Josuke felt hazy. He tried sitting up but realized he was attached to something. He looked and saw he had an IV in one arm and a blood pressure cuff on the other. He tried speaking but heard a pained gargled sound and quickly realized it was coming from him. He couldn't talk if he wanted to. His throat felt like it was on fire.

Where the fuck am I?

He quietly looked around the room he was in, eyes adjusting to the darkness. No one was around, and the lights were low, but he could tell it was definitely a hospital. The thought made him feel a little safer, thankful he wasn't kidnapped and in some serial killer's basement or something.

Serial killer. . .

Josuke suddenly remembered the fight. He fought against Yoshikage Kira, the serial killer who'd spent the last 15 years silently terrorizing the women of Morioh. How had that fight gone?

Josuke tried thinking but felt like there was a wall around his thoughts that he couldn't get passed. He vaguely remembered explosions, a cat plant thing, that Hayato kid, and . . . and Okuyasu.

Okuyasu!

Okuyasu had been hurt. Really badly. But, he healed him right? Josuke tried thinking harder. Okuyasu was okay right? He had to be.

He . . .

He had to be.

Josuke could feel his eyes stinging in pain as tears formed.

Did I get to him in time? Did I fix him?

Josuke could hear the machine he was attached to start to beep loudly. His breathing became out of control as he wracked his brain looking for the answer he needed. Images of dragging Okuyasu down the sidewalk and into someone's yard filled his head. He remembered thinking he needed to get somewhere safe for Okuyasu's sake. He remembered laying his body down in a room.

He remembered saying good bye.

Josuke started hyperventilating.

This can't be happening. He can't be gone.

Josuke tried taking his IV out of his arm. He felt weak, his arms could barely move. His fingers felt so uncoordinated as he tried grabbing at the needle.

"He's awake!"

Josuke heard an unfamiliar voice call out from the hallway as the door was opened. The sound of the door opening was so loud and made him jump a bit. He noticed a few nurses barge in. One of them stopped him from messing with his IV while the other two checked on his vitals and tried to calm him down.

"O – Oku" Josuke could barely make the word form. He needed to see if Okuyasu was alive. He couldn't remember anything past saying goodbye to his best friend.

His boyfriend.

They'd become a couple just three weeks ago and were supposed to have their first date soon. They hadn't told anybody about it yet. They felt like the focus needed to be on finding Yoshikage Kira, and not on their newfound love. It seemed selfish to have so much happiness in a time of so much heartache and loss. That's why they wanted to keep it to themselves for a while.

For their first date, Josuke was planning on taking Okuyasu to the amusement park. He'd saved a lot of money. He'd wanted it to be perfect. Okuyasu hadn't been to an amusement park before. He was too young when his family was still relatively happy. They'd been focusing on his mom's health for a while and never had time to do much else. The most fun he and Keicho would have was in the hospital, running around and talking to people. Josuke wanted this date to be special. He wanted Okuyasu to feel loved.

"W – wh" Josuke tried getting out, his voice raspy and weak.

Where's Okuyasu!?

He wanted to scream. The nurses were just busy messing with his wires and his IV drip and the machine reading his vitals and his bed, and oh shit he had a catheter put in. He was surprised when he felt the movement of his pee tube thing and made a startled sound. The nurse apologized and wrote down something on her clipboard. He tried to cough but his chest hurt too much. He needed to clear his throat and he needed some water.

"W – wa . . ."

No one was listening to him.

"Okay Josuke! Your vitals are coming back to normal. You might still feel a little out of it. You're on some strong pain medication right now, and we just administered another dose, so it should be kicking in soon. It might make you feel a bit nauseous."

Josuke nodded.

"We'll let your family and friends know you woke up. Your surgery went very well sweetie. The surgeon was very pleased with the results. You came out of surgery a few hours ago, but you've been asleep for a while now. It's 3 in the morning, just to let you know. Everybody's in the waiting room. You have a lot of people here to see you." The nurse said enthusiastically.

Josuke could merely nod, wanting her and the others to just leave already. He took in a shaky breath as they said a few more things before finally leaving, shutting the door behind them. He tried to take everything in.

So . . . apparently I had surgery . . .

Josuke sighed as he leaned further into his pillow.

What the fuck happened that I needed surgery for? What happened after I left Okuyasu there in that house?

Josuke closed his eyes, trying to picture it in his head. He could see himself walking out of that room. He was ready to end it all. He didn't care if he was gonna die, he just needed to take Kira with him. That's all that was on his mind.

He remembered the air bubble coming for him, following his every step. He remembered the explosion on the stairs, the chunks of wood buried in his body, Hayato dragging him in the wrong direction.

He remembered thinking I don't need you to take me to safety right now Hayato! I need to kill this bastard.

He pictured the shards of glass he made, embedded with his dried up blood, and thrown like a boomerang with a homing device. His remembered being relieved that his plan worked, and he was able to wound Kira pretty badly. He also remembered killing Kira's father, the man in the polaroid picture. In the mess of it all, he somehow made it out there where Kira was. They fought. He bled a lot. He almost lost. He was so weak. A bomb was coming.

Then. . .

He was saved.

Okuyasu saved him.

. . .

Was that real?

Was I only imagining it?

Okuyasu was dead. He'd been sure of it. He was so cold, barely breathing, he was going pale, he seemed to have no pulse. He was sure Okuyasu was gone. And yet, the picture in his mind was so vivid. There Okuyasu was, looking like a hero. Standing strong, his gold pins shining in the early morning sun. He looked determined, ready to end the fight for good.

That . . . that was all real . . . right?

"Josuke!"

He heard a familiar voice calling him from down the hall. It was his mom. She sounded like she wasn't alone.

"You all can't go in at once. Three at a time at most."

That was the nurse.

He heard some chattering and suddenly his door was opened.

"Oh Josuke! You're awake! Thank God! I was so worried sweetie!" His mom talked quickly as she shoved her way passed Jotaro and Mr. Joestar, who was holding baby Shizuka. She collapsed in a pile on his bed, choking back tears and holding him in her arms. Josuke wasn't able to move. He felt too weak to reciprocate the embrace.

"I – I . . I" Josuke tried, his voice still lost.

"Shhhh shhh shh shh shhh. Don't worry honey. You don't need to talk right now. I know what happened. It's okay. It's not your fault. The only thing that matters now is that you're safe. You're here." Tomoko's voice was softer than usual. He saw how disheveled she looked up close. Her hair was a mess. She'd probably slept in a waiting room chair. Her eyes were rimmed red and puffy. Her skin was blotchy. She'd definitely been crying. Josuke could feel a pang of guilt build up in his stomach. He really must've worried her. Tomoko cupped his cheek in her hand and leaned over to kiss his forehead.

Josuke could feel his eyes stinging, his bottom lip quivering. He didn't like seeing her like this. It was hard seeing the woman who'd been through so much raising him barely holding it together. He could feel the stress radiating off of her. He felt terrible for putting her through everything.

He wondered what she'd been told about the incident, since she'd mentioned she knew what happened already. How would Jotaro or the Speedwagon Foundation even explain something like that?

Did she know about stands now?

Did she know he went head to head with a serial killer?

. . .

Even though he couldn't talk right now, Josuke decided he'd wait to ask Jotaro about it before talking to her about what happened. He needed to be filled in.

Josuke brought his eyes to Jotaro and Joseph who were waiting patiently by the other side of his bed. Something suddenly clicked in Josuke's mind.

So . . . mom and Mr. Joestar met huh? . . .

Josuke wondered how that went down but, he was also kinda glad he wasn't there for the awkward reunion. The situation they were in probably made things worse. It must have been pretty bad. He couldn't help wondering if his mom cried when she saw him. He wondered if she flung herself into his arms and cried. He hoped Mr. Joestar had been good to her.

Tomoko gave Josuke one last kiss on the cheek before she moved to sit in the chair by the windowsill so Jotaro and Joseph could talk to him a bit.

"Josuke. I'm glad to see you're looking better. You . . . you gave us quite a scare." Joseph said as he rocked the baby in his arms. Shizuka was reaching out to Josuke with her little hands. Josuke raised a weak hand to let her grip his finger. He smiled softly as his new baby sister comforted him in her own way.

"How are you feeling?" Jotaro said, absently touching the railing of his bed.

Josuke tried clearing his throat and ended up going into a coughing fit, taking his hand back from Shizuka's grip.

He suddenly found that Jotaro was handing him a cup of water taken from the table pushed against the side wall of his room. Josuke grabbed it and took slow sips, trying to calm his aching throat. He cleared his throat again and tried to speak.

"I'm – I'm okay. 'M not in any pain." Josuke managed to get out. His throat felt better, and his voice was starting to come back.

Joseph laughed softly as he mentioned "They said you've got the good stuff!", referencing the pain medication Josuke was on.

Josuke smiled and nodded at his father.

Joseph grabbed Josuke's hand gently as he let Jotaro hold Shizuka. He leaned down, letting the bed hold him up as he got closer to Josuke's face. He studied Josuke's face closely, his eyes soft as he got a good look at his son. Josuke could feel a blush rise to his cheeks.

"I'm glad you're okay son. You had us all worried. I'm sorry you had to go through all of that." Joseph said softly as he placed a small kiss on Josuke's forehead. The action startled Josuke a bit, and he had to blink away the tears starting to form at the corners of his eyes. He swallowed hard and nodded, not trusting himself to talk right now. He knew his voice would break from holding back his tears. He knew his old man cared deeply for him. He could feel it. It filled him with a sense of appreciation for getting a chance to meet him. He was thankful to have Joseph in his life now, not that it made up for the past 16 years or anything. He just . . . he was happy with how things were right now. He was glad to have met him.

"Not to interrupt, but I'm sure the others would like to have a chance to see Josuke." Jotaro suddenly spoke, as he tried to calm down a fussy Shizuka.

"Ah yes. It's really late too. We should get going Jotaro." Joseph said, looking down at his watch. He turned to Josuke. "We'll come to visit tomorrow and spend more time together. It's just so late. I'm sorry but this old man needs his rest, and the chairs in the waiting room aren't all that comfortable to sleep in." He said, his eyes giving off an apology.

"O – of course. Yeah, no problem. I'm . . . I'm glad I got to see y'all." Josuke's voice was barely above a whisper. Joseph squeezed his hand slightly.

"Same here, Josuke." Jotaro hid his eyes under the brim of his hat. "If you'll excuse us."

"See you guys tomorrow." Tomoko's voice came out from where she was sitting, off to the side. She waved them goodbye, her smile bittersweet. She kept her gaze at the door for a few seconds after they left, then turned over to Josuke, giving a big sigh.

"Okay kiddo, I'm gonna go talk to the nurse about what the doctor said and stuff." She got up and made her way over to the bed again, reaching down to hold Josuke's hand. She rubbed her thumb along his skin lovingly. "I'll be back in a bit, okay?" Josuke nodded and watched as she made her way out of his room.

The door opened right as soon as it closed, as Koichi, Yukako, and Rohan walked in. Josuke smiled, trying to hide his disappointment as he realized Okuyasu wasn't there. He shook his troubling thoughts away, reminding himself of the three at a time rule the nurse had set. Maybe Okuyasu was just waiting his turn. . .

"Josuke!" Koichi said happily, rushing over to the bed. Yukako and Rohan followed behind.

"Hey guys." Josuke gave a weak wave, looking everybody over. They all had a slight tint of darkness under their puffy eyes.

It must have been a loooong day for everyone.

"I'm so glad you're gonna be okay." Koichi said, his voice full of relief. He put his hand on the railing of Josuke's bed. Yukako placed a hand on his back, comforting her boyfriend as he spoke. "I feel like we've been waiting in this hospital forever for you to wake up."

The other two nodded in agreement, spurring a yawn from Rohan.

"I got a lot of references for my art at least." Rohan mumbled, pushing his sketchbook further into his crossbody bag.

Josuke gave a small breathy laugh.

"Just so you know . . . Hayato Kawajiri told us everything that happened in the fight." He trailed off, looking down at his hands.

Josuke cleared his throat to speak.

"Oh yeah? Hey how's the kid holdin' up?"

"Oh, he - he seemed . . . okay, all things considering." Koichi looked up to Yukako, who nodded in agreement.

"That's good to hear. He's a pretty tough little dude." Josuke yawned.

"Yeah. He couldn't stay, but he kept saying that he wanted to thank you for everything. But, he left a long time ago. He didn't want his mom to find anything out about what happened. . . Or about his dad. He left when his school was supposed to let out."

"Oh. Makes sense." Josuke settled his head further into his pillow. "Y'know. . . I wanna thank him too. That kid really helped out a lot."

Josuke watched as Koichi's face suddenly scrunched up at his words.

"S – sorry for not being there for you, Josuke." Koichi suddenly said, his hand gripping the railing tightly. "We . . . we were just standing around doing nothing. I . . . I can't believe how close we were to you. If we were just there. . ."

"No need to dwell on the 'what if's' Koichi." Rohan suddenly spoke. "We can't do anything to change what happened. Josuke's fine now, so it all turned out okay. Right, Josuke?" He turned to look down at Josuke in his bed.

"Yeah. I'm fine. They got me on pain meds and uh . . . I'm pretty sure I still got all my body parts." He said as he wiggled his fingers and toes just to double check. "They said the surgery went really well. So don't worry 'bout it Koichi. You guys helped a lot too."

Josuke smiled softly. He was suddenly overwhelmed with the need to ask the question burning a hole through the back of his mind.

"Hey uh . . . Okuyasu's still alive right?" Josuke felt himself ask. He looked around at his friends, finding them looking at him confusedly.

"Uh . . . y – yeah of course. . . He's alive." Koichi said slowly, trying to understand something.

Josuke could feel himself breathe a sigh of relief.

So I didn't make it all up.

He guessed he had to explain himself a bit. They all seemed pretty confused.

"I . . . feel like it's sorta my fault that Okuyasu almost died. It sucked not having Okuyasu for most of the fight. I – I coulda fought smarter . . . then he wouldn't have got hurt so bad. " Josuke suddenly confessed, bringing a weak hand up to his lips, wondering if those words were really his.

'Do I really blame myself?'

"Wait, wait. . . Okuyasu almost died?" Koichi asked, leaning closer to Josuke.

"Huh?"

Josuke was lost in his memories of the fight.

'Josuke, don't let your guard down just because he's slow!" Okuyasu had yelled, using The Hand to make Killer Queen face him instead.

Killer Queen had already attacked. The attack went to Okuyasu instead.

Okuyasu was pushed back. His face contorted in pain and confusion about what happened.

"I – I wasn't touched . . . I – I wasn't even touched . . .The air . . . the air breathed fire!"

He flew threw the air, a gaping hole in his side. Josuke could see organs, bones, and lots of blood.

So much blood.

"Okuyasu!"

"Oi, Josuke. You alright?" Koichi's voice brought Josuke back to the present. He looked over and blinked away his memories. Josuke didn't answer him but Koichi continued talking. "Okay, well like I was saying, Hayato didn't say anything about Okuyasu almost dying. Neither did Okuyasu. He's been pretty quiet this whole time, actually. Hasn't said much about anything."

"Oh."

The three looked at him questioningly, as if waiting for the story of what went down in that fight. Koichi was again the one to speak up first.

"Hayato just said Okuyasu was knocked out of the fight for a while. You said he . . . he almost died?"

Josuke nodded weakly.

"He . . . took the full force of an attack meant for me. It's my fault for letting my guard down. He . . . got hit with a bomb. He had a hole in his side. I could clearly see through to the other side. Lots of blood. Thought I . . . didn't get to him in time. He was cold. . . N – no pulse." Josuke stated, feeling it harder and harder to say the words.

"Hey hey." Koichi said, reaching out to set a reassuring hand on Josuke's arm. "Okuyasu's fine now. He's alive and . . . and I'm sure he wants to see you! We should get going to let Okuyasu see him! You guys saw how worried he was all day."

"He was very, very worried for you, Josuke." Yukako spoke, her voice soft. She had a look about her that seemed to say "I know there's something going on between you two, but I know it's not my place to ask about it". Or something like that.

"He's definitely been a lot less . . . obnoxious today. He's been too quiet honestly, not at all like himself. He's all mopey and super serious about everything. Really out of character if you ask me." Rohan looked over to Josuke as Koichi elbowed his hip. Koichi must have sensed how that made Josuke feel, hearing what Okuyasu's been going though. "Though, I'm sure it's not anything seeing you can't fix." Rohan added on.

"I don't know why he made us come see you before he did. I was sure he'd wanna be one of the first people to see you!" Koichi thought aloud.

"I think he said he was planning on staying here with Ms. Higashikata, right Koichi dear?" Yukako said, putting her hand on Koichi's shoulder. "He probably wanted us to see Josuke first, so we could go home."

"Yeah, that makes sense."

The room grew a bit silent, so Josuke figured he'd say what was on his mind.

"I uh . . . I really wanna see him now, if y'all don't mind." Josuke said, biting his lower lip a bit as he waited for their response.

"Oh, yeah of course. We should get going. We'll all be back tomorrow though!" Koichi smiled as he led the other two to start leaving. They said their goodbyes and followed Koichi out the door.

Josuke took a shaky breath in. He exhaled, trying to rid himself of his worries about seeing Okuyasu. He hoped he was doing okay. . .

Okuyasu sure was taking a while to come in. . .

Josuke felt at his face, realizing for the first time that he wasn't wearing the makeup he'd put on in the morning before everything happened. He guessed they must have cleaned him up a bit for the surgery, or after the surgery. He didn't remember, figuring he must have been passed out when it happened. He brought his heavy hand up to his hair, internally cringing as he realized what a mess it was.

God, Okuyasu really has to see me like this?

Josuke groaned as he leaned his head back further into the pillow. There was nothing he could do about his appearance right now. He could barely deal with lifting his arms.

He sighed as he closed his eyes, emptying his mind of every thought he had at the moment. He didn't need to be thinking about dumb things like that right now.

He could feel himself start getting sleepier and sleepier, the pull of sleep weighing on his lids.

When's Okuyasu comin'?

. . .

Josuke was awoken to the sound of snoring.

Was that me?

Josuke forced his eyes opened, wondering what time it was. He tried lifting his hand to wipe the sleep from his eyes but found that it was being held.

He heard the loud snoring again.

Josuke scrunched his eyebrows up, trying to turn his head to see what was going on. He was greeted by the sight of his sleeping boyfriend. Okuyasu was sitting in a chair by his bed, leaning over to rest his head as he held Josuke's hand in his own.

Josuke was filled with a mixture of relief, adoration, euphoria, and incredible sadness. He could feel his heart beat speed up.

He's here. He's with me.

"O – Okuyasu . . ." Josuke whispered, wondering if it'd be enough to wake his sleeping boyfriend.

Okuyasu moved a little, slightly groaning as his eyes stayed closed. He stayed breathing heavily, still asleep.

He's so cuuute.

Josuke was left with debating whether to wake him up or let him sleep. He was weighing his options but the overwhelming feeling of needing to hear Okuyasu's voice won the argument.

"Okuyasu." He said more loudly this time, shaking the hand that Okuyasu was holding.

Okuyasu breathed in sharply as he lifted his head. He looked around, his eyes finally settling on the person who woke him up.

"J – Josuke!" Okuyasu yelled out, his eyebrows turning up in relief and happiness. Josuke could tell Okuyasu had been crying a lot, his face was blotchy, and his eyes were puffy and rimmed red. He could feel his heart ache at the thought of Okuyasu crying all alone, worried and anxious for what had happened.

"Hey buddy." Josuke grinned, just staring back at Okuyasu's wide eyes. Okuyasu looked like he was trying to hold it together, but quickly ended up losing the fight with himself. The waterworks came as Okuyasu sobbed, laying his head on the edge of Josuke's bed.

Josuke smiled softly, happy to just have Okuyasu with him. Okuyasu was still holding his hand, so Josuke gave a little squeeze.

"Hey, hey. I'm here. It's okay. I – I'm okay." Josuke whispered, gently rubbing his thumb along Okuyasu's hand.

"I – I know man. It's just . . . it's so fucking good to hear your voice Josuke." Okuyasu said, his voice muffled by the bed sheets.

Josuke could feel his heart ache some more, watching as Okuyasu tried to compose himself. He understood perfectly well what Okuyasu meant. It was still settling in his own mind that Okuyasu was alive and well. They were both alive and well. It felt so good to be here with him, to hear him cry, to hear him speak.

It felt so good to finally be done with the Kira business. They could focus on themselves and each other now. They could focus on their upcoming date. They could tell people too. Josuke wondered if Okuyasu said anything to anyone about them being a couple. . .

"Hey, Okuyasu." Josuke spoke softly, his thumb absentmindedly rubbing along his boyfriend's hand. Okuyasu sniffed and brought his head up, wiping his eyes with his free hand.

"Okuyasu . . . I wanna kiss you."

The look on his face was one that made Josuke feel lucky to be alive. He looked so ridiculously happy, laughing as he wiped the tears from his face.

"Yeah, yeah I wanna kiss ya too dude."

Josuke grinned as he brought a weak hand up to motion for Okuyasu to come closer.

"C'mere."

Okuyasu nodded enthusiastically, making his way closer to Josuke's face. He wasted no time closing the gap between them, pressing his lips against Josuke's like he'd never been so happy to do something in all his life. Josuke could feel the relief washing off of Okuyasu as he sunk in to deepen the kiss even more. Okuyasu kissed him over and over, letting his lips savor every moment spent together with Josuke.

Josuke couldn't help thinking that Okuyasu probably thought he'd never be able to do this again. He knew he sure felt that way during the fight. As he was pleading for Okuyasu to wake up, all the thoughts of what he was losing flooded his mind, their date, their relationship, their friendship, their lives . . . all of it gone so quickly. Okuyasu must have felt that same feeling as he was waiting for Josuke to get out of surgery. Koichi said he'd been quiet all day. He must have been dealing with the thoughts running through his mind, unable to distract himself as he waited.

Josuke felt Okuyasu's hand come up to cup his cheek. His long fingers pulled him closer as they kissed.

Josuke lifted his left hand up, fighting against the weakness in it as he brought it to grab the back of Okuyasu's neck. He let his fingers wrap in Okuyasu's long, disheveled hair, letting the strands twirl around.

They kissed and kissed and kissed, not wanting to pull apart. The feelings of what they'd gone through shared between them as their lips pressed against each other. Josuke was unable to feel anything else but Okuyasu's lips, his tongue . . . unable to hear anything but the soft sounds of desperation and pleasure coming from the both of them.

"Hey, hey, hey." A feminine voice suddenly broke his trance.

Okuyasu stiffened as he broke the kiss, sitting up straight in his chair again. Josuke saw that it was the nurse from earlier, coming closer to his bed.

"Sorry to intrude but your machine has been beeping a lot and I needed to check up on it. Oh! Look, your blood pressure cuff is off and your IV is all tangled." She made her way closer to inspect the IV in his arm. "You need to be more careful okay? We need Josuke to heal properly and to do that we need constant readings and he needs his drip okay?" The nurse said smiling at the two of them.

The boys nodded and averted their eyes from each other in shame. Josuke swallowed dryly, wondering if he was in trouble. He wondered what would have happened if his mom walked in on them . . .

The nurse busied herself with resetting the machine. She looked to be in thought.

"Just so you know, your mom should be coming back soon." She said, her smile apparent in her voice.

"O – okay." Josuke found himself saying in response.

"Okay! You're all good now. Just be careful to keep the cuff on and your IV in alright?" she said, more towards Okuyasu.

Okuyasu nodded.

The nurse made her way over to the dry erase board on the wall.

"There's gonna be a shift change, so I probably won't see you again until tomorrow." She told Josuke as she erased her name, Sachiko, and wrote some readings and stuff about the IV drip for the next nurse.

Josuke looked over to Okuyasu who busied himself with intently looking at his nails. He smiled as he looked at his nervous boyfriend.

She seems nice.

He tried to send his thoughts over to Okuyasu to give him some peace of mind. Okuyasu looked up at him and smiled weakly.

"Oh, okay. We'll see you tomorrow then." Josuke said, moving his attention back to the nurse, Sachiko.

"Yes you will. We're gonna work on getting you back to 100%." She gave him a look of determination. "Bye Josuke and uh . . ."

"O – Okuyasu." Okuyasu said, bowing his head slightly.

"Bye Josuke and Okuyasu. I'll see you two tomorrow." She waved as she made her way out the door, careful to close it behind her.

The two waited for a bit before Josuke felt like speaking up.

"Well uh . . . I guess she knows about us." Josuke gave a small laugh, growing louder and more genuine as he finally let himself feel the emotions he'd forgotten to feel. He was too freaked out earlier about being caught. Okuyasu too. He soon joined him in the laughter, the two clutching their stomachs as they felt the relief and excitement wash over them.

"Yeah, fuck dude. D – do ya think we should like . . . tell everyone now?" Okuyasu rubbed at his arm nervously.

"I've been thinking about it. I think we should. I mean, we – we're done with the Kira business and everything."

"Y – yeah."

"So like, I think it's okay to . . . to focus on ourselves now."

"Yeah I – I like that." Okuyasu grinned, moving his chair a bit closer to Josuke's bed. "I want everyone to know I'm with the hottest guy in school."

Josuke snorted.

"I don't feel very hot right now. I look like shit don't I?"

"Ehh? I've never seen anyone more beautiful." Okuyasu's voice was like sugary syrup, slow and sweet.

Josuke coughed, a bit embarrassed.

"M – my hair's all fucked up and so's my face."

"Your face ain't fucked up dude." Okuyasu gave him a confused look. "And your hair . . . uh . . . your hair . . . I can go ask if we can wash it now! I brought your shampoo and conditioner from your house." Okuyasu leaned over and brought up a bag. "I know you can't really move too much, and you can't get those bandages wet, but we can wash it here in your bed! I was thinkin' about that when you were sleeping. There's a big bucket thing over there we can use for the water and stuff a – and I have a comb. It's gonna take a while to get all that hair product stuff out though." Okuyasu grinned.

"We can ask my mom to help."

"Y – yeah! And we can . . . we can tell her. A – about us." A blush grew across Okuyasu's cheeks.

"Yeah." Josuke nodded. "I'd like that."

Okuyasu smiled and leaned over to give Josuke a quick kiss on the lips.

"I'm – I'm gonna go ask about the hair. I'll be back."

Josuke nodded, smiling as he watched his boyfriend walk towards the door. Okuyasu gave a cute little wave as he stepped out of the room.

Josuke sighed, leaning further into his pillow. He felt excitement from the anticipation of what was to come for the two of them. They'd finally have a chance to think about their future. They could think about themselves for once. They didn't have to keep secrets anymore. They didn't have to hide. Josuke could feel his heart beating lively in his chest as he thought more and more about how things would go from here.

He suddenly remembered the date they were supposed to go on. He'd probably have to reschedule it, since he'd be in the hospital, but, maybe now he'd have the time to make it even better. They wouldn't be able to go to the amusement park but . . . maybe they could do something else! They could do anything now! Maybe he'd even get to squeeze some sympathy money out of Joseph's wallet to make the date even better. . .

Josuke laughed to himself, feeling giddy. Whatever was going to happen, it'd happen with Okuyasu by his side.

That was all he could ever ask for.

Everything was going to be okay.