyes wide, his mouth an awestruck little ‘o’.
Josuke looks at his lips and gulps. “No, I didn’t know what she wanted me to do. So, I just took a piece from the box and she ran off with hers.”
Okuyasu laughs again, but it comes out a little strained. “Oh man, that sucks.”
Josuke just gives a non-committal little shrug. “Koichi said Yukako did it with him, but it was weird ‘cause he had to kiss her with his mouth full.”
“No way! Gross!” Okuyasu laughs a little more at that before looking down at the floor and rubbing his thumb in a little circle on the carpet. “No one asked me,” Okuyasu mumbles.
A beat of silence falls between them, but Josuke is quick to fill it. It doesn’t take any sort of supernatural ability to see such an obvious chance when it presents itself.
“We could,” Josuke says a little too eagerly. “I mean, if…if you want to,” he tacks on, trying for casual.
Okuyasu’s eyes bug open a little wider. “Us? You wanna ki--- you wanna play?” he stutters, face growing red. He must sense his blush because his shoulders rise up to his ears as he tries to shrink in on himself. It’s adorable.
Josuke’s heart is beating fast and he’s running on pure adrenaline as he reaches for the box, tearing the top off to get at the packet inside. “Yeah, man, if you do?” he asks, pausing as he pulls out a pink cookie stick.
“Yeah I do!” Okuyasu says, jittery with excitement. Josuke’s heart swoops. “Uh, I mean, sure. Do we just eat and then… you know?” he asks, clearing his throat and scooting a bit closer to Josuke.
“I guess you’re supposed to see who holds on the longest,” Josuke says. His heart is still pounding. He can’t believe his luck.
“And then?”
Josuke has the niggling feeling that Okuyasu is trying, for the sake of his sanity, not to say the word ‘kiss.’ Josuke silently thanks him, because he feels ready to combust.
“Then someone either pulls away or you… meet…in the middle.”
“Meet in the middle, with our mouths full,” Okuyasu states.
Josuke wrinkles his noise, idly bouncing the Pocky that’s pinched between the tip of his thumb and pointer finger. Mind working in panicked overtime, he thinks of a solution. If Okuyasu is willing to play, then that means he’s obviously willing to kiss him, right? Josuke desperately does not want his -- their, he giddily corrects himself -- first kiss to be cookie crumb filled. So, maybe he’ll just…
“Yeah,” he answers, wiggling to get even closer to Okuyasu on the floor. They’re sitting with their legs crossed so their knees bump, but it’s still not close enough. Barely thinking at this point, Josuke unfolds his legs and plants his feet on either side of Okuyasu’s hips. He scooches closer until he’s practically in Okuyasu’s lap.
“Yeah,” Okuyasu echoes, sounding slightly dumbfounded.
“Okay,” Josuke says resolutely. “Ready? I’ll count to three.” He waits for Okuyasu to nod before placing one end of the stick between his lips. Okuyasu does the same on the other end and, from this close, Josuke can see his naturally long eyelashes. He really hopes this works.
With the cookie between his lips, he can’t really count. Instead, he mumbles out three little hums in the cadence of someone who’s counting out loud.
Okuyasu’s eyes slip shut and Josuke takes his chance. Reaching up, he grabs the Pocky and tugs it from Okuyasu’s mouth, swooping in to kiss him soundly on the lips.
It doesn’t last long, but it’s still nice. Okuyasu’s lips are soft and warm and the brief contact is worth it just to hear the surprised but pleased little inhale that Okuyasu takes. Josuke pulls back first, opening his eyes to watch Okuyasu’s reaction.
It’s totally worth it. Okuyasu’s eyes flutter open in stages, lids only ever getting half way up. He looks completely dazed as a drunk little smile quirks up the left side of his mouth. “Wow…” he says, the sound hardly anything more than a breath.
Josuke curls his lower lip between his teeth, absolutely giddy as he huffs out a little laugh.
The sound jolts Okuayasu back to reality and his eyes fly wide again. “Oh man,” he groans, before hiding his face in his hands.
“Okyasu? What is it?” Josuke asks, a tinge of panic creeping up on him, but it fades as quickly as it came when Okuyasu peeks out at him from between his fingers.
“Did…did you really just? I mean, you just wanted to—?” he asks, clearly stunned.
Josuke rubs the back of his neck. “Yeah, I kind of… no, I really did.”
“You just wanted to kiss-- you wanted to kiss me? Not play the game?” Okuyasu presses, clearly wanting it spelled out for him.
“Yeah, dumbass, I did, is that alright? I mean, I can give you the Pocky if you’re that heartbroken over missing out,” he huffs, rolling his eyes fondly.
“No!” Okuyasu half shouts, finally bringing hands away from his face, and bringing them to grip Josuke’s upper arms. “I mean, yeah, that’s alright…that’s really alright. Wow, you wanted to kiss me!” He’s positively beaming, Josuke’s overwhelmed that all of that bright excitement is just because of him. He’s kind of embarrassed.
“Yeah. Uh… I’ve kind of wanted to for a while,” Josuke admits, deciding to bring his own arms up to rest around Okuyasu’s shoulders.
“Wow…me too, Josuke,” Okuyasu admits. “I just, well, I dunno. I didn’t think you’d feel the same, I guess.”
Josuke mentally curses himself as several kinds of fool for waiting but decides not to dwell on it for too long. “Well, I do.” He says simply and for a few moments they just sort of look at each other, occasionally breaking into shy little huffs of laughter.
Eventually Okuyasu glances down to the side, letting go of Josuke to reach for another piece of Pocky. He clears his throat, before announcing, “My turn,” and putting it in his lips and wiggling his eyebrows in what Josuke can only assume is meant to be a suave manner.
It just looks silly, but Josuke couldn’t care less. His heart is soaring as he leans in to take the other end, but Okuyasu dramatically tosses it to the side swooping in to kiss Josuke and tackle him to the floor.
It’s not exactly how you’re supposed to play the game, Josuke thinks as he winds his arms tighter around Okuyasu’s shoulders as they laugh and kiss on the floor, but they’ve never really cared all that much about rules anyway.