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“Did you know there are over one hundred seventy five species of poison dart frogs?”
Kakyoin watched Jotaro lift his head to glare at him from across the room. He didn’t say anything, though. Kakyoin took that as permission to keep talking.
“They prefer humid climates, being frogs all, and scientists speculate that they actually make their toxins from the bugs they eat.”
“Humid climates, huh?”
Kakyoin nodded, flicked open the top button of his nightshirt, and made his way to the bed. There were two of them, but he wasn’t planning on getting into his own yet. “Frogs are amphibious, and absorb water through their skin. The moisture helps.” His knee jostled Jotaro when he sat down, but he didn’t move any closer, keeping his eyes on him instead. Jotaro grunted and returned his attention to the page he’d trapped under his thumb. The book in his hands wasn’t exactly small, but the size of the guy holding it made it look closer to the size of a pocket journal. Kakyoin looked away.
“I think my favorite species is the green and black one.” He leaned back into the pillows, gripping his ankles where they crossed one another so he wouldn’t fidget. “But whoever documented them has shit taste in names. Honestly.” His eyes slitted, indignant. “‘Green and black poison arrow frog?’ It’s such a mouthful . Why would they have chosen some dumb name like that when they could have called it the Emerald Death? Sure, it’s not the most poisonous frog out there, but it can still stop your heart if you touch it.”
“Hm.” Jotaro pressed a thick forefinger into the hinge of his book and looked up. “Know what else can stop your heart?”
Something throbbed in Kakyoin’s throat, but he swallowed it, along with the heat that threatened his face, and met Jotaro’s eyes. “Uh, a heart attack? There are also multiple species of venomous wildlife — “
He cut himself off when Jotaro hefted one hand, palm outward, the image of a purple gauntlet shimmering into place over top of it. Star Platinum. It moved with him when he curled his fingers into a makeshift claw. Jotaro’s countenance remained as passive as always, but his eyes glinted with mischief.
“Bet it’ll stop if I squeeze it hard enough.”
Appalled, Kakyoin dug his knee more harshly into Jotaro’s side, patella meeting ribs, and Jotaro flinched away from it, snorting.
“Asshole,” he jibed.
“Dickmunch,” Kakyoin snapped back, and crossed his arms petulantly. “If you wanted me to shut up, you could’ve just said so.”
“Would you have listened?”
“Absolutely not.”
Jotaro rolled his eyes. Kakyoin leered at him and launched into another three hours of trivia.
★★★
The next morning followed smoothly; the five of them ate breakfast as a group, complimentary to their hotel rooms, and set about figuring out a method of transport. If any of them noticed that Jotaro was more disgruntled than usual, they didn’t mention it (Polnareff surely didn’t notice, or else he would have mentioned it). It was hard past noon by the time they bundled into a rickety old rental jeep and started the trip to the next town.
Normally Kakyoin would have filled the idle silence of the car with endless facts about whatever country or town they were traveling through. Today, though, he was unusually silent up until they had to stop for gas. It was when Joseph parked next to the pump that everyone realized why.
Having been kept up all night by a near indistinguishable stream of information on poison dart frogs and other deadly amphibians, Jotaro had conked out in the back seat. Now, had he done so against the car window, Kakyoin would have been unaffected aside from contracting the rare urge to keep his voice down. But such was not the case. Somehow, Jotaro had ended up falling asleep with his head propped up against Kakyoin’s shoulder. To say that the kid looked tense would have been an understatement. He looked like he was about to vibrate out of his seat if it weren’t for some very intense self-control.
Avdol, being the kind friend he was, brought Kakyoin a bottle of water and a package of dried fruit from the gas station convenience store. Polnareff, being the horrible friend he was, continued to poke fun at Kakyoin for how red his neck had gotten. Mr. Joestar simply snapped a photo for Holly-san.
They made it to the next town without delay, and came to park in front of an affordable yet sanitary-looking motel. Kakyoin, finally having stressed himself into exhaustion, sat slumped into Jotaro’s side, face slack in sleep. The adults attempted to rouse him first to spare Jotaro’s pride, but the older of the two boys blinked challengingly at Polnareff when he reached for Kakyoin’s shoulder. With uncharacteristic regard for his own safety, Polnareff withdrew without bringing attention to the impressive shade of pink that stained Jotaro’s ears.
Rooms were paid for quietly — Avdol and Mr. Joestar taking a room together; Jotaro and Kakyoin doing the same and leaving Polnareff to claim the single for himself. They settled in easily. It was when they went out for dinner that things got weird.
Three blocks away from the motel, Jotaro mumbled something about getting the willies: teenager code for “my Stand sense is tingling.” Joseph shuddered a moment after he said it.
“I feel it, too.” Avdol had already drawn Magician’s Red. “Do you think it’s one of Dio’s?”
“It wouldn’t be unexpected.” A spray of flat white tentacles crawled from beneath Kakyoin’s pant legs, searching. Star Platinum hovered over Jotaro’s shoulder to eye out anything suspicious. “It doesn’t seem to be moving though. Hierophant hasn’t found anything…”
A long moment of silence dragged out among them, their collective wariness growing in intensity. Passersby were beginning to stare at them.
It was when Polnareff felt Kakyoin go rigid beside him that they all realized something was off. He turned to ask what was wrong, heard something that sounded like a curse and a murmur of “enemy spotted,” and then Kakyoin was no longer there.
“ Merda , it got Kak!” The four of them banded more tightly together, Stands at the ready. Joseph made to steady himself into some sort of learned Hamon defense stance (old habits die hard), and let out a shout of alarm as a strong hand seized him around the ankle. He whirled, off-balance, and was met with the sight of Star Platinum stooping to pluck something off the ground.
It was only when he regained his footing that he identified the object cradled in Star’s broad palm — a rather large, very green, very slimy sort of frog. The Stand handled it protectively, like it thought the creature would panic, but it seemed to be in shock. Joseph only had time to wonder why his grandson was suddenly so concerned about wildlife before the kid was taking off in the direction Hierophant Green had extended in.
With the level of rage Jotaro was exhibiting, they apprehended the enemy Stand user in no time at all. The poor fellow was left with a terribly broken nose and a few bruised ribs. They only came out of it in such good shape because Avdol had kept Jotaro mostly restrained, and had Star Platinum not been busy with that frog of his, the stranger would have been hurting a hell of a lot more.
“What did you do.” It was less of a question and more of a snarl that twisted Jotaro’s lips. Avdol could barely keep hold of him.
“I-I’m suh-sorry, I puh-p-panicked!” The kid couldn’t have been more than twenty. They weren’t native, either, judging by their choice of clothing. They must have been a tourist. Definitely not one of Dio’s guys. “These weird vines came out of nowhere, and Welcome to the Jungle grabbed them on instinct — “
“Show it to me.”
They cowered and summoned their stand. It was an ugly thing, more beast than humanoid, all hunched forward and slavering at the jowls like a pitbull. It did, in fact, have a face that resembled such an animal, but with too broad of a nose and far too many eyes. Where its hackles would have risen from the hump of its back was a thick thatch of spines, bristling. It’s twin tails were long and rodentine, aside from the fantastical arrows they each ended in. Aside from a mane of quills similar to the ones on its back, its pelt was naked and yellow, wrinkled in a way that had Polnareff balking.
“What did it do to Kakyoin.” The question was flat, but forceful.
“Ka — who?” The kid choked and cried out when Jotaro planted a heavy foot beside their face. He pointed at the frog in Star’s gentle hands. Joseph clapped a palm to mouth as realization struck.
“Oh!” The stranger stumbled over their words. “Jungle’s main ability is animorphism: she turns whatever she touches into the animal they best resemble — “
Another fearful groan as Jotaro seized them by the front of their expensive looking shirt. “Change. Him. Back.”
“I cuh-cuh-c-can’t, sir, I’m sorre eEEP !!” Viscous fists pinned them to the wall, and tears welled over the rims of their eyes. “I m-mean to suh-say that you can! You can change him back!”
Silence. The kid swallowed thickly.
“To reverse my Stand’s ability, the affected person needs to receive an act of love. But it has to be from the person they cherish most.”
Thirty minutes later and they’d organized themselves into one of their hotel rooms, crowded around a very dismayed Kakyoin. Well, as dismayed as a frog could get. He’d croak deeply every few minutes, curling and uncurling his toes the way human-Kakyoin would curl and uncurl his fingers when he was nervous. He hadn’t moved properly since they’d set him down. Nobody had dared touch him.
“He was just going on about poison dart frogs last night,” Jotaro said, muffled under the hand he held to his lips. One of his school biology textbooks was open over his knees, to a page on amphibians. Nothing he’d read so far had been helpful. “I can remember almost everything up until he got to common diets. I might have zoned out a few times.”
“Well did he tell you anything about sizes? Cause last time I checked, they weren’t supposed to be this big.” Polnareff leaned down to peer at Kakyoin and earned himself a startlingly loud croak. Kakyoin’s throat had puffed out like a balloon, big and black and a little transparent. Polnareff reeled back in alarm. “Jeez, dude, I didn’t mean anything bad by it!”
Kakyoin, newly deflated, gave another indignant kero and shuffled his webbed feet until he’d turned his back on him. Polnareff looked scandalized.
“They’re actually not supposed to be this big. Kakyoin’s about the size of a larger common bullfrog, but he has the coloration and features of a green and black poison dart frog.” Jotaro’s brow twitched. “Weird. I think those are his favorite.”
“This guy has a favorite frog?” Polnareff again.
“It’s not the most niche thing he’s into, trust me.”
Kakyoin tucked his feet under his belly and refused to acknowledge either of them. Avdol seemed sympathetic.
“Well, what did he say about them? Different species have different toxicity levels, correct? What about this one?” This was followed by an approving chirrup, higher than the rest of the grumbles Kakyoin had let out so far. For a frog, Jotaro thought, he sure was talkative.
“‘It’s not the most poisonous frog out there, but it can still stop your heart if you touch it.’” Word for word. Maybe Kakyoin would humor him a bit and turn to look at him. “But I picked him up with Star Platinum and nothing happened. I feel fine.”
Joseph hrrm ed, stroking his beard. “There’s two things we could take from that. Either Kakyoin is only colored like a poison dart frog, and isn’t toxic, or Stands can’t be affected by natural poison.”
After a moment, Jotaro shook his head. “Whatever happens to a Stand happens to its user. It would be more likely that he isn’t toxic.”
Kakyoin suddenly found himself to be the focus of four intense pairs of eyes. Normally such attention would only make him squirm a bit, but with the recent size difference between him and his friends, he almost felt… threatened .
Shiny black eyes bugging out, Kakyoin let out a cluck of realization. Poison dart frogs only released their toxins when threatened. That was what Jotaro needed to remember.
But the four of them only looked increasingly concerned when their little green companion began chirping loudly, sitting up as straight as he could, like he was desperate to communicate something. He turned to Jotaro, making his way towards him with a couple of clumsy hops, and raised his head to stare at him. Jotaro looked mighty uncomfortable. It wasn’t every day you had a frog look at you with so much intent.
“Uhh, what?” That familiar purple gauntlet phased into place over his hand again, and he settled it on the floor in front of him. Kakyoin didn’t jump into his palm, though. Instead he lifted his webbed front feet and placed them against Star Platinum’s fingers. He couldn’t mime what he wanted to say, and he couldn’t write it. A frog’s mobility was surprisingly limited. All he could do was hope Jotaro would remember what he needed to.
Everyone was kind of quiet, because even if it was a Kakyoin frog, it was still a frog (nobody could really get over the frog thing. It was just too bizarre), and it was kind of a trip to watch an animal acting so consciously. Jotaro’s lower lip jutted out in the way it did when he was feeling a lot and trying to think through it. What was this guy trying to get across?
As the minutes passed, Kakyoin grew steadily more frustrated. It couldn’t be that hard to recall an obvious fact! With a croak of startling volume, he pulled his hands away from Jotaro, wriggled back a little, sent up a quick prayer to the gods, and sprung forward.
The crusaders erupted into chaos as Kakyoin landed on Jotaro’s chest, sticky feet scrabbling for proper purchase against the fabric. He felt someone’s Stand approaching him, probably to get him off, and he turned and inflated his throat as big as he could make it to chase it away. Polnareff shouted something about his brain having actually turned into a frog brain; Kakyoin would have barked at him if he could.
Eventually everyone shut up once they realized Jotaro wasn’t dying of heart failure, even though he was stock still, chest puffed out like a bird, eyes huge and fixed on Kakyoin, who had found a good place to hunker down atop his sternum.
“Kakyoin?” He asked, and was acknowledged with a throaty chirp and a cold foot against his collarbone. Kakyoin gave him a firm, wet pat before dropping himself onto Jotaro’s knee and settling down, looking as smug as he possibly could.
Polnareff boggled at the two of them. “So… not toxic?”
Kakyoin croaked affirmatively.
“Well that settles that,” Joseph piped in, as if the four of them hadn’t almost had an aneurysm. “If he’s safe to touch, then we can figure out how to turn him back.”
The room went dead silent.
It was Avdol who broke through, clearing his throat and taking things in stride in the way he was so good at doing.
“An act of love doesn’t exactly mean something intimate,” he said, one finger raised to accentuate his point. “It can simply be an act of kinsmanship, or brotherhood.”
Jotaro looked deeply skeptical, but Polnareff was quick to join the bandwagon, as was Mr. Joestar.
“That makes plenty of sense,” Joseph intoned. He looked just as solemn, brow furrowed, eyes closed in thought, forefinger and thumb cropped up under his chin. “I’ve read plenty of parenting books in my day — “ Again, Jotaro looked skeptical. If Kakyoin had been able to he would have laughed. “ — and most of them mentioned the difference between how separate individuals process and show love. So really,” he opened his eyes and grinned. “We just need to know what makes Kakyoin feel loved!”
This time Kakyoin wasn’t the only one croaking in dismay. Jotaro had begun to look a little hot under the collar, his ears turning a subtle shade of scarlet, either out of dread or embarrassment. Probably both.
“Aw, buck up, Jojo!” Polnareff clapped him on the shoulder. “It’s not like you have to get all lovey dov — ECH!” He pitched forward and caught himself right before he would have dove headlong into the floor. Avdol arched an eyebrow at him, disapproving. “Rrright. Well! Who wants to try first?”
He shook his head sagely when nobody spoke up. “Well, if no one else is man enough,” he decided with a cluck of his tongue. “Kakyoin’s like, my best buddy. So it’ll probably go faster if I try first!”
And with that he offered a hand to Kakyoin, who looked a little sick. If frogs could look sick. Nonetheless, he scrambled up into Polnareff’s palm and hung on for dear life as he was raised to eye level.
“Kakyoin Noriaki,” Polnareff began. He was suddenly very serious, focusing on the boy-turned-amphibian held aloft in his hands. Their spectators watched with interest as Kakyoin’s eyes went big and glassy. “I know I fuck with you a lot, and I don’t really give you a break, but I think very highly of you.” Kakyoin definitely looked sick, then. “You’re super smart, and I owe you my life probably five times over, and you’re one of the coolest people I kno….. oh.”
Avdol jammed a fist against his mouth, stifling laughter, and Mr. Joestar gave one of the loudest snorts any of them had ever heard out of him.
“You alright there, buddy?”
Kakyoin was definitely not at all alright. The others were laughing because he’d inflated his throat again on pure instinct, effectively pushing himself up and off of Polnareff’s hands. For someone who currently couldn’t blush, he appeared to be very, very flustered.
“Alright, alright, that was very sweet of you, Polnareff.” Avdol’s words were strangled with mirth. “Maybe try something else?”
“Er, that was my only idea…” it made sense for it to have been. Polnareff himself was very reactive to verbal affection, so it was natural for him to express it the same way. Sheepish, he offered the bug-eyed Kakyoin to Avdol, who took him graciously. “Sorry.”
This time when Kakyoin croaked, the message got across pretty clearly: “don’t worry about it.”
Avdol’s turn took a little longer. With his broad, careful hands, he cradled Kakyoin against his solar plexus, closing his eyes and… meditating? It took Kakyoin a moment to figure out what was wanted of him, but he closed his own eyes the second he figured it out. His froggy arms snuggled up underneath his dark tummy, and for a good ten minutes he seemed to have frozen in time. The only hint that he was still alive was the subtle flutter of his sides, an indication of breath.
The five of them eventually came to the conclusion that it wasn’t working, though Kakyoin did feel very safe in Avdol’s care. He thanked the fortune teller with a webbed hand against the base of his thumb before he was handed off to Mr. Joestar.
This was sure to be a show.
“Up we go, my boy.” With an unexpected amount of gentleness, Joseph got Kakyoin situated on his shoulder, letting him find a comfy position. When he was still once more, Joseph began to speak.
“When Holly was a little girl,” he began, “and later, when Jotaro was just a tot, I used to tell stories every night. Holly always liked stories about dragons and mighty knights — the guardian kind, you know — but young Jojo always liked to hear about the gentler things.”
Jotaro looked significantly uncomfortable at this, but shoved the feeling away and dipped his head. The brim of his cap threw his eyes into shadow.
“If I remember correctly, his favorite story was about a dashing warrior, and his dearest friend.” Mr. Joestar faltered for a moment, but recovered the narrative quickly. “This young warrior was from a far-off land; one of towering skyscrapers and busy streets. His companion was a descendant of magicians, and lived in a city on the water. This floating city was the place at which they met.”
The tale he wove was one that was unfamiliar to everyone but his grandson. It was a legend of trials and love and ultimately, of loss. Perhaps it was a sad thing, but the joy dispersed throughout it made it worthwhile. Mr. Joestar was in a whole different world as he spoke about it, laughing and softening his voice in time with every event he recounted.
Kakyoin made a melancholy sound once it was over, but nothing changed. He almost felt apologetic — they’d all known that Mr. Joestar wasn’t the person most precious to him, and yet he’d taken the time to try anyways. Kakyoin made a note to think more kindly of the old man in the future. Perhaps he wasn’t as shallow as he seemed.
The next exchange was slightly quieter in the aftermath of the warrior’s tale. Kakyoin remained calm until about halfway into Jotaro’s oddly unsteady hands. It was when he finally came back from fairyland that he let out a throttled little kero , and cramped his limbs into his sides in realization of what was coming.
“Uh.” Jotaro’s bottom lip was sticking out again, his thick brows furrowed closer together than usual. Kakyoin would normally have been sweating under the weight of the tension. Being a frog, all he could do was wait.
“I… I don’t know what to do.”
“Come now, Jojo. How do you show your mother you care for her?” Avdol was doing his best to be encouraging.
“He’s not my mother.” Kakyoin rumbled as Jotaro’s fingers nearly squished him, and the guy frowned at him; something like an apology.
“Well, then how do you show someone else you care for them?”
“I don’t know.” He was getting snappy. His words were clipped and jagged, like he’d ground them to bits between his molars before spitting them out. Avdol gave him a careful look. Jotaro chewed on his tongue. “I… I guess I listen to him. Nobody else really remembers his trivia, so I try to.”
Kakyoin stilled in Jotaro’s palm.
“That’s good. Is there a variation you can think of for this situation? If you can’t listen to him, would he want to hear from you?”
He blinked, looked down at Kakyoin, blinked again.
“No. I couldn’t tell him anything he doesn’t already know.”
Avdol stammered at that. “I-I see. What about… you two room together often. Is there something he finds comforting?”
It was a process, but the crusaders all went wide-eyed watching it. Jotaro’s face had begun to tinge a vivid shade of red.
“He… likes routines.” Talking was like pulling teeth. “He has a lot of stuff from home, and using it helps him calm down.”
“That’s good, but still unusable. Anything else?”
He was hiding behind his hat again, where only Kakyoin’s eyes really had access. Kakyoin turned his head out of respect.
“Um. He hates being cold. He always pulls the extra blankets out of the closet so he can sleep. Sometimes he ends up sweating himself out.”
“That’s something we can work with.” Avdol offered a patient smile. Polnareff wore a face of absolute amazement. Mr. Joestar’s expression wasn’t much different. “Why don’t you hold him in your jacket?”
“My… my jacket?”
“Yes. That should be warm, right?”
The minute wobble of Jotaro’s chin said he’d rather bolt from the room, but he managed a nod anyways. His whole arm jerked like rusted machinery before he managed to slide his Kakyoin-occupied hand into the folds of his jacket. Exactly thirty seconds later he pulled it right back out and hurriedly passed the frog back to Polnareff.
“We have to try something different.”
“Hm.” Polnareff squinted at Kakyoin like there was something he wasn’t seeing clearly enough. Yet another one of those painfully drawn-out moment passed before his mouth went slack, and he gasped loudly enough to make Avdol jump. “I’ve got it!” He flailed his free hand, rocking backwards in his excitement and making Kakyoin squeak miserably as he was squeezed in the Frenchman’s fist. “You’ve all read La Princesse et La Grenouille , right?”
“ La Princesse et — The Princess and the Frog ?!” Joseph looked incredulous.
“Polnareff, that is a horrible idea.” Avdol sidled towards him to rescue Kakyoin, gently prying the strangled amphibian from Polnareff’s hand.
“It is not . Come on, we all know it’ll work eventually .” And he looked pointedly towards Jotaro, who pretended not to see him.
Avdol shot him a glare. “What makes you think Kakyoin’s cherished person is even here in the first place? Maybe it won’t work because it needs to be his sister, or someone else?”
“I think we all know the answer to that.”
Kakyoin would have jumped under the bed if he could, but he still wasn’t that confident in his abilities, and he didn’t plan on getting familiar with them anytime soon, either. So he settled for slapping both of his webbed hands over his eyes, mortified.
“So?”
Avdol glowered at him for a moment more before sighing wearily. “I suppose it couldn’t hurt.”
Polnareff nodded once, gravely serious. He accepted Kakyoin (god, he couldn’t wait until the passing stopped. He was getting motion sick) once more, lofted him similarly to how he had before attempting to praise him, and stared him straight in the face.
“When it comes to him, don’t be a fucking chicken,” he hissed, sounding more threatening than he ever had. Kakyoin only had time for half a croak before Polnareff was smacking a quick kiss on the top of his head and bundling him back over to Avdol.
The fortune teller had a little more finesse, choosing instead to press his lips to his fingertips, and then his fingertips to Kakyoin’s snout.
Joseph passed entirely. It wasn’t like everyone else kissing him was any more than a ruse anyways. They had to assure Jotaro somehow.
Time seemed to slow significantly as he was transferred back into the older boy’s hands. His movements were gentler, if less fluid than before. There wasn’t as much of a threat of being squashed. When Kakyoin looked up at Jotaro, he was cherry red,
Oh no.
Oh god .
Kakyoin made a dying sound as Jotaro drew him closer. Was he shaking? Shaking ? Kakyoin could hardly process how close he was to Jotaro’s face, much less whether he was actually trembling with nerves. What the fuck? What the fuck. What the fuck .
He watched Jotaro’s throat dip when he swallowed, bobbing somewhere midway before jerking back up. Kakyoin was curling his toes again, very close to throwing himself right back onto the floor.
“Chill out, fucker,” he heard Jotaro mutter, and he would have tried to sound snarky in return if his lips weren’t so close — oh jesus .
This. This was gay panic.
Kakyoin had spent the beginning of their trip trying to stifle his big, fat crush, and when that failed, he’d spent just as much time hiding it; telling himself nothing was ever going to happen between them. Because how could it? Sure Jotaro put up with him, but the guy probably would have avoided him like the plague if Kakyoin hadn’t offered to help save Holly-san’s life. There was no reason for him to be tucking his thumbs underneath Kakyoin’s terrible little frog hands to prop him up, no reason he should be so worked up over kissing a guy — a guy in the body of a frog, no less — and definitely no reason he should have agreed to this in the first place. And yet he was, and he had. And Kakyoin was probably about to find out whether frogs could faint from nerves.
He curled his toes over Jotaro’s knuckles again, furiously tamping down the urge to puff his entire body up in defense, and squinched his eyes shut. For a moment everything was warm. There was light pressure against his nose, a feeling in his belly like thick, hot honey, and a glorious wash of pink that rushed in to fill him from the inside out. And then it was cold. Kakyoin kept his eyes tight shut as the aircon met his bare skin.
Wait.
Bare skin?
He risked opening his right eye. Jotaro wasn’t so giant anymore, though he was still unfairly big. It was in a normal way, though.
He risked opening his left. If it was possible, Jotaro had become even redder than before. It took Kakyoin a moment to realize why.
He looked down at himself. Huh. Looks like the return of his clothing hadn’t been a guarantee.
Then, like any sane teenage boy would, Kakyoin curled his legs into his chest, covered his face in his hands, and screamed .
★★★
“So we’re not going to talk about what just happened?”
They were back in their shared motel room, Kakyoin freshly showered and fully clothed (he’d even bothered to do up the top button of his pajama shirt. Being unwillingly exposed to the only friends he’d ever had was certainly incentive for modesty), and Jotaro spread out across his bed with a new book. The older of the two hadn’t stopped blushing since the effects of Welcome to the Jungle’s ability had been reversed.
“Don’t see what there is to talk about.”
Kakyoin dragged a hand down his face and dropped onto his own mattress. “Normally there’s a lot to discuss after seeing someone naked.”
Jotaro buried his face further into his book.
“Listen,” Kakyion sighed. “I can imagine how weird it is to find out that you’re my ‘most cherished person’ or whatever, but can we hash this out like mature individuals? Or should I just wallow in self-pity until we kill Dio?”
Jotaro didn’t raise his head, but he didn’t stay quiet either.
“It’s not weird.”
“What?”
“You… ‘cherishing’ me. It’s not weird.”
“Ah.”
Jotaro made a sound like an aborted cough. It took him a moment to shut his book, but he did, and he sat up to face Kakyoin.
“I knew it was gonna turn out something like that from the minute that Stand user explained how to fix you.”
“Ah.” Kakyoin shook his head. “Wait, so you’re saying you knew about my feelings for you, and you didn’t say anything?”
Jotaro shrugged. “I figured you’d tell me eventually.”
And when Kakyoin remained speechless:
“I also… didn’t know how to address it.”
“But the girls at school were all over you. Someone confessed to you like, every other day.” If his tone was accusatory he didn’t correct it.
“Yeah. But you’re different.”
“I’m — What? How?”
He shrugged again, and Kakyoin tried to stifle the weird hope winding itself up in his throat.
“How am I different?”
“Cause I know you.” A pregnant pause. “I care about you.”
“So you didn’t want to hurt my feelings.”
Jotaro shook his head. He looked kind of constipated.
“Then what? Why?”
His shoulder twitched. His fingers fluttered over his knees like he wasn’t sure whether it was okay to shake them. “I… I care about you.”
“Yes, you said so.”
“I care the same way.” He directed a shaky finger towards Kakyoin, and then turned it on himself, pressing it to his chest. “Like… Like you do. I… feel for you.”
Okay, processing moment.
Jotaro cared for him. Care is similar to like; deeper, actually. Care, like… cherish . He felt for Noriaki.
“Oh.” Kakyoin felt like he’d crashed face-first into a brick wall.
“Yeah.”
“ Oh! ” He fumbled for what to do next, hot from the collar up, his hands suspended uselessly in front of him.
“So… that’s settled?”
“Se — ? Oh my god, Jojo, it’s not settled , no! You like me back?”
There went his lip again. Kakyoin watched as it puckered just slightly. “I said so, didn’t I?”
“Well, yeah, but does that mean you — ? Do you w — ?” Oh this was nowhere near smooth. “So I can hold your hand and shit?”
Jotaro seemed to consider this, glancing down at his hand, and casting a tentative glance towards Kakyoin’s. “Yeah.”
“I can hold it… Can I hold it now ?”
There was more wobble to his chin now. “Yeah.”
Buzzing with nervous energy, Kakyoin shot to his feet and situated himself beside Jotaro, maybe a little too excitedly. The mattress bounced with the impact. Both of their hands were twitchy as they held them up to one another. It felt like something so much more significant than just matching their palms up. Kakyoin’s leg started jittering when Jotaro’s fingers brushed his.
“OkayI’mgonnadoit,” he blurted, catching Jojo’s eyes a split second before he slotted their knuckles together, and he’d known Jotaro had big hands, but man . Despite how long his own fingers were, they were almost small in comparison. He was so in for it.
The two of them stared at their linked fingers, almost startled, like they didn’t know how they’d gotten there. Then their gazes (ew) were meeting again (had Jotaro’s eyes always been that green?), and Kakyoin was trying not to look at Jotaro’s mouth (failed objective number one), and Jotaro was reaching for his other hand (and he thought one hand was awesome), and then they were way closer to one another than before. And that was saying something.
“Um,” Jotaro said.
“Uh,” Kakyoin replied. “Hi?”
“Hi.” Jotaro’s lips were trembling. Kakyoin couldn’t tear his eyes away.
“So, you know how I was a frog a few minutes ago?”
“Uh-huh.”
“And you kissed me?”
“Y-yes.”
“Well I don’t think frogs have very good memories…”
“Okay.”
“So I’m gonna kiss you again.”
“Okay.”
And that was that. Kakyoin leaned into him, freeing one hand to drape it over Jotaro’s broad shoulder, and let his eyelids fall shut as their lips pressed together. It was nothing dramatic, like books and movies made it up to be, but it was also kind of incredible. Kakyoin let out a happy sigh and felt Jotaro drag him closer with an arm around his waist.
It felt good to be close after having yearned for weeks on end. It felt good to be held after being so far from home for so long, bruised and bloodied and aching from a fight every few days. He knew Jotaro felt pretty much the same, because his lip was jutting even as they kissed, and his face felt a tiny bit wet when Kakyoin brushed his fingertips across it.
He laughed against Jotaro’s skin and pulled back just enough to breathe.
“Are you crying?”
“No.” He was. Kakyoin pulled him down to dry his eyes. He pressed a kiss to each lid, even when the tears kept coming.
“Hey Jojo?” He curled his fingers through the hair at the base of Jotaro’s neck.
“Mm?” The guy still had his eyes closed. Kakyoin let himself grin like a total dope.
“I absolutely cherish you.”
Jotaro snorted and grabbed Kakyoin by the nape, drawing him into another, shorter kiss.
“I cherish you, too. Fucking loser.”