heart of glass | josuke higashikata

.:. nine .:.

"What if...um...what if it's...lovers." Josuke's words hung in the air for far longer than either him or Y/N had wanted. From Josuke's point of view, he'd just ruined his best and longest friendship because it wasn't something she wanted. From Y/N's point of view, there were two possibilities. One, Jouske meant what he was saying or two, he was talking without thinking again. She couldn't tell which one she'd have rather it be. It had been nearly five minutes before Y/N realized she hadn't said anything yet.

"Well, what if we are?" She spoke up, her voice coming out far weaker than she wanted it to. Another few minutes of silence passed.

"I...I don't know. I've never thought about it." That was a huge blow to Y/N's ego, even though she didn't quite understand why. "But...maybe that's how we come off to other people? Remember my mom, how she just assumed we were dating because we were late one time. And she's not even surprised she seems excited every time I bring you up."

"You talk about me to your mom?" Y/N finally forced herself to look up at Josuke. The pink hue of his cheeks deepened.

"I mean, I-uhm..." Josuke nervously laughed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Yeah, I do." He glanced down. "B-but not in a weird way, I promise! She just wants know how you are and...and how things are going for like, us, you know?"

"Yeah." Y/N nodded quickly. The awkward tension in the air was thick enough to cut with a knife, and Y/N hated it. Things had never been awkward between her and Josuke a day in her life, never, not once. It felt wrong. "What...does she ask?"

"Ah, not much really." Once again, the tint of Josuke's cheeks deepened. "She wants to make sure I'm being too to you, mostly." He scoffed. "My own mother doesn't trust me, and with you nonetheless! I'd never do anything to hurt you! It's like she doesn't even know me." Y/N couldn't help but laugh at Josuke, she'd always found it so funny how he got so worked up over nothing. Unable to stop laughing, Y/N turned away slightly and covered her mouth with her hand.

Josuke watched her, and despite having heard her laugh a million times before, it felt as if he was hearing it for the first time. He couldn't explain it, as her laugh didn't sound any different than it normally did-though at the same time, he felt that it had. Then, he realized she looked a little different too-but there's no way she could've done anything to change her appearance, he'd been with her all day. But as he stood there, staring at her, he knew that something had changed.

"Did you change your hair or something?" He blurted out, causing her laughter to die out.

"What are you talking about, Josuke?" Small giggles still laced her words as she shook her head lightly. "No, I didn't. Besides, if I had you'd've noticed the second I walked out of my house." She said, remembering the time her mom had trimmed her hair less than an inch as a child and Josuke noticed right away.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." He huffed. "I dunno, you just look different all of a sudden."

"Different how?" She raised an eyebrow. "Like, different bad or different good?"

"Good! Good, definitely good!" He quickly assured. Neither seemed to notice that the awkward tension from earlier had gone. Y/N laughed again, and Josuke couldn't help but smile. "Hey, why don't we go to the arcade or something? We've still got a ton of time before the movie starts."

"Movie, what movie?" She asked as they began to walk again, back towards town.

"Oh, uh, yeah." He chuckled. "I was thinking we could go see a movie tonight. I was gonna mention it to you this morning but then Okuyasu was there and Jotaro showed up." He sighed. "Anyway, there's some new horror movie that opened last week. I thought it'd be fun."

"Y-Yeah, okay." Y/N couldn't explain why her heart rate had increased so much. She'd been to the movies with Josuke before, so why did she suddenly feel so nervous?

——

"I totally had you." Josuke whined. "You absolutely cheated."

"I did not!" Y/N gasped over-dramatically, making Josuke roll his eyes. "I would never cheat at air hockey, Josuke! How dare you accuse me of cheating."

"Y/N I saw Glass behind you." Josuke laughed. "I literally caught one of the shards with Shining Diamond."

"I didn't cheat, I would never cheat." She insisted, tilting her chin up with a small 'hmph!' After a few seconds she glanced over at him, and they both devolved into laughter. There weren't too many people left in the town square as they passed through it, and even less around the movie theater. In fact, Josuke realized that they were the only two he'd seen besides the theater employees as they got their snacks. Entering the screening room, they found that they were still alone.

"Weird." He muttered under his breath, following behind Y/N as she debated herself on which seats were the best. She eventually decided on the dead center, and they took their seats. The lights lowed and trailers began to play, still no one. Y/N caught onto just how off it all felt just before the movie began. Things seemed normal, until about twenty minutes into the movie when Y/N noticed one of the decorative curtains next to the movie screen was moving. At first, she brushed it off as a badly placed vent, but it persisted, and eventually the rustling got enough to where it couldn't have been a simple vent.

"Josuke." Y/N kept her voice low as she leaned over. "I think there's something over there." She pointed towards the curtains.

"What do you mean?" Josuke spoke at full volume, and Y/N quickly shushed him. "We're alone in here, you know, we can talk normally."

"What if it's a stand user?" Her question put him on edge, and his eyes shot over to the curtains. "What do we do? We have to fight them, right? We can't just leave them here to hurt someone."

"You're right." Josuke nodded. "But it's not ideal. It's dark in here, for starters, and we have no idea what their stand can do."

"Yeah but we can't let them attack us first." The loud sound of fabric swooping made them both jump, eyes shooting to the other side the screen. The curtains on that side, which were previously still, were now billowing out from the wall and obscuring the movie screen. Josuke shot out of his chair, Shining Diamond appearing next to him. Y/N quickly followed suit, head whipping around to try and locate the user. The first curtain was now also billowing across the screen, unfortunately blocking a lot of the only light source in the room. The sound of the fabric and of wind were increasing all around them, almost becoming deafening, until they suddenly cut out.

"Josuke Higashikata and Y/N L/N." A voice came from the back of the theater, making them both quickly turn around. Just below the projector sat a figure, just barely backlit by the projection. "My my, I've been waiting for this. Though, before we begin, I would like to thank you Josuke. Without the help of you and that nephew of yours, I'd have never gotten rid of Angelo. It was only a matter of time before that brute started coming after other stand users, and I know I wouldn't have been too far behind on his list than you, Josuke. So thank you, truly. Now, if you could do me one last kindness, I'd be forever in your debt.

"You can put that ugly stand of yours away and die like a man. It'd make my job a whole lot easier. And that goes for you too, Y/N, though your stand is far easier on the eyes than Josuke's. It's a shame it will never see the light of day again. I imagine it looks most beautiful at the golden hour."