Starfish Bring people together |Josuke

It was the first time he'd actually talked to you. You both had a science class and your teacher had paired everyone toegther randomly. He knew you were pretty shy so He didn't expect many comments from you.


"___,Right?" He grabbed one of the school issued textbooks and the guidelines the teacher had handed out.


You nodded, you were surprised that the delinquent even decided to show up today.


"So have any ideas on what we should do?" To be honest,he wasn't really listening to what the teacher had said at all.


You shook your head 'no' and looked over the guild lines, you were to pick a sea creature and explain its life for ten minutes in front of everyone. You had about two weeks to do it and turn it in.


Neither of you said anything,Josuke was teetering on the edge of sleep,he'd stayed up playing games all night again. He rested his head down on the table and gave into sleep while you brain stormed an idea.


A PowerPoint? Maybe a diagram? Or maybe poster bored? You didn't really like any of those options...eventually the bell rang without either of you getting anywhere. When you rose from your chair Josuke tugged on the end of your sleeve.


"Hey,you wanna come with me to the aquarium? We could ask the employees there what would be the best idea or something," he yawned behind his fist.


"Mmhm" you nodded,you had nothing to do today,not to mention you hadn't been anywhere in a while.


You walked next to him down the stairs,a bit uncomfortable with all the people bumping into you. You didn't mind crowds but when people started laughing you always thought they were laughing at you specifically,it was a bad mentality you'd picked up from middle school and-a shoulder bumped into you,making you drop your bag.


"Sorry,___!"ย  Aoi said, not looking sorry at all, her long hair was put into a ponytail,"bye Josuke-kun!"


"Hey Aoi,___ you good?" He stopped and waited for you by the school gates.


Once out of ear rang you made an ugly face,"I hate that ugly,dirty bitch so fucking much" He choked on his spit, causing your attention to snap at him,"are you ok?"


"Y-yeah I-" he coughed into his fist more,"just need to catch my breath" he was not expecting that, like, at all! "D-do you not like her?"


"Oh no I hate that whore"


He choked again and started laughing,leaning on the wall he slowly started to catch his breath again,"HAHA! ha! Haha! Oh man,that was great!" His face hurt from smiling so hard.


"You want to go get something on the way there?"


"I go could for some snacks" both of you crossed the intersection as a few cars drove by.


"Like what?"


"Uhhh I dont really know? Maybe-hey wait a second!" He stopped in the middle of the side walk,"I thought you didn't like to talk!" He pointed a finger at you.


"Well someone lied to your face,come on,lets go before the line gets long," you continued walking.


"H-hey! Wait for me!" Your sudden shift in attitude confused him, he rarely saw you speak to people,let alone this much! "So is there a reason you don't talk much or?"


"I just don't like any of them,they're all so superficial" you stepped over a chewed piece of gum,ew.


"How so?" Josuke was always down for some good gossip!


"Ok so yesterday Hanyo,the one with the big ears," Josuke snorted,you had 0 filter," he was like 'I got so high yesterday and tonight I'm going to get high again' like? no one gives a shit,Dumbo we really dont"


"PFF! Did you just call Hanyo 'Dumbo' ?!"


"I sure did! All he ever does is talk about how high he got,thats it! I'm so serious! Iv never heard his talk about anything else!"


"Hahaha! Oh my- Ha! Oh my God! ___,your hilarious!" He hadn't laughed this hard in a while!


"I mean I'm just telling you how it is,oh hey,thats the place right?" You both eventually made your way downtown to a rather large building. Neither of you had gotten the snacks like you mentioned, guess you weren't really all that hungry.


"Yeah," walking up to the ticket booth you both paied for your own ticket," oh hey look," Josuke grabbed a small pamphlet off a rack,"they have a new feeding ground for sting rays" he opened it up as you both walked inside.


You looked over his shoulder," oh really? Maybe we should do it that" you didn't know it,but He could feel your chest on his back. It made his heart rate pick up, were you doing this on purpose? Smelling all nice and pressing yourself up against like this? Was this your evil plan? Cause it was working!


"Uh maybe?" He wasn't used to someone,besides Okuyasu, being this close to him.


"I guess we'll fine out then huh?" A blast of cold AC nipped at your legs,your school skirt did nothing to protect them nor your arms,stupid uniforms,"man its freezing in here," you were used to the cold at school but this was another level of cold!


"Hey um,I know this kinda weird since we know, just met for real, but do you want my jacket?"


"Oh you don't have to! I know its cold in here!" But he was already shrugging it off and boy were you in for a surprise! That school jacket hid all his curves.


"Ohh baby,you are BUILT" then you realized what you'd just said.


"Uh thanks!" He grabbed the back of his neck,pleased but a bit embarrassed by your bold compliment,"you look pretty cute with my jacket on" it was true,the navy blue coat practically swallowed you whole, the sleeves were handing off your hand and by God was it cute!


"We should go look around, lets go to that sting rays exhibit!" God you couldn't believe you'd just said that!


"Yeah"


It was pretty crowded today,bodies bumbed into each other as apologies were said, you were half way into the aquarium and you'd bumped into Josuke about Eight different times,"I hate crowded spaces" you moved a little closer to your new friend,"I-Josuke?" You looked up at a man who clearly wasn't josuke," oh im sorry!"


"Its fine" and the man walked off leaving you alone.


But where was he? Oh no,you'd both gotten separated! What do you do? Should you yell for him? But that might get you kicked out, maybe if you stood to the side he'd find you? No that wouldn't work either! You were short! He'd never find you in this crowd! Your minde started panick,what if he left you on purpose? He wouldn't would he? No,your instincts were great at picking out good people! ...But what if he really did leave you?


Behind you,you could hear a bunch of other high schoolers laughing, they were facing your directing. Where they laughing at you? No they were from a different school! You needed to leave,before you tripped over your feet and embarrassed yourself again.


You bunched up Josukes jacket and power walked in a random direction,away from the crowd and away from the noise and chatter. You probably scared him off with your weirdness or something, usually popular kids like Josuke didn't bother to mingle with no bodies like yourself. He was probably long gone by now,laughing it up with his friends or something, it wouldn't have been the first time.


Gripping his jacket tighter you sat down at a bunch sitting in front of a 'petting zoo' of small marine life. Small clown fish swam by along with blue,yellow and other brightly colored fish but you couldn't help but notice how many starfish there were inside the tank.


Above you the AC started blasting cold air down your shirt and back making you shiver,pulling his borrowed jacket up closer to your neck you took a deep breath.


"Oh wow," his jacket smelled really good! Like flowers and a hint of spice or cinnamon with what you could only assume was his natural scent. It smelled really,really good! You brought it up closer to your nose and bunched it up so you could lean on the edge of glass and watch the fish swim by. It would really suck if Josuke left you here by yourself,you really liked him! He was fun to be around!


"__!" You jumped at the sound of your name being called out,"oh man,I'm sorry it took so long for me to find you!"


He? He didn't leave you?


"There was a huge crowd leaving and I got swept away and-hey? You alright?"


"Yeah,thanks for coming back Josuke" you smiled at him and scooted over to let him sit next to you.


"So what are we looking at?" He leaned over the tank.


"Some starfish" you watched the light reflect water prints onto his face,he looked rather handsome like that...


"Cool, I heard there's a type of starfish that can get turned into basically a zombie!"


"Woah,thats really cool! We should do our project on that!"


"I know right?! Its crazy! What if that like infected us humans or something?"


"Yeah,like some egg laying virus or mushroom like spores! I'd totally read or watch a movie based on that!"


"Speaking of zombies, I saw this trailer for one a few days ago call 'Airborn' and it looks so good!" He rested his back against the wooden bench," my friends and I are going to go see it! You wanna come with?"


You were a bit surprised at his offer! First he offers you his jacket then offers to let you come see a movie with him and his friends? "I don't want to be a third wheel,mom is always bugging me how I should always decline and for manners and shit"


"She sounds kinda strict"


"It comes and goes,she's a bit of a helicopter mom"


"Protective huh? I can understand that but seriously, You wouldn't be a third wheel! Koichi and Okuyasu would love hanging out with you! Expect for maybe Yukako but she's usually pretty chill"


"Ok then! I usually don't have anyone to go to the movies with so ill bring a bag so we can sneak snacks in"


"Haha! You do that too?"


"Im pretty sure everyone does, 6 dollars for a drink? They must have lost their minds!"


"Right? They wanted 30 for popcorn thats probably had Flys on it and candy thats probably been out since last Halloween!"


You both laughed,"Josuke your really funny! I dont meet many people who have my sense of humor!"


"Really? Well I think your pretty funny! Ah shoot,we got off topic didn't we?"


"Dude your right! But we've got like a whole week or something to do it,"you stood up,"do you wanna go to the arcade?"


He popped up like a dasiy,"yes! I heard they brought a new game in from over seas!"


"Same! Come on!" You grabbed his hand and practically pulled him out of the aquarium. Once outside you both slowed down,"I think I have enough change on me for like, three games"


Josuke paused and dug for his wallet,"Iv got enough for three as well!"


"We should come back and play on the weekend"


"Totally" you stepped a little closer to your partner as he started chatting about new games that would soon be released on his home console. As he continued You realized that this was the most fun you'd had in ages!


"Hey Josuke?"


"Yeah?"


You beamed at him,"I really like you!"


He flushed at smiled back,"M-me too!" He felt his heart skip a beat as you both entered the arcade,pinkys wrapped around each other.

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