Work Text:
Josuke was standing, shifting his weight from one foot to the other, left - right, left - right, in a negligible motion which to the trained eye would have betrayed the nerves the young man felt in that moment, waiting in front of the Morioh Central Station. Truthfully, Josuke would have done more than just standing there fidgeting, perhaps he would have walked around the station's square, but that was something much more manageable in his usual everyday outfits. His current attire was, well, not exactly uncomfortable, but left him feeling slightly stiff and acutely aware of what he was wearing, not to mention the oppressive sense of responsibility at the thought that a single mishap, a single spilled coffee or fall, could have ruined what was basically a small fortune in the shape of an outfit. He did not care too much about it, personally, but it was a gift.
The whole idea had been Daiya's, and Hato had immediately, excitedly joined her sister's efforts.
"What do you mean, you and Yasuho have never been on a romantic date?!" Had all but shouted his younger step sister. Josuke just stared at her, blinking slowly with a positively lost expression on his face.
"What?! But you guys are practically official! How could you not have gone on a romantic date?!" Echoed Hato from the other room, before her head appeared around the corner to peek into the living room, as if to ensure the subject of the discussion was in fact Josuke. She locked eyes with him just in time to see him looking even more confused, if possible.
"Huh? We are?" He asked sounding absolutely surprised, and Daiya's palm hit her face with a groan. "U-uh, yes stoopid! Since last year you've practically been doing everything together. She's here more often than we are!" She did have a point.
"So, uhh... do you think I should take Yasuho on a date? But I have never been on one, I'm really not an expert." Josuke scratched the back of his head, as he watched with growing apprehension as the younger girl's eyes gradually lit up like someone who just had a most brilliant idea. "We can help you! Hato and I can plan the date, and you will just have to go and do your thing!"
"Oh. Oh yes? Ok." He accepted without thinking too much about what his sisters could have put him through, if given the reins of the situation.
"Fantastic! Oh it's going to be so romantic! Hato!" She addressed the older girl, who was now sitting on the sofa waiting to hear what the other would suggest, "Are you still in touch with that photographer from London?" Hato nodded affirmatively, "He seemed like the romantic type, he could have just the things we need! You call him and ask if he can find some fancy clothes for Josuke and Yasuho, I ask daddy if he can pay. He likes Josuke, so he should be ok with it!" Said Daiya, sounding very sure of herself.
"Whaaat? What kind of date would they need that kind of clothing for?!" Asked Hato. Josuke would have really liked to know that, too, since until now he had just been at the mercy of Dsiya's excitement and didn't really know where this all would lead.
"It's their first official date, and it needs to be special: we need to impress her with the most romantic, elegant dinner date she could imagine!" Exclaimed Daiya, miming the action of holding an imaginary lover in her arms, while Hato laughed at the sheer drama of the scene.
"Don't you think it would be a little excessive? That doesn't sound like Josuke's style at all, shouldn't you first ask him if he would prefer something more casual?" The older sister tried to persuade her. Josuke felt immensely grateful for her coming to his rescue, because dissuading Daiya when she had her mind set on something was already difficult enough without her being so excited.
"Trust me, I know what I'm doing." She reassured her with a sheepish smile, "in the meantime, let's think about what would look good on Josuke."
Turns out Daiya's idea of 'what would look good on Josuke wasn't anything Josuke himself would have thought about wearing in the foreseeable future. the outfit comprised of five pieces: a white, long-sleeved cotton button up shirt was complimented by a black silk bowtie, and topped with a pastel yellow linen double-breasted waistcoat, wrapped at the front with two rows of pearlescent buttons. The bottom half of the outfit was fairly simple, yet undeniably elegant, with black dinner trousers terminating in a sleek pair of patent dress shoes. The outfit fit snugly around him and, despite never having been too self-conscious, Josuke could not avoid feeling extremely aware of his own body in it. The clothes had come neatly packed in a set of lavish navy blue boxes, which immediately gave a sense of the caliber of the manufacturer and the quality of their contents. The clothes looked expensive, they felt expensive. Josuke knew they were by the haunted expression Norisuke had every time he saw him during the whole first week after the purchase. And he also knew that his clothes were not the only things Daiya had begged the man to fork out for. She had promised him that a second outfit would be shipped to Yasuho's house together with her invitation to the date, with directions on where she should meet Josuke, but without specifying the venue's address. Speaking of the venue, that had also been taken care of: a table for two at Trussardi's, a five stars restaurant ten minutes from the station, in the commercial district. "Don't worry about it! The menu has been decided and the payment made in advance, so you only have to turn up and enjoy your date!" Daiya had said and, as with everything else Daiya says, Josuke had just nodded and accepted that he would have had to wait and see what was in store for them.
The station's clock had just struck six in the afternoon when Josuke heard his name being called.
"Josuke! Hey!" Yasuho emerged from the crowd of tourists and commuters travelling back from their jobs in neighbouring towns, and he had to hold his breath as he took in her appearance. She was wearing a cerulean silk dress which fell down past her knees. The base was supported by shoulder straps and covered by a second half-sleeved, see-through layer, crinkled and tied at the neck and waist with a bow of the same colour, and sporting a dark blue polka dot motif. The girl's strawberry hair contrasted pleasantly with the outfit, and the look was complemented by a pair of pink satin sandals.
She was... Josuke couldn't find a good adjective to describe Yasuho in that moment. In the past he had found himself looking at her and thinking that she looked cute, but cute was not the word he would have used right now. Yet, that something that she was, which he just couldn't put his finger on, was making his heartbeat accelerate and the greeting he was ready to utter get stuck in his throat.
"O-oh, wow... you look very elegant!" Managed to say Yasuho, sounding slightly embarrassed. She wasn't faring much better than him. She was used to the stylish, yet much more casual Josuke she always spent time with, she had actually had trouble recognising him until he turned around and she saw his face. When the girl had opened the box that had been delivered to her house, and had seen the dress and read the letter, she had wondered what they were going to do that could require such a luxurious dress code, and now that she had seen Josuke her mind was racing with even more scenarios.
"Do you know where we are going?" She asked, snapping Josuke out of his stupor.
"Uhhhh, yes! Yes, we have a table booked at seven, should we start heading to the restaurant?"
Trussardi's had only been opened a few months ago, but was already the talk of all of the fine cuisine authorities from all over the country, and had already been the destination of several VIPs. While from the outside it may have looked like many other shops in the Morio's commercial boulevard, Trussardi's interior was unlike any other place in town. Its strikingly high-class look comprised of rows of velvety, peach coloured sofas separating rows of tables, matching chairs at each table, a high ceiling and walls of the same colour as the seats. Upon entering the local, one's attention was immediately drawn to a salmon wall at the back of the room, where the bar was located. Several spherical lights were behind the diners' backs and washed the room in a warm white light. It was certainly a place fit for a special occasion, unless one was rich, so Yasuho had not found the right opportunity to eat here yet. Well, apparently someone else had decided for her that now there was a special occasion.
She lightly kicked her feet underneath the table, hidden by the white tablecloth, to ease her nerves at least down to a manageable level.
She had thought that the generous present and the dinner location were the only surprises that night, but she soon realised she was wrong soon after they had both been seated down and course after course their food had started arriving at the table, revealing that the entire dinner had been planned to the smallest detail beforehand.
They had just finished eating their appetisers (scallops in parsnip puree, topped with pomegranate seeds) that a waiter in an elegant double breasted vest brought two steaming plates of lemon risotto garnished with capers and verbena leaves. Yasuho could not remember the last time she ate food like this. Mostly, she did not know why this occasion had presented itself now, to begin with. Of course Yasuhi would have loved to have this sort of romantic outing with Josuke, she had harboured a certain infatuation with him for a while, but the two of them had always spent time together as friends more than anything else. The fact that the object of her affections had invited her to spend the evening as couples would, without having ever given a clear indication that her feelings were corresponded, left the girl feeling confused and slightly worried, keeping her from fully immersing herself in the luxury she was being offered.
Sitting opposite to her, Josuke was dealing with his own racing thoughts. Since they had met, he had felt connected to Yasuho as if drawn to each other by a magnetic pull, supporting each other through challenges and growing fonder as the number days spent together grew. Even after Josuke had, in a certain sense, finally found his place in the world, the two had continued being very close and met almost every other day. Yasuho had become a part of his new family and he often found himself wondering if, like for him, her feelings had also matured into something deeper than the amicability and empathetic understanding they had started off with.
Spending time with Yasuho was... a breeze, and not due to their relationship being shallow, or her being too easy to please. When they were together it felt like everything fell perfectly into place, and they found themselves at ease just being in each other's presence, without any expectation, yet enjoying every little thing the other said or did as if that was the most natural thing in the world.
Josuke had to admit that he had been taken aback by Daiya's declaration that the two of them were "practically official", then, again, despite being young she surely possessed more experience with love and relationships than he did. In truth, Yasuho was the first person he had felt this way towards. She was the first person he had met, just a few years ago under the wall eyes. So, not having much to compare his limited experience to, he had trusted that the girls could see something in their dynamic that he had missed.
Now, looking at his date across the table, he had to wonder if he had misread the situation. Yasuho appeared to be excited to come here after he had told her where they were going, and the whole time they had talked about nothing and everything like they always did, then why was he getting the feeling that something was off, tonight? It was a puzzling sensation, seeing Yasuho acting like she was enjoying herself while symultaneously sensing an unusual tension between them. No matter how much he dwelled on it, he couldn't figure out whether he did something wrong.
"I've never tried anything this fancy, not even at the Higashikata estate." He commented, inhaling the fumes from the dish in a way which probably gave away his inexperience with fine dining, and wouldn't have earned him any charisma points with most of the upper-class diners present that night, were they to look his way. "Though I should have expected something like this since, you know... the clothes and everything."
The comment was not lost on Yasuho. What did Josuke mean by that, she thought he was the one who had organised all of this. She mulled over this between spoonfuls of risotto, pondering whether she should ask, but when she looked up a wheeze was involuntarily ripped out of her, almost making her spit the remains of her mouthful. A few perplexed looks from the neighbouring tables made her blush and scramble to regain some composure.
"Fffphah! J-Josuke, your teeth!" She whispered as she carefully pointed at his mouth, where one of the bigger leaves that had been used to garnish the food had gotten stuck in the gap right between his incisors. It was such a stupid thing to laugh about, but all the tension she had felt had made her explode the second something remotely funny happened.
The dark haired boy blindly poked at his teeth in search of the culprit, all the while Yasuho could not help smiling in amusement. It was such a sweet smile, Josuke was glad he could get to see it, at the small price of a little embarrassment on his part.
The atmosphere seemed to lighten up after that, to both youths' relief. Even in these unusual circumstances, this felt familiar like the many times they had spent together before, and some of that worry dissipated. Yasuho internally sighed with relief. She may not know what had come over Josuke for him to want to do something so uncharacteristically grandiose, but at the end of the day this was still the Josuke she knew.
As unlikely as it might sound, that stupid gag had put the two at ease. For a while they simply enjoyed their meal in contented quiet, stealing glances when they thought the other was not looking. From the grand piano close to the bar came a familiar melody, accompanying the elegant tenor singing for the room. If the audience were not so absorbed by their courses and conversations, they might have made out the words. Yasuho recognised them as belonging to a song from a musical movie she had watched, and loved, when she was younger.
I have often walked down this street before
But the pavement always stayed beneath my feet before
All at once am I several stories high
Knowing I'm on the street where you live
These words must have hit a particular chord, and colour began dusting the girl's cheeks, before she could realise what was happening. Suddenly finding herself in this romantic setting with Josuke, with a harmonious voice reminding her of the feelings that had only started blossoming after the other had come into her life, someone who could make her feel happy seemingly for no particular reason but being there. Yasuho had to understand whether tonight held the same significance for Josuke as it did for her.
"Hey josuke, tonight was all very sweet of you, but I need to ask..." the interested party looked up from what was left of his main, giving once again his whole attention to his date. This was her chance to discover if her feelings were corresponded.
"This was quite sudden and you never asked me to go to any place like this before! I was wondering why now."
Josuke let the cutlery drop into the empty plate as he though of how to answer the unexpected question. "Err, well, to be honest this wasn't my idea, it was Daiya's." He admitted with an embarrassed laugh. "She and Hato sort of said that it's bad that we haven't gone on a proper date since we're practically official, and offered to help organising this." He uttered the last sentence almost absent-mindedly, but regretted his words almost immediately when he saw Yasuho's expression suddenly darkening.
That warmth the girl had been feeling thinking of her time with Josuke only mere seconds ago had drained with that one sentence. How could Josuke say something like this so casually, when they hadn't even ever discussed their relationships and feelings for each other before? Was she so predictable, did he really take Yasuho so much for granted as to just assume they were a couple without even asking her first, or was he making fun of her feelings?
"Yasuho, did I say something wrong?"
She could not understand why she felt so ashamed. Suddenly she became painfully aware of her surroundings, and of how mortifying it would have been to start crying there, in the middle of a fancy restaurant, in front of the other diners. She managed to ask an almost whispered "how can you just say something like that?", blushing furiously, when the waiter arrived at the table, interrupting them.
The courses were promptly swapped, and the two were served their dessert: a tart crust topped with rose pastry cream, fresh and pearled raspberries and meringue powder. The cream had been arranged to form rose buds at the centre of the tart. It was clearly meant to be a seductive, aphrodisiac dessert with the scarlet of the raspberry pearls bursting out of and cascading from the delicate core of the dessert, but together with the sharp smell of rose this just managed to make the coil gripping Yasuho's stomach tighten further, and she nearly felt faint.
"Just... leave it, it's not important." She sighed, shock deflating into a dull resignation. She saw Josuke opening his mouth to say something, but then opting for silence, eyes electing to fixate on his pastry. She followed his example, wanting to finish the meal as soon as possible. Her determination to power through it did not make the smell of roses any less overwhelming.
"I told you, it was nothing, I overreacted, you don't have to apologise." They had made their way out of the restaurant about fifteen minutes later, when the warm light of the setting Summer sun was beginning to wash over the buildings. Past the initial confusion, Josuke was determined to understand how he had made Yasuho uncomfortable, and if there was anything he could do to fix it.
"But, what I said made you upset somehow! I promise you I meant no harm by it, I was just telling you what Daiya had said, I... I'm sorry if you were hoping the idea came from me. Would you like to talk about it? "
"You... it's ok..." Yasuho let out the breath she had been holding. After the initial shock, now she understood that Josuke probably wasn't fully aware of the impact his words would have, earlier. A bright blush once again came to colour her cheeks, "it was just embarrassing." An awkward silence fell between them for the third time that night, while the boy tried hard to think about what to say. In the end he accepted that there was no easy fix for this situation, and decided to let Yasuho decide: "I'm sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable, I would just like to understand if I can do anything to make this better."
Whatever the girl was about to say never made it out of her parted mouth because, with a brief flash of warm pink light, her stand appeared from thin air behind her, followed by the sound of an intense vibration coming from her purse. She hurried to take her phone out to check what application was responding to the stand's ability this time, knowing better than to ignore her solutions.
"I guess Paisley Park will answer that." She told Josuke, who had also leaned towards the device's screen. "She's telling us to go to this location on the map." She said pointing her finger to the red mark approximately a twenty minutes walk from their current location.
The two made their way outside of Morioh's commercial boulevard as they followed the navigator's instructions to head past the industrial area, to a spot where the town met the cultivated countryside. If it weren't for the fact they were being led there, neither would have thought of walking to such a place dressed like that.
The sun had almost set when they arrived at their destination. It didn't immediately click why this place felt familiar, especially in the partial darkness, but eventually they realised where exactly they had been sent.
"This is..." Josuke began, surprised. "This is the place where we hung out a few days after you and Norisuke rescued me from that rock human." Yasuho finished the sentence.
They approached the end of the concrete platform overlooking the waterway. As the natural sunlight dimmed, the lights from the factories began to shimmer in the distance: an unconventionally beautiful sight that would have normally created the perfect romantic mood, were the two not so uncertain about their reason for being there.
They stood in silence for a few minutes, enjoying the warm, hazy atmosphere and the lull of the crickets.
"I'm sorry if I embarrassed you earlier, it wasn't my intention. To be honest it slipped before I could think about what I was saying." Admitted Josuke after a while, when he felt they had both calmed down from the events of the evening and were ready to have this conversation.
Yasuho sighed lightly, never stopping looking in the distance. It took a few seconds, during which she continued taking in the calming Summer air, but eventually she felt ready to offer an explanation: "No... you didn't do anything wrong per se, sorry if I made you think you did. It's just... I wasn't expecting all of this," she gestured to the whole length of her body, indicating their attire, "without any forewarning, I mean. We always hang out but never like this, so I was already nervous because I wasn't prepared!" She breathed a laugh, and Josuke couldn't help smiling empathetically. He too had felt strange being together in such a different way. "And I wasn't expecting you to say something like that out of the blue like that!" she squeezed her eyes, blushing at the memory, unbeknown to Josuke due to the scarce light.
"About that," he began, uncertain, "I only said that because that's something Daiya said. I was surprised too hearing it, so maybe that should have been a clue not to mention it." He scratched his head nervously, looking sad rather than confused or uncertain for the first time that night. "I just want you to know that I'm just happy spending time with you like we always have, as friends, I mean, if that's what you prefer... forgetting I ever said that."
The girl looked at him with intent for a moment, in a way that made him even more uncharacteristically self-conscious, like only Yasuho could make him feel. Then, she went back to staring at an undefined point between the pinprick lights, before speaking. "Do you remember that song you sung that time?" She asked.
Josuke was surprised and puzzled as to why Yasuho would jump to this seemingly unrelated topic, but as he recalled the memory he could not help smiling. "Uhh, yes!" He laughed. "What about it?" But Yasuho didn't laugh together with him, which made Josuke stop and look nervous once again.
"The words in that song..." She began, "did you mean them? Is that what you actually feel?" She asked, solemnly.
"Hmm, about the large fries?" He began. "Yes, I like fries." He confirmed, in a tentative tone.
"What size?" Pressed Yasuho.
"Large?" He really was getting confused, now.
"What about fried chicken?"
"Don't like it. It only looks crispy from the outside, but then you bite into it and it's mushy, and the difference in texture feels strange."
Yasuho seemed to ponder his answers carefully. It was almost completely dark now, but Josuke swore he could see the gears turning in her brain. After a pause, that for him felt like forever, the girl made up her mind.
"Tonight was fun. I actually enjoyed the dinner, although it took me by surprise. It's just..." Josuke held his breath, expecting to hear a rejection. "We have known each other for a few years now and something like tonight, so out of the blue was surprising! And very strange. I wasn't sure what you meant by it since we have never really... discussed our feelings, you know, clearly." A nervous laugh left Yasuho as she recalled how nervous she had felt back in the restaurant, "I think I started overthinking what you meant by that, and when you mentioned us being a couple like it was nothing I guess I panicked and thought you were making fun of me." Now that she had said it out loud, it was painfully clear how her insecurities had been fabricating these scenarios all night. "Huh? But I would never make fun of you for something like that!" "Yes, I know. I overreacted in the moment, I think it was a bad combination of many things at once." She smiled at him tentatively, secretly glad that he would feel so strongly about the veiled accusation. "Hearing you say those things was strange, but now I understand you meant well. I guess what happened with Tooru affected me more than I thought and now I'm more worried about others not being genuine." She turned once again to face him, a soft smile had appeared on her face that made butterflies instantly start fluttering in Josuke's stomach, "but you are you, someone who is sweet and a little unusual, who cares about his family and friends, and sings his heart out about how much he likes fries."
Josuke could not help laughing at that. He was suddenly feeling bashful under the spotlight, hearing the person he cared about the most describe him in these terms.
"So, about what Daiya said..." even in the dark he could sense her looking up at him hopefully, "I mean, I don't know if you said that because you also think that way, but if you do, well... I wouldn't mind being official with someone like you."
Josuke blinked a couple of times with his mouth shaped like a small 'o'. The girl looked at him impatiently for a while, with a blush growing darker as time went by, until she couldn't bear the tension anymore, and abandoned subtext entirely. "I'm saying that I would like being together as a couple, if- if you would like to, of course!" Instead of waiting for a reply, the girl panicked and, taking aim as best as she could in the dark and with her eyes squeezed tight, abruptly leaned forwards and planted a quick, nearly unperceivable kiss on his lips.
Josuke's immediate response was to touch his lips with two fingers to make sure he had not imagined the touch, making the girl feel even more flushed. "Wow, that was nice." He commented.
"How is that all you have to say about it?!" Came Yasuho's flustered reply.
"Hey, it was!" He defended, "I actually wouldn't mind doing it again... if you wan to?".
Yasuho's face turned deep red even in the dark. "So do you man that... you would like to be together?" She dared asking again.
Josuke seemed to snap out of the momentary trance the kiss had sent him into. "Yes! Of course I would like to be together, you're my favourite person!" He said this with such spontaneity and joy in his voice that it made Yasuho's heart leap, despite the awkward confession. She could only nod and smile warmly back at him, the feelings that she had held back until now threatening bubble out of her chest.
This time Josuke was the one carefully leaning towards her, mimicking her previous actions as he planted a gentle kiss on her lips.
"Yeah, it is nice." He confirmed, sounding satisfied, and it was true: all of the frustration Yasuho had felt that evening seemed to have dissipated with that simple gesture, and she found herself feeling rather giddy. Most of her embarrassment had also been replaced by a warmer sensation all through her body, now that their feelings for each other had been put into words.
Josuke tentatively put an arm around her shoulders, which Yasuho let him do, resting her head on his shoulder. They remained like that for several minutes, just enjoying the Summer air and the soothing atmosphere, waiting for the events of that night to finish sinking in and for them to realise that, yes, they were a couple now. "You know," Yasuho started once she felt ready, "I wouldn't mind going on another romantic date at some point now that, well, you know..."
"You would?"
"Yes! And that outfit looks really good on you, sorry if I didn't say that before." She admitted. She had been thinking that the whole evening, but the feeling had been pushed in the background because of everything else.
"... thank you... you too look beautiful in that dress, but you always look pretty." Came Josuke's bashful response, and it did not fail to earn a flattered laugh from Yasuho.
"Oh, I didn't know you could be such a charmer. I like seeing this side of you. Though I, too, like you always, even when you're being your usual sweet goof. You're... very handsome, and kind." It was once again Josuke's turn to feel embarrassed, but was also extremely glad to hear these words from her.
"Wow, I could get used to these compliments." He joked, smiling, even though the other could not see it well, "you're right, now would have been the perfect mood for a date."
"I guess we could still go somewhere?" She proposed
"Now? But Trussardi's could be about to close by the time we get back there, and so most restaurants in the centre." That was true, they had left rather late, and stayed out there for at least a couple of hours. They were unlikely to find any formal eatery open at that hour on a week night.
"No, I don't think I would want to go back there anytime soon even if it was still open." deadpanned Yasuho, still replaying the embarrassment of that dinner in her head. "But you're right about the other places. I wish we had an alternative."
Just as she had finished saying that, a flash of light once again radiated from the girl, for a split second illuminating their faces before fading again, revealing her stand.
"You will never guess what daddy saw on his way home!" Hato peeked inside her sister's room with the most excited expression on her face. When she knew Daiya's attention was hers, she entered the room, making sure to close the door behind her.
"Josuke and Yasuho, holding hands over the table of Chip 'n Salt in full dinner attire."
The younger girl's reaction was immediate: she sprung up from the bed with a bewildered expression. "Whaaaaat? But what about dinner at the place we picked? Did they even go?" She cried in disbelief. Her sister laughed.
"Well, whatever they did, our plan seems to have worked. He says they looked very... lovey dovey, to put it simply." She had not stopped grinning the whole time, genuinely happy that her step brother had finally made his relationship official. If all they needed was some extra encouragement, then Hato was glad they had intervened, even though she was secretly smug, convinced she had been right about Josuke preferring something simpler for his date.
"Yeah... maybe you're right." Sighed Daiya. "But if they spill ketchup over the clothes daddy is definitely going to cry."