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Ugh. Another year, another Valentine’s Day.
Most would think it’s Josuke’s favorite holiday, since he’s a self-proclaimed love kinda guy.
While that’s usually true, this year is different compared to most. Previous years, he was fine sitting on the sidelines, watching other people be happy together. He could wait patiently for his special someone to share chocolates and words of love with. But this year….this year, he has his eyes on someone and his time is running out to make a move.
Every. Damn. Time. He tried so far, he ended up chickening out at the last second. The sight of Okuyasu’s eyes, sparkling with interest as he hung onto every word Josuke says, was too much for the teen to handle, and he’d quickly mutter a weak ‘never mind’ and change the topic again. Okuyasu, forever oblivious and simultaneously the good sport, went with it.
But with Valentine's Day looming dangerously close on the horizon, he wanted to do something beforehand to avoid being cliche.
How far away was that, exactly?
Josuke groans and puts his head in his hands. Tomorrow . That means his deadline is today. He still doesn’t feel ready. His heart flutters in his chest every time he thinks about saying anything to his best friend about the topic. How to go about it? What to say? What if Okuyasu doesn’t feel the same?
When Tomoko asked with a knowing gleam in her eye a few days prior if he had any Valentine’s plans, he knew where it was going and therefore responded with a detached “no, it’s not worth it”. He remembers her scoffing. “ What do you mean, not worth it! I’m sure whoever you’re thinking about feels the same way.” finished off with a fucking wink for good over-the-top Mom measure.
With a blush on his face and his heart racing, he collapses back onto his bed and stares at the ceiling in pure romantic agony. Is it really obvious that he fancies his best friend? No, it’s completely normal to want to spend obscene amounts of time with them. He’s not obvious. It’s also totally normal to want to hold their hand…..and maybe kiss….
“Gah,” He growls in frustration, fisting a handful of his hair and bolting upright in bed. “What the fuck am I gonna do! I can’t keep kidding myself that I don’t like him!” He slides off the bed and starts pacing in frantic circles. “I have to do this today.”
His brain is drawing a solid blank, so he turns back to his bed and flops facedown into his pillow. It’s time to think. Hard.
Apparently, Josuke thought too hard, because next thing he knows, he’s awoken by Tomoko’s voice ringing through the house.
“Josuke!” She calls, presumably from the bottom of the stairs. “Okuyasu’s at the door!”
As soon as she says that, he’s full-throttle awake, heart pounding. Fuck. Fuck. FUCK. He hasn’t planned anything; he accidentally fell asleep! What the hell is he supposed to do now? He’s absolutely out of time.
Swallowing thickly, voice unsteady, he calls, “I’ll be right down!” He springs out of bed, hands shaking, badly, as he tries to smooth his hair. Ugh, no time to style it. If only Crazy Diamond could stop time like Star Platinum, then he’d have time to think, or at least do his hair. Whatever, guess Okuyasu’ll finally be able to see his hair in its natural state. Hopefully Oku won’t mind this generally unkempt state.
Not bothering to change out of his sweatpants and t-shirt, having done nothing to his appearance other than brush his hair for two seconds, he makes his way downstairs in quite the opposite of a jiffy.
Peeking from the stairs, he sees Okuyasu sitting on the couch like he always does, waiting patiently for his best friend to join him. God, he’s so thoughtful, never barging into Josuke’s room in case he’s getting dressed or something.
Taking the last few steps, he mutters a half hearted ‘hey’.
Okuyasu whips around, eyes wide and exuberant. “Woah,” he starts off, taking in Josuke’s long hair and casual clothes. “You look….” He stutters out some half-pronounced syllables of unidentifiable words before settling on, “...different.”
Josuke shrugs and makes his way over to the couch, plopping down at the other end of the couch, far away from Okuyasu. If he notices, he doesn’t say anything.
“So, what’s on the agenda?”
Another shrug. Josuke isn’t in the mood to talk. At all. His plans are ruined because he’s too bad at planning things and too much of a coward to have even gone through with them if he had had any plans to begin with. Now that Okuyasu is here, it just serves to remind him of what a failure he is. No plan, no balls to do them, and he’ll remain forever alone.
“Josuke? You okay?” Okuyasu asks, his eyebrows knitted in genuine concern. He doesn’t move, just watches with vigilance for any change of emotion in Josuke’s face.
It almost makes Josuke want to throw up. He doesn’t deserve this. Everything is his own stupid fault, Okuyasu can’t know what’s bothering him because he’ll probably think it’s weird, he won’t like him back--
His self-pitying dialogue is interrupted by Okuyasu scooting down to his end of the couch and coming uncomfortably close. Josuke can’t stand to look at him right now, so he glares at the carpet instead.
Silence ensues. Why is Okuyasu just sitting right there, staring at him? Why won’t he say anything? Why does he have to be so goddamn close--
Poke.
Josuke stiffens. Nononono not this, please. He can’t have his stoic facade broken by something so childish. Another poke to his side. Already, he has to fight the smile trying to show on his firmly pressed lips. He could fight off questions, stares, anything other than this.
“I’m not gonna stop poking you until you tell me what’s up.”
Josuke bats Okuyasu’s hands away, trying (and failing pretty badly) to keep up a stoic demeanour. “Nothin’s wrong, I just--Ah!” He lets out a startled scream as Okuyasu topples him over.
“I know when you’re lying,” Okuyasu retorts once he’s settled on top of Josuke, looking down at him with a mildly threatening expression.
Josuke gulps. This is NOT how he planned his afternoon to go down, Okuyasu pinning him to the couch, threatening to get him to tell the truth. This was not what he expected, especially not after he failed to even come up with a plan. This absolutely throttled his expectations.
Well. With Okuyasu sitting on his legs, it doesn’t look like he’ll be going anywhere anytime soon. “Okuyasu, I mean it--” He tries again, looking up into his best friend’s eyes, which are narrowed in suspicion. His voice dies when he sees that Okuyasu isn’t budging. God, he’s gotten himself into a Situation.
“Don’t make me bring out big guns,” Okuyasu says mischievously, wiggling his fingers out in front of him. “I know this always makes you talk.”
His breath catches in his throat and he giggles nervously. “No, you don’t need to--” He begins to squirm underneath Okuyasu, a snake of anxiety beginning to coil in the pit of his stomach. He has to get out of here; Okuyasu is right, he knows exactly where Josuke’s ticklish and has used it against him (very unfairly, too) a few times to get his way. He’ll crumble under the pressure instantly, and in this instance, the stakes are too fucking high.
Okuyasu smirks a devilish grin. “Then you’re going to tell me without me forcing it out of you?”
Josuke balks. “T-there’s nothing for me to say, I mean it,” he stutters, his voice wavering more than he likes. Cue the intensified squirming. It does nothing; Okuyasu is unmoving. “Lemme go, dude!” He glares at Okuyasu, whose evil smile doesn’t falter once. He can feel his heart hammering in his ribcage at the thought of what’s to ensue.
A shrug. “Alright, if you’re gonna be difficult!”
“Nohoho Okuyasu--” Josuke catches his best friend’s hands as they come closer to him. “Please?” His heart leaps into his throat as he sees the hardy look in the caramel colored eyes before him. And this time, it isn’t just anxiety about being tickled to death. If there were a God, they had no mercy to have put him in this position. Why is Okuyasu so pretty--
Before Josuke could even register it, Okuyasu’s hands were out of his grasp and assaulting his sides. A shriek escapes him again at the foreign sensations. “Oku, s-stop it!” He giggles, trying to bat the hands away. His brain won’t let him form coherent sentences already.
“No,” Okuyasu taunts, “You’re gonna tell me what’s up,” he grins, fingers digging into Josuke’s ribs.
Josuke can’t focus, not with Okuyasu’s cute face above him and the ticklish feelings clouding his brain. “Never!” He manages to sputter in between laughter and shrieks.
Okuyasu tsks and rolls his eyes, but the gleam doesn’t leave. “C’mon Josu, I know you wanna tell me.” His hands don’t let up their incessant spidering.
If Josuke wasn’t blushing already, he sure as hell is now at the nickname. Not that it’d be noticeable anyways with how red his face already was from laughter. It’s probably been less than a minute but Josuke can’t take it anymore. Another futile swipe at Okuyasu’s hands while he’s laughing so hard he can’t breathe. He shakes his head, not relenting just yet.
Okuyasu gives him a brief rest. “Will you tell me now?” He asks in a sickly sweet tone, as if he wasn’t just being a demon.
Josuke is too busy huffing and trying to get his breath back while he can. A few residual giggles still stream from his mouth as he feels the phantoms of Okuyasu’s touches still on his skin. He opts for a nonverbal reply, shaking his head no. That was the bad choice, as he jolts when Okuyasu’s warm hands slide under his shirt this time. Oh no. Oh no no no.
Okuyasu gives his tummy a few warning up taps as he quirks an eyebrow.
Josuke tries to squirm away. With a huff, blush most certainly dusting his cheeks, he looks away from Okuyasu and murmurs, “Fine.” Anything to avoid this.
A beaming smile breaks out on the other boy’s face and he retracts his hands, letting Josuke feel like he can breathe again, now that the imminent threat is gone.
“Can you get off of me first..?” He asks politely, but not without a small amount of vexation.
Okuyasu purses his lips and thinks for a moment before doing so.
Oh. Wow. Josuke wasn’t expecting it to be that easy. He was completely bluffing; he wasn’t going to tell so easily. Now’s his chance to get away! As Okuyasu’s weight leaves his legs, he rolls off the couch and scrambles to his feet.
“Hey!” Okuyasu whines, jumping up. “That wasn’t part of the deal!”
“Yeah, well, it’s not fair to tickle me to get it out of me!” Josuke replies, sticking his tongue out playfully. He’s not mad at Okuyasu for this, it was kind of fun, actually….he can’t stop smiling, memories of earlier subdued by the current situation. When Okuyasu takes a deliberate, slow step towards him, he makes a point to take one backwards.
“I’m gonna get to the bottom of it one way or another,” Okuyasu says, taking another step.
Without a word, Josuke bolts to the back of the couch, watching Okuyasu, who swiftly follows, leaping easily over the couch.
“Oh fuck,” Josuke sputters before zooming away from Okuyasu.
“Come back here!” Okuyasu yells, chasing after the taller teen, smiling the whole time.
They chase each other around the living room for a good 30 seconds, that is, until something falls out of Okuyasu’s pocket, making him skid to a stop and pick it up.
Josuke stops too, and stares curiously. From a safe distance, of course. “Hey, what was that?”
Now, it’s Okuyasu’s turn to be crimson. He hastily stuffs whatever it was back into his pocket. “N-nothing!”
Josuke’s curiosity turns into opportunity before his eyes. “Oh? You sure about that?”
“I’m sure!” He squeaks, eyes skirting hastily around the room, trying to find an easy escape.
Lucky for Josuke, Okuyasu’s reflexes aren’t as fast as his, at least in this case, so when he pounces, Okuyasu can’t do anything other than cry out in defiance. Wrestling on the floor, Josuke is now the one pinning Okuyasu down. Apparently, he didn’t put whatever it was into his pocket very well this time, because it fell back out onto the floor. He snatches it before Okuyasu can stop him.
In other circumstances, Josuke understands space and privacy and all that. But because of how mean Okuyasu was to him earlier, he needs payback.
“D-don’t open that!” Okuyasu bumbles as Josuke examines what it is.
A pink piece of paper….? It’s hastily cut and folded into the shape of a heart, sparkles adorning it. In the top corner it says…..
“Is...is this for me?” Josuke stammers after a long moment of slack-jawed awe, meeting Okuyasu’s nervous gaze.
“Yeah, maybe,” Okuyasu admits quietly, gnawing on his bottom lip as he waits for Josuke’s actual reaction. “Considering that’s your name on it…”
Josuke opens it slowly, knowing what’s probably inside but still nervous nonetheless. He covers his mouth as he reads what it says. Tears well up in his eyes and it slips out of his hand, fluttering to the floor. “Okuyasu….” He murmurs, locking eyes once more. He starts laughing softly, not believing his eyes. “Oh my god you’re so cute.” He collapses on top of his best friend, enrapturing him in a tight hug. “You made me a card.”
Okuyasu, the poor boy, lays there, unresponsive, more confused at the lack of details Josuke has provided him. “So, er, about the card--”
Pulling away and getting to his feet, Josuke grins and puts his hand out for Okuyasu to grab. “Hold on a minute, we should sit.”
Okuyasu agrees and lets Josuke pull him up. As they sit down on the couch once again, Josuke can see he’s still nervous by the way he’s playing with the hem of his shirt.
“Hey,” he speaks up quietly, putting a hand over Okuyasu’s, making Oku look at him like a deer in the headlights. “I like you too.” He takes a moment to chuckle, remembering how worried he was not even 10 minutes ago.
“Shit, really?!” Okuyasu blurts, eyes wide but sparkling.
Josuke laughs and nods. “Really, Oku. I wanted to ask you out today but never got around to making a plan and then you were here and I knew I couldn’t just do it on the spot.”
“So that’s what you weren’t gonna tell me…” Okuyasu looks sheepish now. “Sorry for uh, attacking you, then…” He scratches the back of his neck, self-conscious about it now.
He pats Okuyasu’s hand. “It’s okay, it was fun in all honesty. I don’t….” He pauses to think for a moment. “I don’t think this would have happened otherwise. I mean, unless…” His thoughts quickly change course and his mouth follows suit, “Why did you have that card with you today? Isn’t tomorrow Valentine’s Day?”
Okuyasu stammers, “I didn’t wanna lose it, plus...I knew if I didn’t leave it in my pocket today I’d wuss out and not show it to you tomorrow.”
“Aww,” Josuke coos. “That makes sense.”
Heavy silence falls between the two after that, but they find they don’t mind.
Okuyasu is the one to break it. “So, um,” he clears his throat, meeting Josuke’s gaze. “What now? I wasn’t expecting to get this far,” he admits.
Josuke shrugs. “Whatever we want it to be, I guess?” He thinks for a moment before continuing. “Personally, I wouldn’t really mind….being boyfriends, y’know.” He says with a wry grin.
Okuyasu sputters and blushes, also grinning after a moment. “I’m okay with that.”
Slinging an arm around his shoulder, Josuke proclaims, “Sounds good, my boyfriend,” making a point to accentuate the new moniker.
Okuyasu’s chest feels full and warm, and he decides to be bold. Leaning close to Josuke, he plants a quick peck on his cheek, making the bolder of the two surprised.
They both smile, faces glowing with newfound and unrivaled happiness.
This wasn’t the ending Josuke was expecting, but he’ll take it.