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"Hey Josuke," Okuyasu started, taking a small bite of his sandwich. Josuke glanced back at him with a raised eyebrow, prompting his friend to keep going. "How come yer always wearin' that necklace now? I noticed ya've been wearin' it for a few weeks, every single day."
The question caught him off guard, even though he had actually expected Okuyasu to ask about it at first. When his friend hadn't said anything during the first week, Josuke had naively believed that his friend wouldn't notice at all.
For the past few weeks, Josuke had been wearing a day collar. It was a dark green chained choker with a small circle in the front. It would have been a pretty standard day collar if it weren’t for the pen nib hanging off the small circle. Rohan had it custom made for him around a month ago, and Josuke had been wearing it ever since.
It wasn't like Josuke was trying to hide his day collar from anyone; he wore it proudly around his neck, going out of his way to wear more revealing shirts just so people would be able to see. Josuke really liked the thought of people knowing he belonged to someone; he wanted people to know that he was Rohan's and no one else's, and, even more so, to know that no one else could belong to the eccentric mangaka in the way that he did.
Explaining it to his friends, who were unaware of the fact that Josuke and Rohan were even together… that was a different story altogether. He could feel his face heat up as he stared at the can of soda in his hands. Why did Okuyasu have to ask about it? Why couldn’t he just have researched it on his own?
“I’m not sayin’ it’s ugly or nothin’! It’s just weird for you to repeat accessories so often.” Okuyasu shrugged, taking one final bite of his meal. “I asked Koichi ‘bout it but he said it was best if I asked you directly.”
Josuke’s eyes widened at the realization that Koichi knew, and that was why he had been acting so weird around him and Rohan lately. He took a deep breath, daring to sneak a glance at his friend, who was staring up at him with a goofy smile on his face.
“It’s… it’s a day collar,” Josuke muttered out, hoping that was enough to quench his friend’s curiosity. Okuyasu tilted his head to the side, quite obviously not understanding what Josuke meant. It was better for him to educate his friend, before someone else made him believe some silly lie about it all. “It’s a BDSM thing, Okuyasu. It means I belong to… to someone.” Josuke couldn’t bring himself to outright say who it was, although the pen nib accessory should have made it obvious. He hoped he wouldn’t have to explain it to Okuyasu, though, that his friend could connect the dots by himself.
Okuyasu’s lips parted in surprise, and he glanced down at the collar, then back up at Josuke’s face. His eyes repeated their movement and a small blush appeared on his cheeks. Josuke swallowed nervously, moving his thumbs over the can on his hands. “That’s so cool,” Okuyasu finally said, a small smile present on his lips.
A sense of relief immediately washed over him upon hearing those words. Josuke looked over at his friend with a confused expression on his face. Okuyasu thought… it was cool? He didn’t think it was lame, or gross? Well. It wasn’t like he’d expected Okuyasu to kinkshame him, they’d been best friends for years. He’d just worried that his friend wouldn’t understand it all at first.
“That’s pretty kinky, though, bro. Goin’ around with it on display.” Okuyasu wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, and Josuke had to stifle a laugh at his friend’s silliness in this situation. “Have other people asked ya about it?”
Josuke shook his head, a small smile playing on his lips. “Nah, man. Not directly. Just you. But I have gotten a lot of weird looks from some classmates. Think they all know what’s going on, which… was embarrassing at first, y’know? But… I kinda like it now. It feels… nice, having people recognize what it means.”
“You must really love whoever it is yer seeing, huh?” Okuyasu asked, a hint of mischief present in his eyes. Josuke felt the heat rise up his face again and he nodded, looking down at his hands again. He really did love Rohan, more than he could ever put into words. It was embarrassing. He’d never even told the mangaka about his feelings personally and here he was admitting it to Okuyasu.
Okuyasu wrapped his arm around Josuke’s shoulder and pulled him in closer, his voice dropping in volume just slightly as he glanced around them. “So who’s this lucky guy? Why haven’t ya let yer bro meet him, huh?”
Oh no. Not this question. Josuke looked away, biting down on his lower lip out of habit. Josuke knew it wouldn’t take him too long to realize who his partner was once he took a closer look at the collar. He wished Okuyasu would have realized once Josuke had left, or figured it out on his own without Josuke having to say anything. It seemed that life wasn’t willing to be kind to him today.
“You… You already know him, bro,” Josuke said in a low voice, refusing to meet his friend’s curious eyes.
Okuyasu turned to face him and then stopped, pulling away from Josuke once more. It seemed like he’d been about to ask Josuke about it further, when his eyes landed on Josuke’s exposed neck. “Holy shit. The pen nib. What the fuck, dude? It’s Rohan, isn’t it?”
With those words, his very supportive friend bursted out laughing.
Great. This was not how he planned on Okuyasu finding out that they were together. Josuke slapped his hands over his face, already dreading the rest of the day.