Chapter Text
Evening March sun filtered through the ever so slightly tilted window blinds, illuminating the small particles of dust that hovered around the bedroom. A few boxes laid haphazardly scattered, most of them still open and unfilled. Okuyasu sat on the hardwood floor as he leaned up against Josuke’s bed, thumbing through one of his friend’s fashion magazines. He didn’t quite see the whole appeal of it all, so he skipped over most of the pages, occasionally stopping on models with ‘hot bods’ to show Josuke, who hummed in quiet approval. Finishing flipping through, Okuyasu tossed the magazine to the side, the paper making a gentle thwump noise as it hit the ground. Though it was quiet, it was loud enough to draw Josuke’s attention to it.
“Hey, what the hell man? Put the mag back in the box, I put it in there for a reason.”
Okuyasu blew a raspberry at his friend before complying, then fell back onto the floor. The room was silent. Only the ceiling fan could be heard, which the two watched as it slowly spun in lazy circles. Neither of them said a word, scared to shatter the peace. They just laid and watched.
The silence had to be broken eventually, and Okuyasu decided that he would be the one to do so. “Man, I can’t believe you’re leaving for college in just two weeks. Where has the time gone, dude? Seems like just yesterday when we were beating the shit outta Kira. Good times.”
Josuke chuffed in response. “‘Good’ would be one way to put it. Dude, we almost died multiple times. You basically DID die. And I ended up in the hospital for weeks.”
Okuyasu shrugged. “All’s well that ends well, right?”
“I suppose.”
Staring at the wall to avoid eye contact, Josuke hesitated, then mumbled “I mean, I did get to meet you.”
“Oh my god dude, that’s so gay,” Okuyasu said while erupting into laughter.
“You’re such an idiot.”
“Hey, at least I own up to my stupidity,” said Okuyasu as he sat up and pointed at his friend. “Unlike someone else here, dumbass.”
Josuke put his hands up in defense. “Alright, alright, ya got me.” The duo chuckled a bit before the room returned to the same uncomfortable silence from before. Josuke’s clock had broken a few days back, and even though he had tried to fix it with Crazy Diamond it still wouldn’t work, and it flashed with a time of 2:37; although judging by the now golden sunlight that flooded the room, it was probably nearing 5:00. Though the two weren’t talking, it was nice enough to sit in the presence of one another. That’s what they had done for the last few days. A couple months ago, if Okuyasu had come to the Higashikata household to hang out with Josuke, they probably would’ve played F-Mega all afternoon. While they still enjoyed gaming together, they also enjoyed long chats about life, friends, everything. Their chats used to be held over the phone, but after Tomoko chewed out Josuke for driving their phone bill up like crazy, he suggested that Okuyasu just see him in person instead.
“...Josuke?”
Suddenly, the boy was shaken back to his senses. “Sorry man, I completely zoned out there. Just kinda tired right now.”
Okuyasu shook his head. “S’alright, dude. I just wanna know which box you put your CDs in. Wanna listen to music but I don’t feel like going through every box to get em.”
“They should be in the box by the door, if I’m not mistaken. Just please, please, PLEASE put them back when you’re done. And if you dare scratch any of them, I’m making you pay for a new copy.”
“Bro, even if I did scratch them, couldn’t you just fix them up with Crazy Diamond?”
“Hey, I said what I said.”
“Jeez, I won’t. I promise,” Okuyasu replied as he sifted through the box. Even though Josuke had sounded like he was incredibly protective of the CDs, they had all been shoved in there pretty messily.
Okuyasu didn’t know much music on a good day, and he was always completely at a loss with Josuke’s music collection. Most of the music was western, and Okuyasu could confidently say that he had never heard of any of the artists (minus Prince, seeing as Josuke constantly talked about him). “Oi Josuke, just how do you get all of these albums anyways? I don’t see this kind of stuff being sold around here.”
Josuke peeped over the side of his bed, face contorted. “Oh, uh… My, uh, my dad sometimes sends them over. I dunno if this is stuff that he listens to, or just stuff that is popular with the American youth.” He paused for a second and sighed. “Kinda hoping it’s the latter, though. The less I have in common with that old bastard the better, y’know?”
Though it had been a couple years since he had met Joseph Joestar, Josuke still wouldn’t completely look up to him as a father. They were certainly on better terms than before, but Josuke still harbored a bit of scorn for him. Apologizing wouldn’t fix his mom’s broken heart, nor would it fix the relationship between Joseph and his wife, even if Josuke had never met her. He once considered writing her an apology, but he figured that it would be too awkward. Plus, he was very adamant about not being the one to blame for his father’s mistakes.
“Oh.” Okuyasu pursed his lips, feeling bad for reminding Josuke about it. “I’m sorry for bringing it up.”
Josuke shrugged. “It’s fine, it doesn’t really bother me. Not like it’s your fault anyways, you didn’t know.”
Okuyasu had already listened to a majority of the songs that Josuke owned. Typically when they hung out, Josuke would let his friend select the album, though that typically led to Okuyasu just picking out whichever cover stood out to him the most, considering he didn’t know the songs. Together they had listened through a good bit of the CDs, some being albums that Josuke had memorized while others he had never touched. They usually turned some music on as they played video games, occasionally commenting when a good song came on but talking over it otherwise. Sometimes they would go through two or three albums a day, and even though Okuyasu wasn’t always a fan of the music, he would go along with it if Josuke was happy.
As he casted aside the albums that they had already listened to, Okuyasu picked up a shiny blue and grey album that read Synkronized. Knowing well and good that he wouldn’t correctly pronounce the name and being too scared to butcher it in front of Josuke, he held it up and said “Hey, is this album new? I don’t think I recognize it.” His friend’s eyebrows raised as he walked over and grabbed it out of Okuyasu’s hands. “Oh man, I totally forgot about this album. If I remember correctly, it’s pretty good.” Flopping down onto his bed, Josuke continued “But yeah, this is actually one of my older albums. It’s only from 1999 but it’s one of the first things my fa- uh, Joseph sent to me. Haven’t listened to it in a while though, I think it got lost under my bed. Found it a few days ago when I was cleanin’ this place up real nice.”
Okuyasu wondered to himself whether or not the album getting lost was really just an accident, but he knew it was best not to question it. “Alright, pop it into the CD player already. Now I wanna hear it.” Josuke was already on it, popping the chromatic CD into the machine before sitting back down on the bed. The player whirred to life, the first song slowly but surely fading in. Right off the bat there was a strong beat that Okuyasu figured he could get behind, as well as some really good violin and bass. It quite literally seemed really funky.
“Oi, what’s this song called?”
Thinking, Josuke picked up the CD case and flipped to the back to look through the song names. “This one is called Canned Heat. It’s my favorite on this album, I think.”
“Huh.” Okuyasu gently tapped his foot on the floor to the beat of the drum. A man was singing in English, and though he picked up on the occasional word, Okuyasu didn’t understand it at all. “What’s he singing about?”
Josuke paused for a moment, thinking hard. “I think he’s singing about dancing. I can’t tell exactly what he’s saying, though. I guess that’s what I get for falling asleep in English class often, huh?”
The two sat quietly as they grooved a bit to the rhythm for a few seconds before Josuke suddenly popped up and extended an arm towards his friend. “Dance with me, Oku.”
Okuyasu’s face flushed what he presumed to be a deep scarlet color. “W-what? Dude, I ain’t dancing with you. No way.”
Josuke pouted at him. “C’mon, why not?”
Turning away, Okuyasu mumbled “I don’t dance.”
“Man, that’s not true,” Josuke scoffed. “I’m sure you’re great at dancing. And besides, it’s not like anyone is watching. Aside from me, that is.”
“But what if I look stupid?”
Raising an eyebrow, Josuke responded “So what? Everyone looks at least kinda stupid when they dance. It’s just about having fun.”
“But how can I have fun if I know that I look like an idiot?”
“You always look like an idiot, jackass. Now get up and dance already, the music isn’t gonna wait for ya.”
Okuyasu exhaled a sigh of defeat. “Fine, fine, I’ll dance. But only this once, cause I like the song.” He pointed an accusatory finger at Josuke. “And don’t you dare make fun of me, man. Or tell anyone else that I’m a bad dancer. Seriously, if Koichi finds out, I think I’ll die. And don’t even get me started on Ro-”
“Just shut up and dance, you asshole!” Josuke exclaimed over the bass.
The two laughed as they jammed out to the music, probably creating a ruckus on the floor below them. Though Josuke admitted that Okuyasu wasn’t the most graceful dancer in the world, neither was he, so he hardly had any room to judge. They spun around in circles and jumped up and down as Josuke prayed that his mom wouldn’t be home any time soon, seeing as she would definitely yell at the two to lower the volume. She was usually pretty lax when it came to Josuke playing music, but she would also scold him if he blared it too loud. Most of the time he spent listening to music was him trying to find the perfect volume where he could listen to it loudly without disturbing Tomoko, but when she wasn’t home, he played it as loudly as he wanted.
Even though only a couple minutes had passed since they had started dancing, the song slowly faded out to silence. The duo dropped to the floor, both out of breath from their mini workout.
“Ya know, that… was kinda… fun,” panted Okuyasu. Josuke was only able to sputter out a quiet “yeah” as they tried to catch their breaths. They sat quietly as the next song played. The light coming through the window seemed to grow redder by the minute.
“...I’m gonna really miss hanging out with you, dude.”
Josuke turned to Okuyasu, a look of surprise on his face. “I mean, yeah, I’ll miss you too, man. I’ll still call you often, I promise.” But his friend shook his head, tears welling up in his eyes.
“I’m like, serious, bro. I mean, you’re my best friend, y’know?,” he explained as Josuke took a seat next to him. “You saved my life. More than once, even if one time was worse than the others. And, look, I love Koichi and all-”
“Ooo, you like Koichi? Better not tell Yukako, she might just kill youuuuu,” Josuke teased.
“Shut up dude,” chuckled Okuyasu as he punched Josuke on the arm. “But I’m serious. Koichi is a cool guy and all but we never, like, bonded in the way you and I did, I guess.” He wiped a tear that had ran down his face before soaking his t-shirt. “I-I’m sorry for being super sappy and dumb, I know that I must be annoying you-”
“Oku, it’s okay, you aren’t annoying me,” Josuke replied as he put his hand on Okuyasu’s shoulder. “But keep apologizing and you just might.”
“S-sorry,” laughed Okuyasu through his tears.
Scooting a little closer, Josuke wrapped his arms around Okuyasu. His friend was warm, and Josuke could feel his face getting a little warm too. They sat quietly, but this silence was different from the one before. It was a sort of sad silence, the type you can’t quite describe with words but can overwhelmingly feel as it seems to fill every bone in your body. The light outside continued to dim as the CD spun around and around in the player, but the shattering quietude coming from the two was louder than any music playing.
“Hey, um, it’s getting late. You might wanna head home so that you can get your dad some dinner.”
“...Can we stay like this? Just for a little longer?”
“...Yeah,” Josuke said, leaning his head on Okuyasu’s shoulder, drying one of his tears. “We can.”