Crush - H. Josuke

--Sorry, It's okay

"Y/n?" He asked with a shocked expression, a shy blush erupting from the embarrassment of firstly, her speaking to him, secondly, his hair was completely undone, thirdly, his voice just absolutely had to crack.

He wondered what she was doing so close to his house, but had no clue how to speak to her. He didn't even know if it was okay to look at her. He kept taking small glances to the beautiful woman beside him, trying to look normal, resulting in him tripping with a dramatic yelp, narrowly avoiding a fall.

"Are you okay?" The girl asked him, a small smile on her face as she tried to hide her laugh from his theatrical stumble.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. I'm fine." He said under his breath, an embarrassed scowl on his face.

His trademark hair was undone, his voice sounded like he was 12 with all the cracks, clammy with sweat, and drenched from the neck down in rain, his clothes clung to his body, making him look scrawny. Why was this his first impression with his crush? He spent weeks trying to plan a perfect first encounter with her, because she deserved to be swept off her feet. He was supposed to be her saving knight, how could he possibly do that now, with the embarrassment of his presentation, execution of his words, and the fact that he couldn't even walk in a straight line. The two carried on their journey, exposing his lack of coordination as nearly every fifteen steps, his side bumped into hers.

"Sorry,"

"It's okay."

"Sorry,"

"It's okay."

"Sorry,"

"Josuke, you're doing this on purpose."

"I am not!" He said, shaking his head with a frown. The lady beside him tilted her head to the side and raised an eyebrow, looking to him with doubt.

"It would be better if it was on purpose. Your feet are facing the right direction, but you're basically diagonal. How do you even do that?" She asked with a smile, the boy's reaction was a loss of tension in his shoulders, relieved to see her playful smile, and more importantly, relieved that she didn't mind his accidental side-stepping.

"I really don't know. I can't walk in a straight line, even if I make an effort to, it just makes me trip." He explained with a sheepish smile, shrugging to her, his eyes softening as her face came into view, his shyness quickly returning.

"So.. Y/n," He started his sentence off, her beautiful name rolling off his tongue. He found that he quite liked hearing her name in his voice. "What're you doing here? Do you live in this neighborhood, too?" He asked, hoping they indeed were neighbors. It would be much easier to "conveniently," meet each other once again.

"Yeah, I do." She said with a nod, a raindrop falling off the tip of her nose, making her smile. During his trip, she let the umbrella fall for a few seconds while she was looking if he fell, resulting in her hair getting a small sprinkling. "I live in the fourth house down the right."

He internally hopped, skipped, and jumped upon hearing this information. He lived in the twelfth home down the left. Despite the rough and unplanned circumstances of their first meeting, maybe if he asked correctly, she would walk to and from school with him every day. "Actually? I live down the left side!" He said a little too eagerly, a blush on his cheeks.

He sighed to himself in self-consciousness, just knowing if Koichi or Okuyasu was around, they would cook him. "Josuke! What happened to the delinquent from earlier?" "Josuke, why's your face so red?" "Ha! Your voice keeps cracking!" They would say. Or worse, they would come up behind him, "I see you Josuke! Spit some game!" Okuyasu would say, exposing his secret.

"Oh, really? Normally my dad drives me because his work is a few miles past school, but today he had an early meeting, so he couldn't. Do you always walk?" She asked him, as well as unknowingly answering his question of why had he not seen her before.

"Oh, yeah I walk every day. My mom works nights, so she sleeps in late, and I can't get a ride." He said as calmly as he could, despite a small shake in his voice.

As the two walked to class, they continued their small conversation. He was so glad that the girl was easy to talk to, and apparently liked to talk. Aside from his embarrassing mistakes and appearance, it was a great morning for him to begin his day. He didn't have a class with her today, it was his even day schedule. (2nd, 4th, 6th, and advisory)

"Well.. I'll see you tomorrow?" He asked as he looked to the ground, the two of them under the entrance of the school.

"Huh? You're making me walk home all alone?" She said with a playful smile, retracting her umbrella and placing it in the water bottle portion of her bag.

"What? No! I didn't know if you wanted to or not.. Since we just met." He said, quickly defending himself from her small assumption. "I walk home with my friends, but you're welcome to join.." He invited her, although nervous of how his friends would talk to her, or how they would make him look.

"Sure! Meet me by my advisory, it's down the math hallway, room 2231." She said, not leaving him much of a choice, since she was already walking inside, her friends finding her within seconds.

But then again, it's not like he would ever dream about saying no to her. He pulled out a pen, scribbling on his wrist in his sloppy handwriting, "Y/N 2231 WALK."