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Okuyasu and Josuke bolt out of school even faster than usual one day, rushing as fast as they can to the new arcade that opened a few blocks away.
“Man, if we’re lucky there won’t even be a line except a few middle schoolers,” Okuyasu huffs out as they round a corner.
“I sure hope so,” Josuke answers as they come upon the front door.
Inside is already packed with middle schoolers who get dismissed slightly earlier than they do, lucky punks.
They hurry over to the main attraction, a large game system for X-TREME MOTO ROAD RACERS!!!! It’s the latest craze. The graphics are amazing and you play by riding on a facsimile of a real motorcycle. Josuke had originally laughed at his eagerness over the control system, elbowing him in the ribs as he asked if Okuyasu’s real bike wasn’t enough for him.
“Don’t get me wrong, bro, I love my bike, but I can’t exactly go around doing insane movie stunts on it. And speed boosts don’t exist on real roads,” he had answered.
Either way, they both agree that it’s a super cool game. Luckily there’s only one pair of middle schoolers in front of them. They lay their coins on the console for next and wait their turn.
When their turn comes, they climb onto the bikes and Josuke flips through the different available courses. He settles on one that winds it’s way through city streets at night. The preview screen glows with the neon lights that line the course and Okuyasu turns towards Josuke for his favorite part of playing.
On the bike next to him, Josuke flashes him a playfully challenging smile and asks, “You ready, bro?”
Okuyasu’s heart starts to hammer and his stomach does a somersault. God he loves that look. He loves all of Josuke’s looks, but that one has got to be one of his favorites.
“You bet your ass,” he smirks back, revving the fake motor on the bike.
And they’re off.
This game is one of the best things that’s happened to him recently. It’s not like he and Josuke have ever needed a reason to hang out. They usually hang out after school. But this game adds a different sort of thrill to it. As in most things, they’re completely in sync when they play. They lean in sync as they take sharp turns, rev their in-game engines at the same time to create a great loud roar... and it’s all done in front of a small crowd of onlookers.
It’s easy to get lost in the game. In fact, when they play Okuyasu is definitely totally focused. It feels like the world falls away and it’s just the two of them, racing through the neon lit streets on the screen in front of them. But he’s always subtly aware of the crowd watching them. Sure it’s mostly a bunch of middle schoolers, but they’re still watching him and Josuke. They’re seeing him with Josuke and associating that the two of them are a duo, that they’re together... maybe not in the way that Okuyasu really wishes they were, but still. It makes some part of him swell with pride and a slight twinge of smug possessiveness.
When they finish the course, they yell in excited victory when the high score screen pops up. The crowd of kids make their awe known with cheers and comments of how cool they are. It takes all of Okuyasu’s self restraint not to thrust his chest out with pride. Instead he grins and gives Josuke a fist bump.
“Hell yeah, dude! Put your name in!” he says, Josuke has the player one bike and therefore the control of the selection screen.
“Pfft, no way, we both earned it,” Josuke says with a grin as he flicks through the characters to write ‘Josuyasu’ next to the sparkling gold number one.
Okuyasu’s heart does another funny little stutter, but he manages to cover it up. “Alright! Let’s see any of these pipsqueaks beat the Josuyasu duo!” he says, clapping a hand on Josuke’s shoulder as they slide off the bikes. A few of the gathered kids immediately turn on him after hearing that, but he ignores their protest as he and Josuke make their way to walk around the rest of the arcade.
They play a couple of shooters and Okuyasu wins them some lollipops from a candy crane game, but they eventually admit that they should probably start making their way home. Their reputations as delinquents aside, they both have been trying to keep their grades up and they do have homework.
“Hey,” Josuke suddenly says, hooking his thumb to the left. “Let’s do that, I’ve got something I wanna try.”
Okuyasu looks to where he’s pointing. It’s one of those photo booths where you can get a strip of pictures printed out. It’s usually packed with girls, but it’s now standing empty.
“A photo booth? What for?”
Josuke rubs at the back of his neck. “It’s probably a stupid idea that won’t work, but I’ve been wondering if stands would show up on film? Like, I know non-stand users can’t see them and like, maybe a camera can’t either, but my old man’s stand can do stuff with photography and I just wondered, since we could see them, if we’d see them in a photo too. He apparently got them to show up on a TV once or something. I dunno if that was just his stand’s power or not though.”
It is a pretty random thought, but the more he thinks about it, the more Okuyasu gets curious too.
“Whoa, man, good point. We should totally try.”
Josuke looks a bit relieved at Okuyasu’s ready acceptance of the idea. “Cool! Let’s try it out!”
They squeeze into the little booth and close the curtain and Okuyasu is suddenly all too aware of how close they are. Josuke practically has to wrap his arm around Okuyasu’s back just to allow them to fit their shoulders into the width of the booth. It’s not bad, Okuyasu will never, ever shy away from a chance at being physically close to Josuke.
He has a few moments to enjoy Josuke shifting around and messing with the options on the screen in front of them, bumping into him a lot in the process. It’s only after another moment that he realizes another problem.
“Uh, Josuke? How are we gonna fit our stands in here with us?” he asks. He supposes it’s not a big deal if the booth breaks since Dee can fix it, but that would also defeat the purpose of trying to get a photo if the whole thing gets wrecked.
“Just make ‘em small, dude.”
“Wait, what? They change size?” he asks, totally dumbfounded. The Hand has always just shown up as a humanoid kind of dude, slightly bigger than he is and so has Dee, now that he thinks of it. Other than stands that are small to begin with, he’s never really seen one change size.
“Yeah, you just gotta, I dunno, focus on making them the size you want? Like you gotta channel stuff differently. Here,” he shuffles a bit more and holds out his hands. The booth fills with a pink/purple glow and, sure enough, Crazy Diamond appears, the size of a large action figure in Josuke’s outstretched palms.
Okuyasu loses his goddamn mind.
“HOLY SHIT! JOSUKE! I DIDN’T KNOW HE HAD THAT POWER TOO!”
“Holy shit, dude, keep your voice down! This curtain isn’t soundproof! And it’s not a different power, it’s just how big I make him, or something... it’s hard to explain.”
But Okuyasu can’t get over the fact that there is a very small Crazy Diamond just looking up at him, almost expectantly. Josuke has had more time with his stand, so maybe he has a better grasp of control. He has absolutely no idea how to go about shrinking The Hand.
“I don’t think I can get The Hand to do that without practice,” he says, still staring in awe at the little Dee. The stand looks put out when he mentions that his stand won’t be showing up. It’s pout is adorable.
Josuke huffs a laugh. “That’s fine, we can try with Dee for now,” he leans forward, and presses a few more buttons. “You ready?”
Okuyasu nods. There’s a countdown and they quickly get into their poses. Josuke wiggles so that he can hold his hands up like a little platform, Okuyasu makes an awestruck face and points his fingers at Dee like he can’t believe what he’s seeing.
They do a few more goofy ones before they shift around on the tiny seat again. Josuke tucks his arm behind Okuyasu’s back, hand resting on his shoulder. Okuyasu blushes, but is quickly drawn in by Dee who is now balancing on one of Josuke’s hands. The little stand turns up to look at him and gives him the warmest little smile. Okuyasu gapes at it and the flash goes off.
An automated little voice thanks them for using the booth and tells them that their photos will be printed on the side of the booth in a few minutes.
Josuke fades Dee away and makes his way out of the booth. He looks a bit red in the face.
Okuyasu follows him out of the booth, keenly aware of the coolness on his left side now that Josuke is no longer pressed up against him.
“You think he’s gonna show up?” he asks as the machine whirs and clicks.
“Hm? Oh, I dunno,” Josuke says, sounding distracted.
They wait a bit more, but eventually their photo strips fall down into a little tray. Josuke reaches down and picks them up. He looks at them and his face goes red again.
“Any luck?” Okuyasu tries peeking over his shoulder but Josuke seems almost reluctant to show him the photos.
“Uh, no. Um... doesn’t look like it,” he stutters out, whipping one of the strips at Okuyasu without looking at him.
Sure enough, there’s no tiny Dee in any of the photos. His absence honestly makes them all look really funny, like they’re showcasing something invisible but amazing.
Well, all but the last one.
Okuyasu knows why Dee gave him such a fond little look. It’s mirrored, tenfold on Josuke’s face. His arm is wrapped around Okuyasu’s shoulders and, if Okuyasu was pressured to answer, he’d say that Josuke looked head over heels.
But that... that’s ridiculous, surely.
He looks at the boy in question only to find him staring hard at the photos with an unreadable expression on his face. He looks almost sad.
Yeah, it had to have been a mistake if Josuke feels that bad about it.
“These... these look pretty funny,” Okuyasu tries, hesitantly, to lighten the mood. “Like we’re showing off some amazing wonder product that you can’t even see.” He puts on a fake TV announcer voice. “Why erase wrinkles when you can erase everything!”
It takes a moment, but it works. The sadness lessens on Josuke’s face as he laughs. “Other creams will make you look younger but this goes to the next level!” he joins in, before going a bit melancholy again. “You uh, you don’t have to keep them since they didn’t work out.”
“What? No way! These are great, I’m keeping them forever! The yen signs on the frames are real classy too.”
“Yeah? They... they reminded me of your pins, dude,” Josuke smiles, looking a little brighter still.
Okuyasu is honestly touched. Of course he’s going to keep them. He and Josuke have never taken photos together and these are great. Goofy and perfect and just like them. Even that last one, that one’s gonna give Okuyasu all sorts of daydream fodder, even if it was a mistake. “Bro, that’s so awesome.”
They slip their photos into their bags and they’re making their way home when Okuyasu finally thinks to ask.
“So, how was it you figured out you can make Dee tiny like that?”
“Ah, it’s kind of dumb actually,” Josuke says, lacing his hands behind his head and looking up.
“No way. Something that cool isn’t dumb.”
Josuke huffs a laugh. “Well, I could first see Dee when I was a little kid, right? And like, he always had the same sort of look, but when it comes to size he was always just a little bit bigger than me, right?”
Okuyasu nods, totally engrossed in the story. “Well, in middle school I hit a growth spurt. Mom always said it was because of my Dad being tall, but I just shot up out of nowhere. I was like, a giant freak, man. It made me feel super awkward and awful at first. So, I called Dee for some commiserating and saw he got bigger too. It made me really frustrated and I wished that he was smaller too, somehow thinking that if he was maybe I could be too, which is dumb, but anyway, he shrunk but I didn’t. I tried it out some more and found out that if I concentrated a certain way, I could change his size.”
“Whoa, that’s awesome. I totally gotta try that with The Hand now. It’ll probably take awhile though, I’m not nearly as used to my stand as you are, dude. You’re amazing,” he praises as they reach his house.
“Pfft, you are too,” Josuke says with another little blush. He’s been doing that a lot today. It’s nice. It’s cute.
Okuyasu grins and heads towards his front door. “Thanks man! I’ll see you tomorrow, yeah?”
“Yep! See you tomorrow!”
Okuyasu watches as Josuke heads to his house and then heads inside.
He hangs the photos above his desk, right were he can see them whenever he wants to. He can’t help but keep staring at them for awhile before starting his homework. They really are great.
A few more minutes are lost to daydreams where Josuke looks at him like he is in the last photo and means it... but that starts to make him feel a little bad so, as hard as it is to accept, it looks like it really is time for homework now.
-oOo-
Their good luck runs out the next week. It turns out that their hasty exits from school have been noticed after all and they’ve been given extra cleaning duty on top of it. The result is drastically cut hangout time. But things eventually balance out and they’re able to make it back to the arcade again.
The line for the bikes is shorter now that the novelty has worn off.
“Wanna see if anyone beat our score?” Josuke suggests.
“As if, we’re the best! But sure, let’s race again!”
Josuke smiles at him and once again picks the neon lit nighttime course. They lean and turn with the same in sync grace that makes Okuyasu’s heart soar happily in his chest. He can’t wait for the day when Josuke will have the chance to ride on his bike with him. He’s bummed they’ve yet to find the time, but he knows it’ll be so, so worth it.
The course comes to an end and the results screen pops up. They scored high enough to get second place. But it doesn’t matter since ‘Josuyasu’ is still proudly displayed in first place.
Okuyasu lets out a cheer. “Alright! Told ya! No one can beat the Josuyasu duo!”
Josuke grins and fist bumps him, placing their combined names in the second spot as well. They sit for moment, both looking at the screen, but are jolted out of their admiration by two kids wanting a turn. Sliding off the bikes they make their way around the arcade again, looking for their next game.
“Hey,” Josuke eventually says. “You, uh... you wanna do the photo booth again?”
“Huh? Oh, I dunno, I don’t think I can keep The Hand that tiny for that long. I have been practicing though,” he answers. “Besides, if Dee didn’t show up I don’t think it’ll work for me either.”
Josuke gives him a fond, but exasperated little look before looking suddenly off to the side. He seems kind of nervous. “I know. I just... I mean, those last photos looked kinda dumb. Maybe we could take better ones?”
Okuyasu didn’t think they were dumb at all. In fact, he’s stared at them so much since they had them taken that he’s got them all memorized, down to the last detail. Especially the last one. But, hey, he’s not gonna refuse an excuse to get all pressed up close with Josuke again.
“Sure, these ones are on me since you got the last ones,” he says, pulling back the curtain and squeezing into the booth.
Josuke follows after and situates himself on the bench. He watches as Okuyasu flips through the frame options and lets out a little strangled sound when Okuyasu selects a frame made up of lots of little hearts.
“O-Oku, what’s with the frame, bro?” he stutters.
“Huh? For the yen signs. You got them for my pins, so I got hearts for your pins. Is that okay?”
Josuke’s face does a funny little pinched thing where it looks like he’s trying very hard not to scream. “Oh, yeah the pins. Sure. Fine.”
“Yeah! So, what kind of poses should we do? Oh! Wait here,” Okuyasu shifts around a bit as the screen is counting down and does an exaggerated flex of his muscles.
Josuke makes another strangled sound, but quickly covers it with a laugh before pretending to swoon dramatically over Okuyasu’s antics.
The flash goes off.
“Your turn!” Okuyasu says, nudging Josuke.
Josuke flexes this time and Okuyasu makes a disbelieving face, pointing at Josuke’s arms.
The flash goes off.
“Okay, both of us,” Josuke says with grin. They both flex as the countdown starts. When the flash goes off, they both deflate with a laugh.
“Now what?” Okuyasu asks, they’ve only got a few seconds before the next countdown starts.
Beside him, Josuke takes a deep breath. “I... I’ve got an idea.”
He snakes his arm around Okuyasu’s shoulders like he did the last time and Okuyasu’s heart starts to pound. The computerized voice starts it’s countdown and Okuyasu bravely turns to see if Josuke is going to make the same face at him again.
He turns just as the voice hits one and Josuke leans forward with his eyes screwed shut and kisses him.
The flash goes off.
It nearly blinds Okuyasu since his eyes seem to be frozen wide open in shock.
Josuke leans back hard enough to slam against the wall of the booth. “That wasn’t your cheek,” he says, voice panicked and strangled.
Okuyasu can do nothing except shake his head dumbly. He probably looks like a total goof, with his eyes all wide and mouth gaping open. “Uhhh...” he eloquently replies.
He’s so dumbfounded over the fact that Josuke just kissed him that he doesn’t register that Josuke is freaking out until he’s already pulling the curtain aside and bolting from the arcade without another word.
Okuyasu leaves the booth in a daze. The machine whirs and hums and he watches as two photo strips fall out. He picks them up and looks at them, eyes only briefly scanning over their silly muscle poses, before landing on the last one. For as wide and openly shocked as his face is, Josuke’s is equally scrunched up and nervous. But they are definitely kissing.
His knees feel wobbly.
They’re kissing. And maybe the lips touching part was an accident, but Josuke had definitely been aiming for Okuyasu’s cheek at least. Josuke had wanted to kiss him.
It’s only then that everything seems to click into place. Josuke wanted to kiss him. Josuke did kiss him. Josuke must at least feel something back...
Oh god, Josuke feels something back. Josuke is gone. Josuke doesn’t know that Okuyasu feels the same because Okuyasu had decided to do his best impression of a stunned fish after receiving his first, albeit somewhat accidental kiss, with the boy that he likes.
Shit.
He carefully tucks the photos into his bag, but not without first getting a bit distracted by them again, and makes his way out of the arcade.
Josuke is nowhere to be seen. If Okuyasu is lucky, he probably went home. Excitement is coursing through him. He wants to run to Josuke’s house, but that would get him all sweaty and gross. The Hand’s power could get him there in a few short swipes, but even those who can’t see stands would be pretty suspicious if they saw a high school kid flying through a busy main street seemingly by magic.
No, his best bet would be to take his time, maybe plan out his confession to make it all cool and suave. He starts making his way down the sidewalk, quicker than usual, but not running. His confession. He’s gonna confess to Josuke, Josuke who just kissed him.
Man, how did he get so lucky?
When he gets to Josuke’s house, it’s Tomoko who answers the door. “Thank god,” she says when she sees him on the other side of the door. “Judging by your complete lack of murderous rage, I was correct in assuming that Josuke was being a drama queen when he ran upstairs wailing about how his life was ruined and that you were never going to speak to him again except to knock his lights out.”
She says all of that in one go, spitting it out quickly much like Josuke has a tendency to do sometimes. Okuyasu is momentarily taken aback.
“Uh, hello Ms. Higashikata. No, I’m not mad. Josuke is home though?” he says, slowly, thrown off by this unexpected wrench in his plans.
Tomoko just gives him a warm smile and motions him in. “Yep, his royal highness is in his room, sulking over perceived injuries to his pride, most likely.”
“Oh, okay,” he says, taking off his shoes. “I’ll go see him.”
“You boys have fun,” she says sweetly, before turning away into the house.
Okuyasu makes his way upstairs. Each step somehow making him more nervous. Maybe Josuke really is upset? Maybe he just wanted a kiss on the cheek and Okuyasu totally ruined it and now Josuke thinks he’s an idiot who messes up something simple way too easily and he’s second guessing everything...
He’s at Josuke’s door. He knocks before turning the doorknob and letting himself in.
“Hey bro---“
“Mom, I told you to stay-- Okuyasu?”
Josuke flies up from his position of laying on the bed with his face buried in a pillow. His pomp is kind of crushed from being laid on and his face is beet red. He honestly looks kind of terrified. “Wha- What are you doing here?”
Any plans that Okuyasu had fly out the window upon seeing him. To think that Josuke is nervous about liking him... that’s not right. If anything Okuyasu should be the stunned and terrified one here. There’s no way he had ever hoped that someone like Josuke would like him back. He had planned on being cool and suave, but well... it looks like they’re both trying for the title of biggest disaster.
“Uh, you forgot your photos,” is what he says.
Josuke looks at him for a beat more, blinking once before hiding his face in his hands. “Ugh, just throw them away I don’t wanna think about how terrible I made everything,” he groans.
“Terrible? I like ‘em,” he offers quietly, pulling a strip out from his bag. He walks over to Josuke’s bed and sits down on the edge and stares hard at the one where they’re kissing.
Josuke, apparently doesn’t hear him. “I thought I had it all planned out. I was gonna kiss you on the cheek and be real smooth about it and then I’d tell you I liked you and you’d hopefully say it back and then we’d laugh and have a nice souvenir of it, but then you turned and I kissed you and I took our first kiss without even asking and I didn’t want to do that and you hate me now!”
There’s a lot to unpack there. But what Okuyasu’s self-sabotaging brain decides to inanely clutch on to is: “Wait, you didn’t want to kiss me?”
“Of course I did! But I thought there’d be more leading up to it! I ruined it,” Josuke moans.
“Well, you can try again,” Okuyasu replies without thinking.
Silence falls.
“What?”
“I said, you can try again. I don’t mind. If you think it was ruined we can write it off as practice or something, if that makes you feel better,” he has no idea what he’s saying. All he knows is that he’s very, very in love with the dramatic boy sitting next to him and that he’ll do anything to get to kiss him again. “I mean, I totally like you too, bro, I have for ages and I’m kinda goin’ nuts knowing that you like me too. I was just kind of dumb for a minute when it happened is all.”
It’s quiet for a few moments again. Josuke reaches over to take a strip of the photos. He lets his one hand rest close enough to Okuyasu’s for their pinkies to touch along the side.
“Holy shit, I look like a fish,” he eventually whispers. “My lips, oh my god.”
Okuyasu snorts. “Dude, I look like a fish out of water myself.”
“Y-you do...” Josuke says, trying and failing to hold in his laughter, before long they’re both howling with it, rolling on the bed and clutching their sides. “Kissing fish!” Josuke manages to choke out.
“Glub glub!” Okuyasu says and they’re both laughing again.
When it finally dies down, Josuke turns to look at him and grabs his hand.
Okuyasu’s heart flutters as he turns his hand to link their fingers together.
“Man, I’m really a mess when it comes to the fourth photos in photo booths,” he says, his voice taking on a self-depreciating tone. “I thought for sure that first one would give me away. I looked totally gone on you, dude. I mean, I was. I am, but damn I was obvious.”
Okuyasu blushes. “You kind of were, I didn’t believe it though. I just thought it was me... you know, putting my feelings onto you to see things that I wanted to see, you know?”
“Mm, you definitely weren’t,” Josuke says, sitting up to look at the new photos again. “These are all pretty great though, except that last one. What a dumb looking kiss.”
“What? No way, I love ‘em!” Okuyasu protests, giving Josuke’s hand a squeeze. “How many people have a photo of their first kiss? Fish faces and all?”
Josuke blushes a bit. “I thought you said it was just practice?”
“Huh? Oh, it can be. You still wanna try again?”
“Definitely,” Josuke says, sliding immediately closer on the bed.
Oh, he means now.
“Now?” Okuyasu asks, just to make sure.
“Is that okay?”
“Totally,” Okuyasu answers and this time he’s ready. For all the tension of the afternoon, they meet in the middle, both managing to turn just right for their lips to press soft and firm together. It’s much better than the first time, especially since Okuyasu has the thrilling opportunity to kiss back.
They break apart a few moments later, both of them slowly opening their eyes to look at each other. “Better?” Okuyasu whispers, they’re still so close. He can feel every time Josuke breathes. It’s amazing.
“Hmm, I dunno. I think we better try again,” Josuke says before leaning back in.
A few more tries turn into a lot more tries and a lot more tries turn into a pretty nice make-out session. Okuyasu isn’t sure which one they’re counting as their official first kiss, but he’s more than willing to keep practicing again and again until they get it just right.