"Hey! Your hair looks really nice today! Did you use a new kind of hairspray? ...Oh. Well it still looks great!"

Okuyasu couldn't count how many times he'd used that phrase. Each and every time he knew Josuke hadn't done anything new; he just simply wanted an excuse to say it looked nice. Because somewhere in the back of his mind, he hoped Josuke thought he looked nice too. Compliments, favours, practically anything he had the mental capacity to do he did for his friend in a feeble attempt to show his affection. He wasn't very good at flirting, much less even working up the courage to hand over the cute little trinkets he picked up with pleasing Josuke in mind. Which led to a lot of useless junk piling up.

Today was no different. He was feeling a little sluggish that morning and decided to stay home from school; maybe to catch up on his rest a little. He wanted to see his pompadour haired friend but that would have to wait. They had already made plans to meet up and hang out after the other teen got off school, so all he had to do was walk over to the appointed place, which happened to be a small park nearby. Upon arriving, he silently took a seat on one of the swings, his legs no longer dangling above the ground like they did when he was young. This park specifically brought back a lot of bittersweet memories. He and his brother would travel here almost daily just to get away from it all when their father was on one of his violent rampages. This place alone was one of the only places that made him feel calm and at ease.

"Hey! Okuyasu! I've been calling you!"

A voice rose up from behind him, ridding him of his thought process; it was Josuke. A toothy grin came about his features as he turned to face his school mate. "Hey! Sorry, I was thinking about some things."

"Didn't think you were capable," Josuke joked, taking a seat on the swing beside him. "What did you end up doing all day? Get your extra rest?"

Okuyasu didn't answer at first, again his thoughts had stole his mind away. He reached a steady hand into his pocket, gripping at the object inside but quickly withdrew it. Should he give him the gift? What would he say? Would he scold him for picking up such a dumb thing? It made him uncomfortable how much Josuke made his mind work overtime and mull over things he usually didn't think twice about.

"You okay?"

"I know it's not much but...here. I'm not very good at picking out gifts but I saw this and thought of you. So here."

He handed the other teen a small comb. It was shiny black in colour and had what looked to be fake diamonds encrusted into the handle. The scarred teen chuckled nervously and tried focusing on a rock on the ground instead of the disappointment that was probably in those baby blue eyes. "It's alright if you don't like it, you don't have to use it." He smiled even more to hide his anxiety.

"No! This is GREAT, actually! Diamonds... Like my stand. It's clever!" Josuke had about 50 combs lying around and he certainly didn't need any more but he couldn't turn down such a well thought out gift. Considering it was from Okuyasu himself, it couldn't have been easy on him to find such a thing.

Okuyasu's face lit up. "Really?! My brain doesn't work so well so I didn't know if you would like it." He rested a warm hand on the other man's shoulder, bliss radiating from his features. With a small giggle he spoke up once again.

"Have you ever liked anyone, Josuke?"

The inquiry certainly caught him off guard, he wasn't one to ask questions like that out of the blue. But nonetheless he answered, albeit a tint of red flushing his cheeks.

"Not really... Well I guess this one girl," Josuke stated, staring off into the orange tinted sky; dusk was quickly approaching. The other teen's face visibly fell as he followed his friend's gaze, waiting for him to finish.

"We're close friends but I don't think she would be interested in anything more. I really don't want to chance it."

Okuyasu nodded knowingly. "Same with the person I like. I try to show him I like him but I can't read his body language. I can't tell him how I feel because I don't know how to say it. It's a really deep feeling, I don't really understand it well myself. I think about him all the time and I just want to be by him always."

He brought a hand up to point at the dim stars that began twinkling faintly up above.

"He's the brightest diamond in my sky. I'm not very good at poetry but I like that line. It describes how I feel perfectly."

Josuke didn't want to assume so he kept his thoughts to himself and instead smiled, his heart beating a little faster than usual.

"I'm sure he would love to hear you tell him something like that. Even if it sounds kind of cheesy," he teased, glancing over to meet Okuyasu's handsome gaze.

"Well...I just did. But he's wrong about it being cheesy. It's actually pretty romantic!"

But Okuyasu's silly smile was short lived; it wasn't long before it dawned on him what he had just said. Before he could sputter out any kind of anything to counter what he had spoken previously, Josuke spoke up.

"I thought of a cheesy line to go with yours. Your "hand" is the one that holds my heart and erases every fear I feel. It's pretty dumb too," he chuckled nervously, blue eyes not breaking contact with the other teen's dark ones. Just as his short poem stated, his fear seemed to melt the more he gazed into those almond eyes.

"Yeah it does sound pretty stupid. But that's okay, I like it. Thanks, if it was directed at me anyway," he said with big grin. "I really like you Josuke..."

Light red dusted his cheeks as he smiled, "I really like you too, Okuyasu. And yes, it was meant to be directed to you."