warning! gore (later part of this chapter)
Y/n said her goodbyes to Okuyasu and Koichi as she made a short detour to the grocery store after school. Josuke followed after her, a little more quiet that usual.
"Hey what's up with you? Under the weather today?" she asked, dumping a week's worth of bread into the basket.
"No it's just....at that stupid manga artist's place.. a few days ago, I vaguely remember him reading something off your file." Josuke tossed a pack of cheese into the basket as he peeked over at her shopping list.
"Ah..uh about what?" y/n couldn't help but to sound nervous as she snatched up some vegetable on sale.
"Hm...that's why I said I vaguely remember," he replied. "Yo why do you get the crusty vegetables, pick other ones." he took the vegetables she had in hand and put it back down, picking out another fresher one instead.
"I think it's about uh..."
"Me?" Josuke smirked. "I mean maybe no but..I swear I could hear my name or something." Y/n tensed up instantly as she recalled Rohan completely outing her to Koichi and Okuyasu with her confirmed likings to Josuke.
well it wasn't confirmed but she kinda got it sorted out.
Y/n wished she was at least half truthful with her 'sorting out' but yeah she was still confused as fuck.
"Y-yeah...it was about you....." y/n hated herself from admitting that, her heart was now thumping like crazy and her hands had started to sweat.
Josuke laughed and helped to place some jam jars into the basket. "Okay I was right then! What about me? Did I do something super cool or something?" he joked, taking the basket from her. "Come, i'll take this for you, it's starting to look heavy."
"N-no it's fine! It isn't that heavy-" y/n's hand slipped, causing the basket to slip from her fingers and fall to the ground. Josuke caught it quickly but lost his balance, stumbling forward.
Y/n caught him and used her free hand to hold against the wall behind her as the two of them struggled to stand properly.
Josuke now had a hand holding a basket while the other placed against the wall beside y/n's shoulder.
Y/n on the other hand, had a hand on Josuke's chest with the other holding herself up.
"You okay?" y/n's heart clenched as he asked his usual question.
Why did he always check on her before himself?!
"I...i'm okay." she released her hands on his body and looked away embarrassed. "W-what about you?"
Josuke's smile made her look at him all over again.
"I'm okay," he pulled away laughing. "So sorry that was awkward just now."
"I don't want it to be awkward anymore," y/n said.
YO WHAT THE SWEET ACTUAL FUCK AM I SAYING!?
"Huh?" Josuke looked around as if to check for anyone around. "Don't want us to be awkward? When have we been awkward?"
Y/n let out a breath she didn't know she was holding, cussing under her breath when Josuke raised a brow at her confused.
"What I'm saying is...uh...that thing! At Rohan's house! T-the thing he read on my file," Y/n rubbed a hand over her face frustrated with herself. "I...it was about you."
"Uh huh you said it before-"
"It was something really positive about you!" she blurted out.
Josuke was now stunned and before she knew it, his face had started to turn red.
"I-is that so?" he looked away, rubbing the back of his neck. "T-That's nice then."
"Y-yeah it is..."
If y/n couldn't pick a better location, it has to be the bloody bread spreads aisle in the grocery store.
"Look y/n," Josuke started, letting out a huge sigh. "There's something I just really wanted to say to you for a very long time- no well, it hasn't been a really long time? Or has it? Urgh I don't know but that's not the case." he looked at her, his navy blue orbs meeting her e/c eyes.
"I....will say it first!"y/n insisted.
"Hey wait no this is special to me I want to say it first-"
"No this is more special to me I've been confused for so long but screw it!" she squeezed her eyes shit and muttered as softly as she could. "I like you Josuke Higashikata."
Josuke didn't reply which caused her to panic and open one eye.
In front of her stood a terribly flustered Josuke with a hand over his red face.
The both of them said nothing for a very long time until Josuke let out a small cough.
"I..would say the same."
Silence ensued them once more as they stood there until a mother with a pram said excuse me and Y/n scurried to Josuke's side.
She mumbled a sorry and the two of them continued to stay there standing in front of rows of jam.
"Let's finish shopping," y/n mumbled, taking the basket from Josuke. He stopped her, gently grabbing her hand instead.
"I'll hold the basket, you can uh...." his face became even more redder. "you can hold my hand." he mumbled the last part, averting his eyes.
Y/n blushed madly and looked away too, sliding her hand into his.
He laced his fingers between hers and held it gently.
Hand in hand, the two of them continued to shop for groceries.
•••
The way home was awkward, well even more than usual because Josuke and y/n were still holding hands.
Y/n considered letting go to help Josuke with the three bags of groceries he had in the other hand but he gave her a quick 'no I wanna hold your hand' as a reply.
"You're still not gonna let me hold them?" she asked as she held onto one bag with her free hand.
"No," he replied, giving her hand a squeeze. "I can't imagine you lugging these groceries by yourself."
"But I can-" Josuke stopped and leaned over towards her, his nose stopping a few inches from hers.
"I want to y/n," she sighed and pressed a finger against his lips.
"Okay then thank you Josuke," y/n laughed and they continued walking.
They reached y/n's house shortly and Josuke offered to help her put away the groceries.
Surprisingly Josuke was quite good at arranging the groceries, y/n letting out a small noise of amusement as he malewifed in her kitchen.
"You're quite good at this," she cleared out the freezer as Josuke stood behind her, placing the new frozen goods in.
"You're surprised?" she moved her head so that he could close the freezer door, turning around to face him.
"Yes I am," she smiled and slipped under his arm, moving away to fold the plastic bags up neatly.
"So...about us..are you now my girlfriend or something? I mean i never really asked? So uh..."
y/n placed the bags away and gave Josuke a low bow.
"Oh my dearest Josuke Higashikata, I have had a huge crush on you for such a long time, will you do thee thy honour in accepting this hand in a relationship?" she offered a hand out.
"Oh my oh my," Josuke placed a hand onto his forehead. "I shan't dismiss this offer!" he took y/n's hand and pulled her to him, wrapping his arms around her torso in a warm hug. "Okay so now we're officially together?" he whispered into her hair.
Y/n laughed into his chest, peeking up and giving him a tight hug in return.
"Yes I guess? That was really dumb of me to do that though I don't know what got over me." Josuke chuckled and kissed her nose softly, y/n's palms starting to sweat again as she buried her face into his chest once more.
"It's cute I like it," he let go of her and held her hands. "Goodness this is so bizarre, I never thought I would ever hold you non platonically."
"You saw me platonically?"
"You'd be lying if you said that you didn't see me that way too."
"Yeah i'd really do be lying," y/n lifted a hand to touch his face, brushing a few strands of hair away from his eyes. "Say, you look dashing with and without your pompadour."
"You want to see me without the pomp?"
"Nah, you're still hot either ways," y/n smirked and picked up Josuke's bag from the floor. "Come on, i'll walk you home my lady~"
"Oh my such a gentleman," Josuke played along again, following her out of the house and towards his house next door. "I bid thee farewell!" y/n couldn't help but to laugh again.
"How long are you going to play along with me Josuke?"
"As long as you like y/n," he ruffled her hair and smiled at her.
Y/n found herself getting lost into his eyes again and they stood there in silence looking at each other.
It was until a small cough made them jump.
"Am I interrupting something?" Jotaro stood there at the porch with his usual stoic expression.
Josuke and y/n both snapped out of their trance and waved frantically to Jotaro, pretending that nothing had happened.
"Nah you interrupted nothing," y/n said quickly, Josuke nodding in agreement.
Jotaro looked at them through his narrowed eyes before letting out a long sigh. "Ah whatever come on you two let's go hunting."
"Hunting..?" Josuke asked as the tall male turned around and started walking. "W-wait a sec, Jotaro. Did you just say 'hunting'?"
Jotaro turned his head back a little, unamused as Josuke continued. "Does that mean..we're gonna be hunting down some chicks with nice bodies?"
"Ayo if it is can we go like quickly?" y/n chimed in after giving Josuke an eye roll.
Looks like her boyfriend wanted to see some hot chicks huh.
Well, fine by her.
Y/n didn't mind seeing some girls too.
Let's see how many pretty girls can the world produce. y/n mentally slammed her hands unto the table sobbing. I saw two hot girls the other day this isn't fair.
"But i'm a guy who's more into pure love, so i've never done that." y/n glanced at Josuke from the corner of her eye and quickly looked away, a small smile creeping up her face.
Josuke gave her a small prod to the back and gave her a small wink, grinning like an idiot.
Okay things won't change much.
So we're they deciding on going lowkey?
"Akira Otoishi confessed yesterday-"
"Congratulations Jotaro, you're not single anymore-"
"I'm married goddamn it shut up and let me finish." the older male interrupted, giving y/n a glare.
"Otoishi did?" Josuke covered her quickly, moving to her side.
Jotaro held up a family photo with a deep scowl set upon his face. "This is my wife and my kid Jolyne, I miss them a lot and haven't had the time to call them. If you fucking cooperate with me, the sooner i can call home."
"Yes sir, sorry sir." y/n saluted, slightly embarrassed.
"Anyways, before his identity was revealed, he was using the bow and arrow. He happened to shoot a rat with the arrow." he sighed, keeping his photo into his wallet.
"A..rat...?" The both of them asked, dumbfounded.
"The rat didn't die after it was shot. It writhed in pain and freed itself from the arrow, then ran away." Jotaro crossed his arms. "So even though it's a rat, this means that it has definitely obtained Stand abilities. I'm not sure what kind of Stand it is, but we have to hunt it down before something happens."
Y/n rubbed the bridge of her nose. "So we're going rat hunting?"
"Doesn't it sound fun," Jotaro rolled his eyes when he said that. "Free admission for the two of you, includes a fun can shooting attraction."
"You're terrible at sounding fun," y/n said bluntly as Jotaro turned to continue walking.
"That's the point," the expressionless man replied as y/n and Josuke hurried after him. "Whether I sound fun or not you both will still tag along."
•••
Jotaro's Stand, Star Platinum, materialised and held onto three steel balls, flicking each of them to hit the cans standing upon the fence.
"Wow kewl!" Josuke exclaimed, y/n just wanted to hug him so tightly when he said that.
Argh why did she suddenly want to show Josuke so much affection! All he did was say 'kewl' really ...cutely.....aw...
"Getting a small, quick rat into your Stand's range will be difficult, but by using the bearings, your range will increase to about 20 meters." Jotaro explained to them, passing them three bearings each. "This should be obvious, but it won't work against a Stand. You'll only be able to use it to defeat the user."
"Now you two try it."
"I don't know..my mind tends to wander when ball-shaped things are involved." Josuke said as Jotaro set the cans back up.
"I can go first if you'd like," y/n offered, summoning Gentle to hold the bearings.
Josuke nodded and y/n prepared herself to flick the bearings.
Y/n moved her feet back a little before taking a huge breath in, closing her eyes.
Breathe....
okay.
Y/n opened her eyes and flicked the bearings, two of her three shots missed, however, the last bearing didn't make the can fall, but rather, made a hole in the can instead.
"Yo shit what the hell?" Josuke stared at the still standing can with a hole in it. Y/n let out a small sound of frustration in response.
"Ignoring the two failed attempts, it seems that you're putting a lot of strength in your flicks."
Jotaro glanced at the hole in the can. "But overall a 35 pointer."
Y/n groaned loudly as Josuke fixed the can that had a hole in it, giving y/n a comforting pat onto the back before he prepared himself.
Crazy Diamond was summoned and flicked the bearings, one hitting the can off and the other dug itself into the wood fence.
"Aw man the second one was so close!" Josuke complained.
"Hey you used two bearings instead of three.." y/n said, poking at the dirt upset.
"Not bad. I'd give it 86 points."
"Hey you're biased! It's because he's your uncle that's why you gave him higher points!"
"Are you serious right now y/n?" Jotaro glared at her, crossing his arms. "I'm gonna give you both a warning before our pursuit. When dealing with living creatures, you need to put composure ahead of speed." he approached them, holding a finger up.
"If the rat enters your range and you miss, it won't ever step into your range again." he leaned towards them, his frown deeper than before. "So don't fire until you're positive you'll hit it."
"I'm not trying to put pressure on you, but remember that."
"I'm feeling plenty pressured now." Josuke weakly mumbled as Jotaro turned to continue walking.
"Yes sir sorry sir.." y/n sighed heavily before running to catch up with Jotaro.
•••
"Apparently, Aikra Otoishi shot the rat near this irrigation canal." they followed Jotaro near the banks. "Given the area, it was probably a brown rat."
Y/n glanced around, carefully side stepping when needed.
Let's say that the irrigation canal wasn't the best place for a school girl to trek.
"Brown rats can swim, live anywhere and eat anything," Jotaro continued. "The big ones reach about 20 to 30 centimetres long, and some can weigh one kilogram and well, they can jump about 2 meters."
"Are you sure brown rats aren't just mutant rats," y/n asked.
"Well this rat were tracking is a Stand user so uh..super mutant?" Josuke offered, y/n shaking her head.
"Found it," Jotaro squatted down to touch some tracks leading from the small stream in the canal.
"Aren't those just bird tracks?" Josuke asked as the both of them looked over Jotaro's shoulders.
"Their front paws have four digits, and the back ones have five."
"Ooh! This thing also seems to be dragging something along the ground! Would that be the rat's tail?" y/n pointed at the S shaped lines on the ground in between the foot tracks.
"That would be right," Jotaro gave her an emotionless thumbs up.
"I don't know whether to feel good or confused," y/n rubbed her temples as Jotaro concentrated on the tracks once more.
"It's a rat that's about 20 centimetres long, i'm not sure how many, but they're definitely here." he reached over to the bush nearby and looked at the underside of a leaf. "There's a tick here. That means rats come through here often."
Jotaro glanced up and pointed to a hole in the canal wall. "Without a doubt, there's a nest deep in that drainage channel."
He handed y/n a bag and pointed to a place near the open drainage channel.
"For now we'll set up a trap here and video tape it," he said setting up a camera on a tripod. Josuke went over and helped y/n unpack the bag that Jotaro had passed her.
"That's one of those cameras that let you watch while you're taping, right?" Josuke asked, letting out a huh when he pulled out the mouse trap.
"Wait you aren't using cheese?"
He took a sniff at it as Jotaro continued, "It's a crumb of tempura. Cheese is too extravagant for rats." a small swarm of flies caught y/n's attention and she turned to the back to see bushes.
She stood up and headed over, curious.
"There sure are a lot of flies," she pushed the bushes aside and slapped a hand over her mourn instantly, gasping in horror.
Josuke hurried to her side and he too, reeled back in shock.
"Jotaro!" He called out, covering his nose with his hand. "T-this is..." Jotaro walked up behind them and y/n could hear him let out a small sound of disgust.
In front of her lay a chunk of many rats mushed together into a meat cube, the smell was horrid and y/n could see some rat guts through the clear jelly flesh.
"Rat corpses!"
"Uh huh Jotaro, it's exactly what it looks like!" y/n edged backwards, holding in the urge to vomit. "It looks like jelly, fuck that's gross."
Instead of moving away, Jotaro approached the meat cube with a stick, poking it, blood poured out from the hole like a fresh wound.
"It's flesh isn't it," y/n stepped back more.
"Yeah it is. The flesh of these rats were melted once and then hardened again." Jotaro observed, squinting at the flesh that flung onto the stick he used to prod the cube. "They died from having the flesh under their skin melted."
"What do you even do to leave behind a corpse like this?" Josuke asked wearily, about to hurl.
"I'm not sure..i'm not sure but we can probably assume it's the work of the rat that we're after." Jotaro concluded, standing back up.
"It used its Stand?" Josuke's question lingered in the air for longer than y/n hoped it would.
"It..killed the others and made their territory its own," Jotaro tossed the stick aside and placed his hands into his pockets. "It's definitely making a nest at the end of this drainage channel."
Y/n pursed her lips as the three of them watched the opening of the drainage channel.
That was the most grossest thing she had ever seen in her life, y/n would confirm be getting nightmares tonight.
"But the question is..if something capable of doing this will just stay quiet." Jotaro mumbled.
Jotaro climbed out of the irrigation canal and whipped out some binoculars.
Josuke and y/n hurried after to stand beside him.
Unknowingly, y/n had held onto Josuke's pinky, squeezing it lightly.
"You good?" he whispered quietly to her.
"That was too gross." she replied, squinting to see a building at the far end.
"Looks like the drainage channel leads to that farm," Jotaro commented. "We might already be too late."
"Really?" Josuke asked and Jotaro hummed in reply.
"There's a chicken coop but there aren't any chickens," he said. "There are no signs of life at the house either."
"It doesn't look like they just went out and not to mention, the front door isn't locked. And it's just like i feared. It's likely that the people living there have already been killed."
Y/n flinched, taking a small step back.
Josuke held her hand this time, gently pulling her close to his side.
"Let's go check out that house," Jotaro gave them a look before his features softened a little. "I have no guarantee but..i think you'll be alright." he looked away and patted y/n's head.
The girl's fear immediately turned to confusion as the stoic man started to walk towards the house.
Did Jotaro just...????
•••
it's new year's as i update this!
have a happy new year! <3
i offer you Josuke x y/n content in this trying times <3
this year has been shit but let's hope 2022 will b better!
stay safe and healthy <33
hoped you enjoyed reading and stay tuned to the next chapter!
-maru