In the middle of the night
- Josuke, are you awake? -.
Josuke opened his eyes; it was dark but he was still able to distinguish Okuyasu's figure in all that darkness.
They were lying on the floor, in a mess of covers and pillows. They had a sleepover and they had been awake until 2am, then they had decided to call it a night since they still had to wake up early for school, but apparently neither of them could sleep.
- Yeah. What is it, dude? -, he mumbled.
- Just checking -, Okuyasu replied, but it didn't take too much effort to understand he was lying.
Josuke let out a sigh as he raised his back, assuming a sitting position.
- Are you sure? -, he asked, - Doesn't seem like it -.
Okuyasu nodded and for Josuke it was far too early to have that kind of conversation, so he lied down again, closed his eyes and tried to sleep.
- Do you ever think about what happened? -.
Ugh, just as Josuke was about to finally fall asleep.
- What happened when? -, he asked.
- You know when… - was the only reply Okuyasu gave him.
Oh. He was talking about that.
- … Yes -, Josuke admitted.
Four months had already passed since Kira had died, but for him it still felt like yesterday. They had to put up with a lot of craziness, and returning to a normal life had been difficult for all of them: they saw new menaces everywhere, they always jumped to conclusion whenever there was something slightly off.
Josuke would have loved to just say that he was over it but… he wasn't, at least not completely.
- You too, uh? -, Okuyasu said and then he got quiet.
Josuke didn't like it when Okuyasu was that quiet; it always meant that there was something bothering him.
Despite that he decided to let him be for a while: he probably needed to organize his thoughts or something like that, and Josuke knew better that to force him to hurry.
- Listen, Josuke… -, Okuyasu started, when he was ready, - Ok, it's a stupid request, but… would you mind… to hold my hand? -.
Well, that was an odd request, but nothing that Josuke couldn't do.
- Sure -, he said, stretching his hand towards Okuyasu's and squeezing it a bit.
- Better? -, he asked then.
Okuyasu nodded, and squeezed the hand back. He was about to say something, but then he seemed to change his mind. He still needed some time.
- You know, my brother used to do this when we were younger -, he said after a while.
Josuke didn't reply, instead he let Okuyasu continue.
- At the time we were still a family, and when I had nightmares I always went to him. He held me and told me that it was alright, that he was there and he was going to protect me from the monsters -.
His voice was starting to crack.
- Okuyasu… -, Josuke started, but Okuyasu didn't let him finish.
- Sorry, I'm really bothering you… -, he said, - We should go back to sleep -.
- You're not bothering me, dude! -, Josuke replied, - You know you can always talk to me about this -.
- Yeah, I know -, Okuyasu said as Josuke got closer to him and hugged him, just to prove his point.
It felt good. It always felt good whenever Josuke touched him, and that happened quite often; he was a very physical person and he had his own way to show affection, and Okuyasu loved it because he always managed to make him feel safe and accepted.