a restless night in late spring
Exasperated Joseph throws his hands up. “Does anyone in this country speak English?”
The answer is immediate, but from where he does not know. A sharp voice rushes over him like ice water, leaving shivers in its wake. “Fuck you, American. Why should japan learn English just to cater to your ego?”
He turns, and the second he catches sight of her, there’s no doubt in his mind that she’s the one who’s spoken to him. Silky black hair cut in a bob, sharply arched eyebrows, brown eyes that burn like cigarettes. She’s sitting on a bench, legs crossed, a book in her lap, a knee-length bright red skirt and a white shirt – arms rolled up, a few buttons left undone, the neckline showing off a silver necklace.
She looks at him over the rim of her oversized sunglasses; unimpressed; uninterested; and Joseph flashes back to Lisa-Lisa; Caesar; Loggins; relives a time in his life when people called him on his bullshit and held him to a higher standard. God, he's needed this for a long time.
Sometimes he can see a glimmer of the man he used to be reflected in Susie’s eyes, but he’d forgotten what this felt like. The visceral feeling of being seen, of being a regular fucking human being who has to work to impress someone.
She looks at him like he’s gum stuck to her shoe, and he can feel his pulse pick up, and he knows that this is bad, this is something he absolutely should not entertain... and then he sits down next to her, his arm coming to rest along the backboard of the bench, tilting his head to flash her a smile. “Seems like I’ve found my English speaker, huh?”
--- AO3
the first words Tomoko ever said to Joseph was “fuck you, American”. what could he do but fall for her? a fic following their time together, and her life once he’s gone
y’all know the circumstances for their canon relationship, please heed the tags ~
