Work Text:
For a long while in their relationship, Josuke and Rohan didn’t have a first date.
Sure, they would kiss and touch, Josuke would visit Rohan’s home, but there had never been what one would consider an official first date, at least not for a while.
Josuke fretted about this, wondered if the two of them were even considered a couple. Wasn’t it essential for a couple to at least have a first date? There had at least been a first kiss, and most recently in Rohan’s home a first hand job.
Was it that Rohan didn’t want to be seen with Josuke in public? Did he not consider them a couple?
He wanted to ask Rohan these things, and was on the cusp of it until one day, two months into their relationship, Rohan called Josuke and asked him out to dinner.
On the night of their date, or what Josuke thought was a date, he picked out some of his nicest clothes, his face hot and his heart fast as he dressed himself and fixed his hair. His mother was downstairs watching TV, and had no idea her son was going on his first ever date. Josuke couldn’t tell her, not only because he was shy, but he didn’t know how she’d feel about him being with another man. He wished he could confide in her, wanting to ask what one does on a first date; does one bring a gift; how does one dress; what is to be expected; could he get a ride?
With a huff, Josuke decided to let it be for now. He considered himself to be brave, the kind of person who tackled challenges head on, so why should matters of love be any different?
He slithered down the stairs and to the front door, quickly shouted that he was going out for the night, didn’t wait to hear his mother’s response as he shut the door behind him.
The air was warm that evening, like summer was inching its way around the corner. The sun was still out, staying out just a little longer each day. Even with a heart that wouldn’t stop racing, the weather lifted his spirits.
He strode to the bus stop, took the bus downtown to his destination; he saw it, a tiny establishment crammed between two other buildings, a red lantern hanging on each side. Akachochin, Josuke immediately thought, and felt that he shouldn’t be in such an establishment. Sure, he could convince the pachinko parlours he was an adult, but his luck would only hold out so strong.
He crossed the street, read the sign: Cosukaya.
He raised an eyebrow at that, wondering what the name could mean. He opened the door and found his answer.
“Welcome, Master!” a hostess chimed, dressed in a rather cute maid costume; the dress rested just above her knees, and Josuke noticed both cat ears and a cat tail.
He saw a familiar figure standing beside the maid, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.
“Good evening, Josuke,” Rohan said warmly.
“A-Ah, good evening,” Josuke stammered. His heart leaped into his throat, remembering that this was probably a date, their first date. Rohan seemed so casual that it only furthered Josuke’s embarrassment.
Rohan stood straight, asked the hostess for a table. The maid cheerily lead the pair through the izakaya, passed waitresses also dressed as maids. Josuke noticed even the bartender was dressed as a maid, mixing drinks with expertise for some patrons sitting in front of her.
The restaurant seemed jovial, with the maids in cheerful character and upbeat music playing. It was an odd mix of traditional and new, with red lanterns, but also decorations of cats and maids on the wall.
The hostess lead them to a low table, where they removed their shoes and sat close to the floor. Rohan and Josuke didn’t have a second to exchange a word before the hostess returned with two cool wet towels for the couple to clean their hands with.
“May I offer my masters an otoshi before your waitress arrives?”
“Edamame,” Rohan quickly replied.
“Of course, master,” the hostess said, curtsying before taking her leave.
There was a moment of silence between the two, just the upbeat pop music in the background and the chattering of patrons.
“Well, uh,” Josuke began. He swallowed hard. “Th-Thank you for uh, for asking me out.”
Rohan blinked, then stared off to the side, biting the inside of his lip.
“Well, someone had to.”
Josuke almost questioned this, but a new maid appeared with a plate of edamame.
“Good evening, masters,” she greeted, curtsying, her pigtails bobbing with her. “I’ll be your server tonight. Can I start you with any drinks?”
“Hot sake,” Rohan answered, quick again. It gave Josuke the strange idea that Rohan had been to this odd establishment before.
Rohan looked to Josuke expectantly.
He was tempted to push his luck, to order sake as well.
He shook his head. “Sprite please.”
The waitress bounced away. Josuke noticed Rohan browsing the menu, so he followed suit.
“Anything you’d recommend?” Josuke asked.
Rohan raised an eyebrow, Josuke felt his eyes on him.
“Seems like you’ve been here before,” Josuke remarked.
“Observant,” Rohan smirked, “but a little embarrassing.” He put an elbow on the table. “Cosukaya started out in S city. A month ago they opened a restaurant here, and a member of my staff gave me a voucher for the place, said they were looking to appeal to those in the otaku scene.” He chuckled. “Of course I went to try it. I thought it’d be a good opportunity to take some pictures of the waitresses; maybe they’d make a good reference for my manga.” He sighed. “Unfortunately, no pictures are allowed inside.”
He adjusted himself in his seat. “However, the food was surprisingly good, and it has quickly gained a reputation for its good food and service. And here I thought I’d never see a cosplay izakaya outside of S city.”
With its apparent popularity, Josuke wondered why he hadn’t heard of it before; probably because izakaya were technically bars, and high schoolers didn’t frequent bars.
He smiled to himself, feeling special in being here with Rohan.
“What’s with the smile?” Rohan asked.
Josuke chuckled, shook his head. “Nothing.” He cleared his throat. “But seriously, what should we get?”
Rohan looked at the menu, stroked his chin.
“Well, this place has an all you can eat offer. We could do that if you’re hungry enough. It’s 3000 yen per person.”
Josuke whistled. “Nah, think I’ll go without that.”
“Well in that case,” Rohan continued, “all of their chicken dishes are good.” He plucked a piece of edamame off the plate, peeled it open and chewed on it. “But I don’t just want chicken. I’d like gomae and tsukemono. Typically you eat the yakisoba towards the end of your meal, so we could get some of those.”
Josuke blinked, staring at the menu overwhelmed. It was incredible how knowledgeable Rohan was and how he could take charge of situations.
“Well,” Josuke tried, “I’m a fan of both tebasaki and karaage. Which do you want?”
Rohan shrugged. “Tebasaki. Glad we decided that quickly.”
“W-Well, you did most of the work,” Josuke chuckled.
The waitress returned with their drinks, and the pair placed their order. While they waited, they talked.
“So,” Josuke started, scratching the back of his hot neck. “Is this uh....” He trailed off, stared at a maid waving her hands cutely at a table of customers. He grew momentarily distracted by the way she bounced on the balls of her Mary Janes, the way she swayed her hips.
“What?” Rohan said, interrupting Josuke’s train of thought. “What are you looking at?”
“Uh..” Josuke gulped. “Nothing, but... is this a date?”
Rohan’s eyes grew wide, and his cheeks turned pink.
“I...” Rohan started. He coughed, cleared his throat. “Of course it is. What did you think it was?”
Josuke’s mouth fell open, his words stuck.
“Uh....” He laughed nervously. “We never had a first date, did we? We just sort of started kissing and.... doing stuff. I wasn’t sure if we were...”
“Boyfriends?” Rohan asked. Josuke noticed the pink on Rohan’s cheeks grow darker. “That’s what I thought.”
He sipped his sake, and Josuke wondered if Rohan was shy or just growing tipsy.
Rohan continued. “I guess I was waiting to see if you’d ask first.”
Josuke gawked at Rohan, didn’t even notice the waitress place gomae and two empty plates at the table.
He watched Rohan serve himself some gomae, smelling the sesame dressing on the vegetables.
This whole time, Rohan had been waiting on him, and he had been waiting on Rohan. And here he thought himself brave, and Rohan self-assured.
“Wh-What?!” Rohan stammered, his ears red. Josuke knew now this wasn’t a result of the alcohol.
Suddenly, he started laughing, quite loudly, and drew the attention of nearby patrons.
“What?!” Rohan asked again.
“Nothing,” Josuke said, coming down from the laughter, wiping a tear from his eye. “It’s just... we’re both so stupid, you know?”
He placed some gomae on his plate. “But isn’t it the job of the older one in the relationship to ask the other out?”
Rohan glared across the table, his mouth twitching. “Not necessarily.”
Josuke stabbed at his gomae, sucked the sesame dressing off the end of his chopstick. “But uh, regardless, thank you for asking. I guess I would have just waited forever.”
Another silent beat. Josuke fiddled with his chopsticks.
He gasped, as Rohan reached across the table to hold his hand.
Josuke looked up, they locked eyes. Rohan’s expression grew soft.
“Don’t keep me waiting,” Rohan said. “I was happy when you said yes, but next time don’t keep me waiting so long.”
Josuke pursed his lips, feeling his heart in his chest. He held Rohan’s hand, squeezed it. “Well, I guess I gotta start thinking of nice things to do with you.”
Rohan chuckled, let Josuke’s hand go and started to eat.
“It can be anything,” he said through a mouthful of food. “If you want to come back here, we can.”
“Maybe,” Josuke smiled, picking at his own serving, glancing around at the waitresses. One was serving a table behind Rohan, held her hands to her face like cat paws.
“Thank you very nya-ch!” he heard her say.
“Seriously, what are you looking at?” Rohan asked.
“Nothing,” Josuke replied quickly, stuffing his face.
Their chicken arrived by the time Rohan was well into his picked vegetables, an assortment of eggplant, lotus root, cucumber, and daikon. They talked of life, mostly little things, of Josuke’s worries surrounding his mother, of school and work. They exchanged soft glances, held hands when the waitress wasn’t around, and by the time their yakisoba arrived, they found they were almost too full to eat it.
Finally, with yet another curtsy, the waitress left them the bill.
“I’ll take it,” Rohan said, already reaching for his wallet.
“What?! No, I’ll pay for my portion!” Josuke insisted.
“How? We shared just about everything.”
“Then we split the bill in half!”
Rohan sat up, his wallet in hand, and crossed his arms. “You kept me waiting, I had to ask you out first, let me pay the bill this time. When you ask me out, then you can pay.”
Josuke held his hands out, stammering a reply, and watched as Rohan counted bills.
“I... Sure, fine, I guess,” Josuke relented. “Then I have to ask you out real soon to pay you back!”
Rohan smiled, setting the bills down. “Don’t keep me waiting too long then.”
Josuke gulped, feeling hot again, noticing the way Rohan’s eyelashes swept across his cheekbones when he looked down like that.
“You’re beautiful,” he blurted out.
Rohan looked up immediately, his eyes wide and his cheeks pink.
“Where’d that come from?”
Josuke chuckled in embarrassment. “I uh... I don’t know. You just looked beautiful, that’s all.”
“I....” Rohan looked away, pocketed his wallet. “Sure, okay... you don’t look so bad yourself tonight.”
Josuke grinned widely, scratching his burning hot cheek.
They exited the building together, the sun nearly down and the sky growing darker. The air grew cool, and Josuke found he had to pull his jacket tighter around him.
“I’m so full,” he grumbled.
“Me too,” Rohan agreed, “but it was good, wasn’t it?”
“Sure was. I didn’t know what to expect from a cosplay izakaya, but you were right. The food was good and so was the service. The girls were even cute.”
He felt an icy glare on him, turned to see Rohan with his eyes narrowed and his eyebrow raised.
“H-Hey!” Josuke cried, “I’m your boyfriend, not theirs! Don’t worry about it!”
“So that’s what you were looking at all night,” he spoke low.
“C’mon, what did I just say? Besides, didn’t I just call you beautiful?”
Rohan’s mouth twitched. “Uh-huh...”
He walked off, and Josuke noticed him approaching a motorcycle.
“Is that yours? It looks new.”
“Of course it’s new,” Rohan replied. “You trashed my last one.”
Josuke recalled the incident with Highway Star, how he literally crashed that motorcycle into a hospital.
“R-Right, sorry.”
Rohan straddled the bike, looked to Josuke.
“Get on.”
“What? Me?”
“Who else?” Rohan glared.
“It’s just I’ve never ridden on a bike with someone before,” he said, slowly approaching the bike.
“First time for everything,” Rohan replied. “Get on. I want to show you something.”
Josuke looked around, wondered if anyone would judge him for riding pillion with another man.
For Rohan’s sake, he swallowed his pride and straddled the pillion pad.
“Hold on tight,” Rohan said, squeezing the clutch and changing gears. The engine roared to life.
Josuke wrapped his arms tight around Rohan’s waist, felt his heart slamming against Rohan’s back. He felt the shift in Rohan’s body as his right leg lifted off the pavement, then gasped as he picked up speed and started driving.
He felt the wind whip through his hair, tearing his pompadour apart. He squeezed Rohan’s ribs, stared at the blur of lights and life whizzing past them. Rohan was taking them off the main road, away from the life of town. As soon as he hit a side street, he switched gears and picked up speed.
“I can’t breathe when you squeeze that hard,” Rohan shouted above the noise.
“Sorry!” Josuke shouted back, but didn’t relent. The bike was fast and Rohan was his only lifeline. He could still feel his heart against his chest, against Rohan’s back. They had held each other before, but somehow this felt more intimate, likely because his hold on Rohan was his hold on his life.
They reached a road on the edge of town. Josuke could smell the ocean.
“Look!” Rohan shouted. “Look out to the side!”
Josuke lifted his head, looked to his left, and the sight took his breath away.
The sun was just at the edge of the horizon, glittering off the water. The sky was a sliver of yellow, then blue, then purple, then finally black, and countless stars shimmered, creating a dazzling effect off the ocean. From their point on the road, they were elevated, and Josuke could also see the beach, the sand that looked blue in the moonlight, the way the rocks framed the ocean and sky, the way the panorama seemed to never end.
“I love this view!” Rohan shouted. “Sometimes I ride out here at night to clear my head. The view does that to me. I wanted you to see it too.”
Josuke mouth hung open, his eyes wide and full of stars, his arms wrapped tightly around the one he loved. He moved his hand upward, pressed it onto Rohan’s chest, and felt his own heart beating hard and fast. For a moment, he turned away from the beautiful sight and pressed a kiss on the back of Rohan’s neck. He felt the pulse beneath his hand quicken.
This was for him, all of the stars in the sky, the entire ocean, this view was all for him, Rohan’s gift to him that night.
He wanted to say it was beautiful, wanted to thank Rohan for sharing this with him, but found the words were stuck. Instead, he kissed Rohan on the neck again, rested his cheek on Rohan’s shoulder, and watched the dazzling scenery pass him by as they continued to drive.
“I love you,” he spoke, unsure if Rohan could hear it above the noise, but happy enough to speak those words.
Rohan dropped Josuke off a block away from his house, as per Josuke’s request so his mother wouldn’t hear the motorcycle.
“That was a lot of fun,” Josuke panted, pushing hair out of his face. “Let’s do that again some time.”
“Of course,” Rohan said. “But please...”
He approached Josuke, put a hand to his cheek, and pressed their lips together. They closed their eyes, melted into the kiss, and held each other for a long while.
Rohan pulled away and smiled.
“Don’t make me wait next time.”
He sat atop his bike, turned the gas back on.
“Good night, Josuke,” he said with a smile. “Until next time.”
Josuke grinned, watching Rohan ride off into the night.
The cosplay izakaya, the incredible food and service, the ride by the ocean, all of this by Rohan’s side, it was perfect, and Josuke couldn’t wait to do it all again.
“Until next time.”