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Once again, Jotaro and Kakyoin had found themselves sharing a room. Finding a safe place to settle down for the night was becoming increasingly rarer the closer they got to Cairo, so Jotaro wasn't about to turn down the chance to freshen up a little.
Rooting around his bag, his eyebrows furrowed- he'd ran out of shower gel. He looked towards the other high schooler who was perched on his bed, absorbed in the book he was reading.
"Kakyoin."
"Hm?" The redhead peered over his book to give Jotaro a questioning glance.
"You got any shower gel?" Jotaro signalled towards the empty bottle in his hands.
"Oh, it's just in my bag, help yourself," he shot Jotaro a small smile before returning to his book. Grumbling a 'thanks' in reply, Jotaro kneeled down to rummage through said bag.
Something peculiar, however, caught his attention- underneath the shower gel was a copious amount of bandages. At first he didn’t think too much of it, but once Jotaro had grabbed the bottle, he looked up to see Kakyoin intensely staring at the bag with a panicked expression, immediately looking away and going back to his book when Jotaro met his gaze.
Jotaro just kept the same neutral expression, wordlessly retreating into the bathroom, not in the mood for questioning.
As he showered, he thought on it a little- they were being attacked left and right by enemy stand users. It made sense to have first-aid supplies on hand. But why would Kakyoin panic over just first-aid supplies?...
Strange.
—
It was a few weeks after they’d somehow made it back in one piece from Egypt, and with all that had gone on, Jotaro had pretty much forgotten about the mysterious bandages. Kakyoin had only barely escaped with his life, and was still in the hospital with the extent of his injuries. Every day he'd patiently wait by his bedside, and every day he’d see more and more of the Kakyoin he knew return. It was nice, being able to get to know him properly without the threat of imminent danger looming over them 24/7.
However, he couldn’t help but notice a few things.
Despite all the IV's and tubes stuck in his arm, Kakyoin insisted on wearing a baggy, long-sleeved sweater. He'd get unusually defensive whenever anyone questioned it, and when he needed to take it off to get his IV changed, he'd always come up with some excuse for Jotaro to have to leave the room.
That combined with the fact that he'd caught Kakyoin regularly sneaking out of bed to steal bandages from the nurses supply cabinet, Jotaro could only come to one conclusion.
Kakyoin was hurting himself.
Admittedly, Jotaro didn't know much about it. Self harm was seen as taboo, seldom even discussed. The only reason he’d even caught on was thanks to the fact that he’d picked up bits of information from his many years of being sent to the guidance counselor's office.
As much as he hated to admit it, all the signs were there. With all he’d been through, it made sense that he needed a way to cope. Hell, even Jotaro had found himself drinking and smoking more than usual to deal with the stress.
Glancing over at his friend, who was peacefully asleep in his hospital bed, Jotaro felt conflicted. On one hand, this was clearly something personal that Kakyoin didn’t want to discuss, but on the other hand, this was a cause for concern.
“Good grief…”
—
After a long couple of months dealing with the constant beeping of machines and being hooked up to countless wires, Kakyoin had finally been medically cleared to come home. Even Jotaro couldn't suppress a smile as the two of them walked through those hospital doors for the last time.
Life soon began returning to normal for the two of them. Having missed quite a few months of school, they both had a lot of catching up to do.
It was a typical Tuesday. As usual, Kakyoin was warmly welcomed by Holly into the Kujo household for 'studying', but again as usual, there was zero work being done- unless you count duking it out on F-Mega for hours on end as studying.
Today was a pretty typical day.
Jotaro’s mom had gone out grocery shopping for dinner ingredients, leaving the pair home alone. Currently, the two were sharing a family-size bag of chips as they sprawled out on the couch watching TV. Apart from the constant sounds of crunching and voices coming from the speakers, they sat in relative silence.
Reaching for another chip on autopilot, Jotaro was met with an empty bag.
“Got the last one,” breaking the silence, the redhead smiled as he teasingly waved said chip in front of Jotaro. “Rock paper scissors?”
“Good grief...” Jotaro huffed, adjusting his hat and sitting up straight to face Kakyoin, who was sat there with a grin plastered on his face, his free arm already in position to play.
“I’m in,” he sighed, voice deadpan as he geared up his right hand. He took a deep breath, praying on his fist for good luck before throwing down a scissors to Kakyoin’s paper.
“You always win,” Kakyoin huffed and went to hand over the prized chip, but something made Jotaro freeze up and stop dead in his tracks. Noriaki’s sleeve had rolled up a little to reveal a few small, but obviously fresh scratches on his wrist.
Nope. That’s it.
“Kakyoin.” Ignoring the confused look he got in reply, in a quick and sudden movement he harshly gripped the other boy’s wrist, the chip completely forgotten as it was dropped onto the couch.
“...Why are you doing this to yourself?”
“Huh?” It took a moment for the incredibly confused boy to catch on, but when he did his eyes widened, hair noodle swaying as he vigorously shook his head.
“Before we met up for school this morning, there was a cat,” blue eyes squinted in suspicion but Jotaro let him continue. “I tried to pet it, but-”
“Kakyoin, I’m not stupid.”
The redhead went quiet for a moment, opening his mouth with a confused look, but Jotaro carried on with his rant. “I’ve noticed. In Egypt, the hospital, you used up so many bandages. You always wear long sleeves, you never let people see your arms.”
“Jotaro, my arms are fi- let me explain-”
Jotaro’s patience had ran out- he couldn’t help himself anymore. It was time to take action. Without any warning, he harshly yanked down the other boy’s sleeve to reveal...
Nothing apart from the cat scratches. Not even a single scar.
“...”
Kakyoin had a rare nervous expression, his hands shaking as Jotaro loosened his grip. “Listen, I can explain, but you’d never talk to me again… you’d think I’m disgusting.”
Jotaro felt his chest grow heavy at the implication Kakyoin would even think he’d react like that.
“Hey-” he cut himself off, his tone coming across harsher than expected. Attempting to soften his voice, he started again. “You’re my best friend, there’s nothing you could tell me about yourself that’d make me think you’re disgusting.”
“Okay,” Kakyoin paused, taking a moment to think and let Jotaro’s words sink in. “Could you cover your eyes for a moment?” Noticing Jotaro squint his eyes in suspicion, he added on, “It- It’ll make sense, trust me.”
Jotaro was confused and quite frankly, slightly worried, but he did as he was asked, his eyelids fluttering tightly shut. After a few moments of rustling from the other end of the couch, he finally heard a shaky exhale, able to feel the tension and apprehension emanating from the other boy.
“You can, uh, open your eyes now.”
Blinking his eyes open, Jotaro remained quiet for a moment, processing what he was seeing. Tightly wound against Kakyoin’s chest was what had to be a whole roll of bandages. Where the bandages had slipped away, they revealed a myriad of bruises across the boy’s ribs, some old and some new.
Reaching out to shift the bandages so he could inspect the bruises closer, Kakyoin flinched away from his touch, his eyes widening like a deer in headlights. Jotaro’s usually stoic expression changed to one of confusion and concern, quickly backing up. “Kakyoin, what are they for? Are you injured?”
“No, Jotaro, they’re for…” Kakyoin trailed off, looking away and staring at blank space for a moment. He took a deep inhale before looking up, straight into Jotaro’s eyes. “I’m transgender.”
After all they’d been through, he’d trust Jotaro with his life without hesitation. But he couldn’t help but feel hesitant, completely unsure of what reaction he’d get.
Jotaro’s expression was completely unreadable, but Kakyoin knew it wasn’t good when the other teen simply stood up from his place on the couch and walked out of the room.
He wasn’t sure what to do. Go after him, try to explain? Stay there and wait to be kicked out? Thanks to the pain shooting through his ribs, suddenly he’d become aware of just how heavily he was breathing. Bile rose in Kakyoin’s throat, stomach sinking as he looked down at his chest, trying to wind the bandages tighter and tighter and tighter-
“Kakyoin, stop.” A familiar voice and harsh touch on his shoulder snapped him out of his panicking, bringing him back to reality. He looked up, wiping a lock of hair out of his face to see Jotaro stood there, holding out a gray sweater.
“You need to give your ribs a break,” Jotaro said as Kakyoin hesitantly went to take the sweater. He held the garment in his hands for a moment before looking back up, shaking his head. “I can’t-“
“You have to.” Jotaro’s tone was deadly serious, turning so he was facing away. “I’ll turn around, but you’re taking those bandages off and getting into something comfortable, Kakyoin.”
“Alright…” Kakyoin’s voice was quiet, the room again falling into silence as he unraveled the bandages, hissing in pain, trying not to look at his chest. He started put on the sweater- it was soft and it smelled like Jotaro, which was oddly comforting. “I’m finished,” he called out.
Jotaro turned around, nodding at the sight of the discarded bandages on the floor before taking a seat. “Here,” he said, grabbing a blanket and throwing it over the two of them, having to shuffle a little closer so it covered them both.
“Cherry flavor, I know they’re your favorite...” he seemed a little embarrassed at his own affectionate remark, pulling a packet of candies out of his jacket pocket and handing them to Kakyoin.
Kakyoin was surprised- never in all his time knowing Jotaro has he seen the boy be so… caring. “Thank you,” he cracked a faint smile and opened the packet, popping a candy into his mouth. “We’re not discussing… you know?”
“Do you want to?”
“I just… thought it’d change things, I’m not sure,” Kakyoin shrugged. Jotaro furrowed his brows, grabbing a candy. “Why would it?”
“I’m not sure, it’s just that most people have a problem with it… you’re being so casual,” Kakyoin was beginning to relax, unconsciously leaning further into Jotaro, head comfortably nuzzled against his shoulder.
Jotaro noticed, usually not being so big on physical contact but not minding this in the slightest. “Hm.” he hummed in thought before continuing, “The only problem I have is with those damn bandages,” he said, shifting a little to make things more comfortable for Kakyoin.
“You wouldn’t believe how many I go through,”
the redhead chuckled, looking up at Jotaro with a smile.
“There’s really no other option?” Jotaro sighed.
“Chest binders…” Kakyoin trailed off for a moment, longing evident in his expression before snapping back to reality. “But they’re expensive and my parents would never al-“
“Tomorrow, I’ll get you one.”
Kakyoin’s eyes widened in surprise, “Jotaro, I… really, you don’t have to-“
“I do.” Jotaro huffed and found himself wrapping an arm around Kakyoin’s waist, pulling him in closer, careful to avoid touching any tender areas.
“Thank you…” Kakyoin’s voice was slightly muffled, barely even audible over the noise of the television. He raised his head, so he was looking at Jotaro face to face, just inches away from one another. “Seriously, thank you…”
Jotaro leaned in first, communicating what he couldn’t just quite get across in words with his lips. Kakyoin made a muffled sound of surprise into the kiss, soon reciprocating, long fingers tangling into black hair as the two of them got lost in each other.
The kiss was short and sweet, Kakyoin being the first to pull back for air.
“I… I...” Jotaro was lost for words, suddenly forgetting how to string a sentence together. Luckily for him, Kakyoin understood exactly what he was trying to say.
“I love you too, Jotaro.”