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Josuke should’ve seen it coming when Yukako grabs his sleeve and drags him in the direction opposite of where they, Koichi, and Okuyasu separated.
“H-Hey! What’s the problem!?” Josuke exclaims as he tries prying Yukako's hand off of him, and then yelps when her grip on him gets even stronger. Still walking, she looks back at the two boys getting further away from them. When they look like tiny specks, she retracts her hand away from the confused teen, popping her knuckles while doing so.
“The problem is how you don’t even notice how Okuyasu lovingly looks at you,” Yukako sighs. The two come to a stop at a crosswalk, waiting for the walking signal to turn white.
Josuke sputters an incoherent mess and asks, “What do you mean? Why would Okuyasu look at me all ‘lovingly?’” He emphasizes the last word as if he has a personal grudge against it. The signal turns white, and the growing crowd behind them forces them to move forward.
Yukako groans. “And you don’t even notice how much you clearly like Okuyasu.” Her mouth is twisted into either a scowl or a pout—although Josuke can’t accurately read her expression since there’s also this playing look in her violet eyes. She's right, Josuke does have a crush on Okuyasu, but he can't be that obvious... right?
Josuke lies, “What?? I don’t—”
He cuts himself off when Yukako raises her eyebrow, giving him an offending look. They stay quiet for a good few seconds, although Josuke's mind is the exact opposite. His mind is in a state of disarray and panic, and the teen doesn't know what to do if she finds out.
Well she's Yukako, a good friend of him, so it wouldn't hurt to blow his cover. Besides, he would finally have someone to confide in about his weird feelings.
He sighs, "Fine, you win. I like Okuyasu." Yukako laughs and claps her hands softly, but before she could respond, he cuts her off. "And what do you mean he 'lovingly looks at me?'" Josuke asks, making quotation marks with his hands.
Yukako immediately ignores the question. “I bet you write ‘Josuke Nijimura’ all over a journal,” she teases. Josuke can’t see his friend, but he bets that she has a wildly large smile on her face.
“What?!” he yells loudly, causing some people to glance at him as if he stepped on their dog’s tail. "No I don’t, that sounds like something you would do!”
She giggles. “Exactly.”
Josuke slaps his face and he groans. He then slouches, looking resigned. “So, why are you telling me all this?”
Yukako’s smile softens. “You’ll see. We’re almost there.” Josuke opens his mouth to say something, and then closes it. He starts fumbling with his hands, scratching spots that didn’t itch and popping his knuckles way too much. The teen looks away, staring at their surroundings. He notices that these streets are more crowded than usual.
He doesn’t say anything after that. If Yukako of all people is choosing to drag him out here, he might as well go along. He’ll ask questions later. Maybe. If he remembers to ask them and doesn’t let his mind wander to Okuyasu.
Josuke cracks a knuckle loudly and winces at the sound. Oh right, Okuyasu. He likes Nijimura Okuyasu, his best friend and his best homie. He already knows he's been pining for the boy for ages, but it feels weird to admit it to someone out loud.
Yukako abruptly stops when they walk into a park, and grabs Josuke’s hand before he walks any further with his head in the clouds. She gives him a disapproving look and says something. Josuke would pay attention to her—she might be saying something important instead of scolding him, but she has that scolding look on her face right now—although what grabs his attention is the rustle and bustle around them. There are people setting up stands lined in straight paths, strings with numerous paper lanterns attached to them hung across trees and wooden poles, and fairy lights scattered on top of branches that Josuke knows will look amazing once they glow in the evening. He can hear adults chatting about work, and children laughing as they help their relatives and family friends.
“There will be a summer festival this Saturday—I’m sure you’ve heard of it before,” Yukako beams when he tunes into what she's saying. He nods, gazing at the cheery sight in awe. “It’s perfect for strengthening bonds between families and friends, dates, and even confessions. ”
Josuke’s jaw drops. Is she… “You’re not forcing me to confess to Okuyasu this weekend.”
“And I’m not forcing you to struggle with unrequited love too.” Yukako rests her hand on her waist, frowning. “The festival is the perfect place to confess. Think of all the romantic possibilities you have!”
Well.
She has a point, but…
“What if he rejects me?” Josuke asks under his breath. His eyes shoot downward, avoiding eye contact with the girl.
She sighs, and crosses her arms. “Fine, then he rejects you.” Yukako hesitantly places a hand on his shoulder. “This is the big oaf we know as Nijimura Okuyasu. Even if he rejects you, he’ll still think of you as a friend. Nothing will change between the two of you.” She pulls her hand away. “If you think that he’ll hate you after this, then you’re lying to yourself and to everyone else.”
Josuke thinks about it for a moment, staring at the stone underneath them.
He’s never really thought about him and Okuyasu being together because he had always assumed that it won't be something that'll happen in the future, but maybe he has more of a chance than he had thought. He thinks they’re both fine staying as close friends, but… as boyfriends? He’ll hear Okuyasu talk to him everyday in a romantic context which—really sounds nice, actually. Josuke doesn't know how many times he's thought about his friend's rough voice just chattering or laughing next to him happily. He knows that Okuyasu’s the type of person who stays friends with someone that he broke up with. But also, if they're together, they'll be like Yukako and Koichi and he'll have the chance to kiss those plump lips of his—
"Fine, I'll go!" He looks back up in time to see Yukako's expression morph from being bored to being downright ecstatic.
"That's great!" she exclaims with a bright smile. She takes out her flip phone and quickly types a message. Josuke tries to see what she was typing, but she would turn the other direction when he gets too close.
"What did you send?" Josuke askes, shuffling his feet since they feel numb from all the standing.
"Oh, I was telling Koichi that you're coming to the festival." Josuke opens his mouth but is quickly cut off. "Anyways, you'll be asking Okuyasu to go to the festival with him of course. There will be a lot of fun games you two can play together, so take advantage of them. There will also be a fireworks show when it hits 21:00, so I suggest that you watch the fireworks with him and confess." Josuke blushes when she says that last word, but he doesn't say anything about it. "Traditional wear is optional."
"O… kay," Josuke shakily says, taking in the rush of information.
Yukako smirks at his response, but doesn't bite on it. "Anyways, Koichi and I will be at the festival. If you are bold enough to think that we will help you at the festival, then you are sorely mistaken as you will be dead where you stand," she threatens harshly. Josuke winces and nods quickly.
"Yes ma'am."
"Good." The teen smiles at his response, and begins to walk away. "Have fun!" she calls out, leaving Josuke at the park. She doesn't follow her, as his head is wandering somewhere else. He wonders how he'll be able to pull this off.
Josuke sighs and puts his hands in his pocket. Slouching, he trudges his way back home.
"Oi, Josuke!"
Okuyasu runs up to the mentioned teen in a bright blue happi with white lines running across the bottom of the thin clothing in patterns. The cloth tying it all together is black, and he’s also wearing traditional sandals as well as a white headband designed to look like a rope. "I see you're dressed up for the festival too! This is gonna be great—just the two of us!" he beams, his words causing Josuke's heart to swell up and then pop from the rush of endearment and the general feelings of helpless love he has for his friend.
Unlike Okuyasu, Josuke is wearing a dark blue yukata with pink flowers inked all over it and a red sash tying his robe together. He doesn't have traditional sandals at home, so he opts wearing simple black sandals instead. Adding to his yukata with a bit of flare, he also has his heart and peace sign pins attached to it.
Josuke grins. “Well, should we go?” he asks, feeling anxiety build up in him little by little but ignores it.
“Hell yeah! Your hair’s looking cool as ever, by the way.”
The two chat up a storm as they walk to the festival. They talk about what they’ve been doing recently, the things that they dislike that they’ve seen, and the stuff that they found interesting—it’s the little things they discuss that matter to them, with no one to interrupt them.
“WOAH!” Okuyasu yells when they take their first step in the park.
The sight is beautiful and can easily make someone feel a surge of warm fuzziness. All the lights have been lit, making the festival brighter look like it was straight out of a folktale. Everyone is laughing, smiling, and having the time of their lives. People wearing happis are hitting drums along to the melody of those playing their shamisen with joy. Adults and children inside the festival are dancing to the music, some opting to dance to their heart’s content, and some opting to merely sway with the music. Children are running around with sticks of dango and cotton candy either in their hands or in their mouths. The smell of takoyaki, yakitori, okonomiyaki, and even more food hit them intensely, giving them a brief whiplash before they try to navigate through the dozens of food stands laid out for everyone to visit.
The two buy taiyaki for them to eat, reveling in the warm sweetness pouring into their mouths. It feels like all the right kinds of homemade.
They give their thanks to the family running the stand, and grin from ear to ear when they hear the children inside the stand squeal in happiness, ecstatic to know that the two enjoy their family’s very own taiyaki.
---
Josuke and Okuyasu visit a variety of booths that showcase games that they can play. The two learn about their strengths and weaknesses in each game—Okuyasu does really well at goldfish and ball scooping, while Josuke instead prefers gun shooting and ring toss.
The former has his eyes on one particular prize at a ring toss booth and vows to win it. He plays the game several times and fails each of those times, although he doesn’t give up quite yet. Josuke wants to help, but Okuyasu keeps telling him to let him win it by himself. “You’re with me for moral support,” Okuyasu says, pouting. The man behind the booth even gives him a look feigning pity as he gives him five colorful and heavy rings.
All right. Okuyasu has five rings to get 25,000 points, which doesn’t sound so bad considering that the most that someone can get is 100,000. Although, he just doesn’t know why he’s so bad at the game.
Whatever. This is all or nothing at this point.
There are several small poles layed out across a wooden board. In particular, there are eight red poles laid out in a circle labelled 500 , four smaller green poles inside of said circle labelled 1,000 , four big black poles between the red and green poles labelled -500 , and a tiny blue pole smack in the middle labelled 20,000 . All the other poles are the same color of the wood and are labelled 500 . “You’ll just have to get the middle one and one of the green ones, or just three of the green ones,” he remembers Josuke saying.
Okuyasu bites his lip when the man says “Go!” He has the urge to cheat with The Hand, but it would be really unfair to the guy running this booth.
The teen shifts the heavy ring around, getting the feel for it a billionth time. He throws the ring, aiming in the middle. The ring catches onto a green pole. Good.
Then the next ring falls onto one of the normal poles. Shit. Fuck. It’s okay though, he has three more rings that suddenly feels heavier in his hands despite the lack of two.
The next ring slides onto a black pole. Oh fuck. Oh God. Abort , Okuyasu’s mind yells at him.
The fourth ring lands onto a red pole. That’s alright, but not enough. Now the only pole he needs to toss to is the blue ring, which is nigh impossible at this point…
Okuyasu yells an intense war cry as he throws the last ring. He, Josuke, the man behind the booth, and probably some other people watch it intently. It first catches itself onto the green pole, but then ends up rolling into the blue one instead.
He hears the nagging tone of a familiar voice behind and turns around, but is suddenly caught by Josuke’s swooping hug in the direction opposite of the voice.
“Yo that was amazing dude!” the teen exclaims. “Nice! You can get the plushie now!”
Okuyasu gazes at the crowd before snapping back to reality and grabbing the prize he fought for with all his might. It’s a soft and squishy cat plush toy that’s shaped like a marshmallow, and can perfectly fit into his arms. The cat is a light purple with a white stomach and—literally—sparkling blue eyes. He grins. “Thanks!” Okuyasu looks at the plushie and then back at Josuke. “I—”
Josuke whips his flip phone out to check something and then winces when he realizes that he had accidentally cut his friend off. “Sorry, I just remembered that there’s almost a fireworks show! It’s in fifteen minutes.” Okuyasu’s eyes immediately widen at that, and then grabs Josuke’s arm with the plushie in his arm.
“Let’s go find a good seat before it starts!” Josuke nods in agreement, and the two make their way out of the festival and into the more open areas.
---
“Hey, was it me or did I hear someone we know behind us when we were at the ring tossing booth?” Okuyasu asks as they try to find a secluded space to hang out in.
“Oh yeah, Jotaro and Rohan were watching you throw the rings,” Josuke replies nonchalantly.
“What?!”
“I didn’t wanna say anything about it because I didn’t wanna ruin your concentration!” he defends, throwing his arms up.
Okuyasu takes that sentence into consideration and grins. “Aww, thanks bro.”
Josuke grins back. “No problem dude.”
The pair finds a spot clear of people at the edge of a large pond amongst the trees. They see others camp across and several feet next to them, so they’re also sure that they’ll be able to watch the fireworks with no problem.
“Hey… Do you think Jotaro and Rohan are dating ?” Okuyasu genuinely asks, and takes a bite of takoyaki they nabbed from the festival.
Caught off guard, Josuke chokes on his own spit. “H-Haha… Definitely.” Actually, he isn’t sure since Jotaro doesn’t seem to be the type to date someone he just met. But then again, he doesn’t know his relative too well.
“Hm… They’re definitely dating! You saw them back at the festival, right?” Josuke nods as he takes his own bite of takoyaki. Okuyasu pauses for a few seconds as if he’s carefully choosing his words. “Mainly like, couples go to festivals n’ stuff if they’re alone. Like, the only reason they would go all alone together is if they’re dating.”
Josuke swallows his food a bit too early, and nearly chokes again. Why would he just say that when they’re also going to the festival alone?! He swallows once more to make sure his food is down, and just sits there thinking.
Should he confess right then and there? The fireworks are about to start, and—
Fuck it.
“Hey, ‘Yasu…” he starts. Okuyasu looks at him in interest, waiting for what he’s going to say next. The moon is illuminating him in all the ways Josuke finds handsome and cute, and he just can’t get the image of him staring at him with those curious eyes out of his mind anymore.
A beat passes. Two beats pass. Josuke can hear music in the distance, the buzzing of cicadas, and his own rapidly beating heart.
Breathe.
“...I—”
BOOM! The fireworks start off with a bang. Both of their heads whip toward the sky, watching the first few fireworks dissipate into little sparks. The following ones catch their attention for a minute. Color blooms onto the sky’s dark blue canvas, making the evening brighter than any night they’ve ever seen. Reds, yellows, greens, and orange blend into the stars, twinkling as each ball of light shoots up before exploding into beautiful particles.
Then Josuke looks at Okuyasu. His eyes are fixated on the continuous fireworks, completely immersed in the show. He’s illuminated by various shades of radiant light, and Josuke can see many of his features so defined since they’re sitting so close to each other.
Okuyasu turns to him, unbothered by his staring. “So, you were saying?”
Oh shit. Josuke freezes up, but the fireworks keep going. He briefly wishes that Star Platinum would activate for him right now, but he pushes that thought aside because he’s going to—
He’s going to confess to his best friend.
“I…” Breathe in. Breathe out. “Like… you,” he slowly confesses. “I—I mean like, I like like you y’know? Like, really like you,” he clarifies, in the awkward way that only pining teenagers can.
The two just stay there, listening to the consistent booms in the sky.
“I,” Josuke hears Okuyasu begin with his sweet rough voice, “like you… too.” Before Josuke can react, he places the cat plush on Josuke’s lap. Josuke, unsure of what to do, pets its head. It's incredibly soft; the fabric is super smooth and fluffy in a way that feels comforting, and the squishiness of the cat really just adds to its charm.
“Why would you give this to me?” Josuke asks, now hugging it.
“Well…” Okuyasu pauses to scratch his head. “I planned to give it to you from the start. I wanted to give it to you as a gift and tell you that I really like you.”
Both of their faces are completely red, and they try to break eye contact in embarrassment but also can’t take their eyes off of each other.
“Bro,” Josuke starts, “do you want to…?”
“ Yes. ”
The two move toward each other swiftly, nearly bumping their heads before they go in to give each other a kiss on the lips. It’s messy and quick, as they have no real idea how to kiss each other, but they try their best. It feels like several minutes of them pressing each other’s lips have passed, but it has only been a few seconds.
It feels like destiny.
They then pull apart, breathing quickly and nervously smiling. They’re both on cloud nine and are buzzing with excitement. Their hand moves to lock with the other’s before they realize it, and they stay cuddling each other for the rest of the fireworks show.
“Hey, “Yasu?”
“Yeah bro?”
Josuke’s hand squeezes Okuyasu’s. “Thank you.”
