At Cafe Rengatei, Koichi sat at an outdoor table with Okuyasu, the both of them idly sipping on ice cold drinks as they discussed what they witnessed the night previous at Trattoria Trussardi.

"So, let's start by looking at the facts: Rohan-Sensei asked if I'd speak to Josuke and send him his way. The whole thing seemed kind of off to me, so I warned Josuke not to go inside with Rohan, but if he ignored that because Rohan somehow egged him on or convinced him to come inside... it's plausible you may be on to something, because I can't see Josuke just... doing whatever Rohan wants, either. Rohan might have used Heaven's Door on him to dig up some dirt to use against him, or even write in him that that he'd do whatever Rohan wanted him to do, but... " He fidgeted in his seat a little with discomfort as he expressed exactly why he was stuck on this. "What I don't understand is the WHY." As Koichi talked through what he knew with Okuyasu, before noticing a familiar pompadour on approach. "Wait... isn't that Josuke right now?!"

"Well at least his hair's back to normal, now..." It was then Okuyasu's 'genius' struck, which meant he acted without really thinking about it. "Hey, I got an idea! Let's just ask him ourselves!" Before Koichi could even protest, Okuyasu raised an arm, waving Josuke over. "OI, JOSUKE!"

"Guys! Hey, what's up?" Upon spotting his two friends, Josuke sprinted over to Koichi and Okuyasu, standing in front of the both of them with his hands in his pockets.

"We could ask you the same, Okuyasu and I saw you at Trattoria Trussardi last night..." Koichi initially hesitated, but he figured it'd be better him asking than letting Okuyasu do it. Nervously, he fumbled his way around the subject. "You... didn't look like... well, you. And you were with Rohan-sensei and his editor?"

"Ah, yeah... that's why Rohan asked you to send me his way. He needed an assistant for the summer since he's taken on an extra project, and with you probably enjoying your summer with Yukako and him not wanting to constantly fight her for you attention, and Okuyasu having his own apprenticeship to worry about, he saw me as his only real option." Josuke explained away cooly, giving a non-committal shrug of his shoulders to brush Koichi's question off.

"Huh? Well, what about Hazamada? The guy practically worships him!" Okuyasu asked, leaning off the table towards Josuke a little.

"Rohan said that was a good half of exactly why NOT Hazamada." Josuke sighed brashly, removing a hand from one of his pockets to scratch the back of his head.

However, even with Josuke breaking everything down with a reasonable explanation, Koichi couldn't help but feel that something was still missing... he just wasn't sure what.

"Hey Josuke, do you think Sensei would be okay with us dropping by for a bit? Okuyasu has the day off and I'd like to drop by and say hi, anyways." Koichi suggested quickly, wondering if whatever was bothering him would come to surface at the manga-ka's home.

"Well, I'll throw him a message and see what he says." Josuke pulled out his flip phone from his other pocket, sending Rohan the quickest message his T9 shortspeak could convey.

'Ran n 2 Okuyasu + Koichi, we r having some company 2nite.' He sent out to the artist, before giving pause, and adding an alternative plan of action if Rohan didn't want any distractions. 'Or we can go elsewhere. I'll tell them ur busy and can't b bothered.'

A couple seconds later, Josuke's phone chimed, and upon reading Rohan's reply to him, Josuke's face began to flush over as he sucked his lips inward, making a face like he'd accidentally just eaten a bug.

'Jojo, what are you saying? Literally and figuratively, I can hardly read your illiterate texts. That being said, Koichi-kun is always welcome at my home.' As Rohan had a PDA, it was no sweat for Rohan to break out in to proper grammar without effort. 'As is my boyfriend's best friend, of course.'

As a third message containing a text form heart came through, Josuke felt his lips tremble as one of his eyes twitched; what Josuke REALLY wanted to do was text Rohan back and tell him to not take this facade so fucking far outside of the house and to just talk to him normally while 'out of character', effectively telling him to go shove his 'research' where the sun don't shine. His hair was beginning to bristle up in outrage as it did when he started to really lose his temper; however, the second he felt this happening, he pocketed his phone, pulling out a comb instead and turning to use the reflection of a store window to begin smoothing his hair back in to it's well-groomed pompadour shape.

"Josuke, is everything okay?" Koichi took a cautious step back, knowing just how close Josuke was to losing it.

"Yeah, you know how Rohan is, though. He takes shit way too far and it got on my nerves a little, I had to take a sec to cool off." He answered somewhat bitterly as he continued taming his locks back in to place.

"If now ain't a good time 'n all..." Okuyasu leaned back away, relaxing in his chair a little as Koichi looked over to Okuyasu somewhat nervously.

"No, it's not that, Okuyasu. He was just making a low blow comment at me." Josuke sighed out, pocketing the comb and then giving his friends a smile now that he'd regained his cool demeanor. "Rohan's totally cool with you guys coming over. Now, let's get some snacks, yeah? I was on my way to do some shopping for him anyways, but it ain't my money, so we can't go too fucking wild."

"Sensei's paying, then? Wow, he's really showing you a lot of trust." Koichi was taken aback, given Rohan's history with Josuke, and Josuke's history with money.

"Ehh, I guess I'm a little surprised too, believe me... however, just because he's showing me a different side to him doesn't mean he isn't still a fucking pain in the ass." Josuke let one last bite of snark out, before walking off with his friends in tow.

Upon finishing up Rohan's shopping with the help of Koichi and the 'help' of Okuyasu, the three headed back to Rohan's house - Rohan charismatically flinging opening up the door before they even climbed their way up the stairs and poking his entire upper torso out the door.

"Ah, Koichi-kun! It's so good to see you." Rohan immediately greeted the shortest third year of the group with enthusiasm, ushering them all inside before turning his head to Josuke and giving him a wry smile. "Jojo, make some drinks for us... won't you?"

"O-of course, Sensei..." Josuke's brows furrowed and twitched, his teeth grit together as he was obviously annoyed by Rohan's demeaning demand. With that, he awkwardly turned on his heel to go in to the adjacent kitchen without a fight, which solidified to Koichi that this was all really, really weird.

After Okuyasu and Koichi had sat down at the low table, Josuke shortly returned to distribute four glasses of iced milk tea; Rohan then patting the floor next to him, causing Josuke chewing on the inside of his mouth a little before reluctantly sitting next to Rohan.

"Josuke said you've taken him on as an assistant while you take on a new project..." Koichi was the one to initiate conversation, bringing up to Rohan the current status of his long term work of passion. "Are you still going to work on Pink Dark Boy?"

"Of course, I'm already a couple of months ahead on Pink Dark Boy, so with Josuke's help I can can focus on my research for this new project." Rohan's hand first rested on the small of Josuke's back, but as he spoke, his arm snaked around Josuke's waist, his fingers gently caressing his side; a move that was blocked from sight by the table they were sitting around. "Right, Jojo?"

Josuke was doing his best to be completely stone-faced as Rohan then slipped his fingers in to the waistband of his pants.

"Y-yeah..."

"So what's it about?" Koichi inquired eagerly, leaning in to the table a little, causing Rohan's hand to swiftly snap back from Josuke's waist slightly.

"Top secret for now, Koichi-kun. I'm sorry." Rohan gave Koichi a sympathetic smile, to which Koichi then looked towards Josuke.

"Well, even I knew, it's ultimately Sensei's project to talk about if he wants to or not." Josuke remarked with a sigh, crossing his arms and fidgeting as Rohan's hand trailed up and then down Josuke's lower spine.

"Still, I'm not usually the type, but I'm a little jealous - especially since you've said you never take on assistants." Koichi then sighed out, before cheerfully exclaiming, "But if it means that you and Josuke are finally learning to get along, Sensei, then this is the best outcome!"

"Well, maybe we can all do something together later this summer to celebrate it's completion, Koichi-kun. I have a feeling this won't take me too long to do... I've got some really great research material." His eyes wandered over to Josuke, who was still continuing to gray rock Rohan's actions.

"Well, it's summer, so why not the beach?" Okuyasu suggested, "Just think about it! It'll be the perfect mini-vacation!"

"Hmmm... that's actually not a repulsive idea. I'll think about it, I might be able to pull some strings via my connections to rent us a villa for a few days." Rohan's brows raised as he furled one hand underneath his chin thoughtfully, causing Okuyasu to grin.

"Yeaaah-hah!" Okuyasu cheered out, then turning to Josuke with an excited grin. "Josuke, this is our chance! We might pick up some real babes!"

"I dunno, Okuyasu. You know I'm a true love kinda guy..." Josuke sighed out in a wishy-washy, non-committal manner, which only encouraged Okuyasu to egg him on.

"Oh, come on! Your true love might be out at the beach! Live a little..."

"Right, alright, sounds like a plan to me then, Okuyasu." Josuke gave in to peer pressure, giving a hint of a half-smile.

However, Rohan's expression soured a little at this, and he gave the bade of Josuke's tailbone such a hard pinch, that Josuke finally broke, leaping up and yelping out.

"Josuke, are you okay?" Koichi stood up out of concern for his friend, along with Okuyasu. However, Rohan remain on the floor, leaning against the surface of the table and supporting his head by resting it on his hand.

"Yeah, what's the matter, Jojo?" Rohan asked, looking up at Josuke with an intense emerald stare.

"...My leg fell asleep and it really hurt for a minute." Josuke said after a minute, apologizing for his 'sudden outburst'. "Didn't mean to alarm you guys, sorry."

"I feel you. It's getting pretty late, and my legs are getting tired from sitting on them so long, too." Koichi stretched out, turning around to face the direction of the front hallway. "I'm headed home for the night; I'll see you two later. Keep us updated about the Villa!" Koichi waved Rohan and Josuke off, with Okuyasu not too far behind him as he gave them a half-wave goodbye.

"Later!" Okuyasu followed Koichi out. As they walked down the steps together, Koichi brought a lightly furled fist to his mouth as one of his brows furrowed.

"Though, there is something that is bothering me a little..." Koichi hummed out thoughtfully, with Okuyasu giving him a confused stare.

"What's that?" He looked down at Koichi curiously, who pondered something out loud.

"Just... since when did Sensei start calling Josuke 'Jojo'...?"

Back inside the house, Rohan leaned against the closed door, chuckling with mirth.

"Did you hear that, Jojo? Koichi said he's jealous..." Rohan said with a smirk, the younger man letting out a 'tch!' in response.

"Oh, he would change his mind so fast if he knew..." Josuke muttered to himself, causing Rohan to leer at him.

"What was that?"

"Nothing." Josuke said loudly, then walking back towards the front room to sit back down on the couch. "Except, I thought you said we'd be doing anything suspect away from prying eyes in the privacy of your home."

"What do you mean, this is my home..." Rohan poked a little fun at Josuke, following close behind him.

"Don't try and gloss things over, the emphasis here was on privacy, damn it!" Josuke fumed, snapping back at Rohan.

"Jojo, I took time out from my busy day to have company over... shouldn't you be thanking me?" Rohan scolded Josuke, unhappy with the attitude that the younger, raven-haired man was showing him.

"Yeah, thanks." Josuke huffed sarcastically, to which Rohan sat on the couch next to Josuke, leaning in towards him.

"Come on, Jojo. You can do better than that. Show me how much you appreciate me having our friends over, tonight." Rohan egged Josuke on with a smirk, pointing at his own lips.

Josuke leaned away at first, but when Rohan leaned in closer to him, he realized that the the man only a few years his senior would keep pushing it until he gave in and got it over with. His lips awkwardly puckered with furrowed brows, he couldn't help but tremble like a bundle of raw nerves. It made his stomach flip and churn, so much so that he was fearful he'd vomit all over Rohan the moment their lips touched.

However, the reality couldn't be further from the truth. The tension immediately melted like butter, a fuzzy, tingling feeling warming up in his chest as Rohan's lips touched his; all of his dread and anxiety completely evaporating.

As Josuke began to get in to the kiss, he started to relax, not taking notice that Rohan slowly started to lean backwards in to a reclining position; Josuke following him down until he was practically laying on top of the artist.

Rohan's arms wrapped around the younger man in a caress to continue leading him in, he felt like he could draw a complete anatomical study of Josuke's body from touch alone. But still, he for some reason found himself wanting more in a way he would have never even have considered when first meeting in the summer of 1999, a building yearning to see the dark-haired man with a pompadour vulnerable in the most intimate of ways.

But the moment Josuke's kiss began to wander down to Rohan's neck, Rohan couldn't help but release a tiny, gasping moan; grabbing an ass cheek in each hand to coax Josuke to rub his lower body up against him.

It was at that point Josuke reluctantly froze, save for a light tremble of his frame.

"Hey, Rohan... listen... I... I feel really confused right now..." Josuke mumbled against Rohan's skin in between heavy breaths.

"About what?" Rohan spoke softly, leaning up in to Josuke's ear to do so seductively.

"Well... I'm confused about the fact that this feels good, and I like it." Josuke admitted with some hesitance, which filled Rohan with an unusual sense of excitement, his full lips curling in to a smirk.

"Because you're a 'True Love' kind of guy, huh?" Rohan repeated Josuke's words back at him breathily, pressing his body up against Josuke's until they were both sitting back up. "If you're confused, how about we work through it together, then?"

"...Slowly." Josuke muttered bashfully, having trouble making eye contact with Rohan but still making an effort to every couple of seconds, which Rohan had to admit to himself was pretty cute for someone over half a foot taller than him. "I want to take my time, Rohan."

It was just too bad for Josuke that Rohan was very impulsive man, and saw to it at every opportunity that his intrusive thoughts won.