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Had it not been for the thick walls and the loud music of their own, party songs from across the building would have been heard. Even though Noriaki’s playlist was not even close to being a work of art, it was slightly more palatable than the repetitive beats and boring lyrics that were only enjoyable when drunk. Or high. Or drunk and high, if you were adventurous enough. But Noriaki and Jotaro had both had their fair share of adventures, and settling for a chill evening playing video games while listening to bubblegum pop and hard rock on a Saturday night was something that they thought they deserved.
Another thing they could thank the music for, was that they did not have to talk that much. It was not as if they were strangers to silence, but the noise as well as the games did help them get distracted from everything. From their past, the near-death experiences and the tragedies they faced, and from their present. They had exams next Monday.
Being so close to presenting their final exams of that semester was definitely not as stressful as trying to stop a megalomaniac vampire from killing them, and they were honestly grateful for the banality of their current problems. It had been hard, though, to get to the point. Finishing high school was not an easy task by itself, but having being through so much was not helpful at all. Nightmares and panic attacks had plagued their days for pretty much the entirety of their last year of high school. They were always on edge and sometimes they could only find comfort in each other, as the rest of the crusaders were not always available, and even then, they were battling their own problems in different ways.
Jotaro and Noriaki had become friends during the trip, but it was only after it had ended that they were able to get to know each other in a deeper level. They finally had the time to chat freely about their interests without having to fear for their lives (although it took them a while to fully accept that they were, for now, living a somewhat ordinary life). If they had met in other circumstances, it was hard to say whether or not they would have been friends. They chose to believe that they would, as their personalities fit well and it was not simply a consequence of getting close and finding support in each other as a defence mechanism after enduring danger together —but it was.
They were now inseparable, having grown used to each other throughout the years, and they truly believed that their friendship would last even longer than their own lives.
Friendship.
Yeah, right.
Lately, said word was not enough anymore to describe their bond, but they had not found the courage yet to give their relationship another name. It was most likely out of fear of ruining what they had now and fear of what the people around them might say —they believed their closest friends would not judge them, but the rest of the world would definitely be harsher. And so, after considering all the possibilities, they were trying to be secretive about the new step they had taken towards something more romantic rather than strictly platonic. However, they were not exactly good at keeping it low-key.
If one paid attention it would be hard to miss the way they looked at each other, how sometimes Noriaki’s gaze would remain on Jotaro for a bit longer than it should, and how Jotaro would every once in a while shoot supposedly sneaky stares at Noriaki. Their eyes lit up as soon as they saw each other in a way that seemed to be out of a shojo manga. You could see that Noriaki was the reason behind most of all of Jotaro’s scarce smiles, and it easy to realise that they always gravitated towards each other, whether it was unconsciously or not.
Jotaro pronounced Noriaki’s name with an unreal softness in his voice. Said name tasted like honey to Jotaro and, while that might have been a good excuse to repeat it, he did it because Noriaki had been too into the video game they were playing. He had been sticking his tongue out, concentrated, until he turned towards Jotaro, to meet his gaze.
“Yeah?” The redhead asked.
“The game is wrong.”
Kakyoin tilted his head in visible confusion, as he waited for Kujo to elaborate on that. He paused the game, sensing that he would not pay attention to it for a while.
“The underwater levels, I mean,” he added, in a low tone.
“How so?”
“The water is not that deep, and we know that. You can go back to the surface quite easily, and the fish are those that live in shallow waters,” Jotaro started explaining. He was fidgeting with his fingers, something that he did when he was nervous. And he got nervous when he started talking about things he was interested in, to a person that he adored.
Noriaki had noticed that little habit a long time ago, so he nodded, encouraging him silently. He loved listening to Jotaro, and he cherished every moment. Not everyone had the chance to be with this kind of Jotaro: both calm and passionate at the same time —it was a glimpse at the past, from before he had followed the high school delinquent path. It was Jotaro in one of his purest forms.
“But those look like deep-sea corals, so it makes no sense for them to be there when the water is supposed to be shallow. And this might be a stretch, but I’m almost sure that those starfish don’t belong there.”
Jotaro had found a lot to say about the video game, which was honestly surprising. Or not, since Noriaki was the one doing most of the work in the game and Jotaro stayed behind. He had most likely been examining everything as he let the other fight the enemies.
Soon enough, though, he stopped referring to the game so often, as his monologue turned into an info-dumping session. The redhead did not stop him, and he was grateful for that. He genuinely believed that he was undeserving of that, but every time he brought that up, Noriaki assured him that it was not true. Jotaro deserved someone who would let him be, without any kind of judgement. He was usually quiet, but rather than it meaning that he had nothing to say, it meant no one —aside from the one and only Noriaki Kakyoin— had gained his trust for him to voice what he really thought.
Although his face remained relatively stern, his green eyes shone brighter than usual, looking beautiful despite the dark circles under them. His brow was more relaxed, and a smile threatened to appear every once in a while. He looked ethereal, and maybe this was the time that Noriaki realised that he had actually fallen in love with Jotaro.
“Noriaki.”
He nodded.
“If you want me to shut up just say it.”
Jotaro was now scowling, a much more common expression.
“But you should at least say something cheesy like ‘shut up and kiss me’ so that I don’t feel bad about it,” he added.
Kakyoin scowled as well.
“I don’t want to,” the redhead replied.
“You don’t wanna kiss me?” Jotaro looked offended.
“No, I do wanna kiss you,” Noriaki answered, sounding slightly amused as he put the pieces together. “I don’t want you to shut up, though.”
He had probably been staring too intensely, and his partner—... And Jotaro had interpreted it wrongly.
“I can’t kiss you while I speak.”
Noriaki let out a soft laugh.
“You’re right, honey.”
The pet name slipped unconsciously. Kakyoin would have been embarrassed by that if the reaction he had received had not been as adorable. Jotaro looked away, but a faint blush dusted his cheeks. He ignored the warmth on his face.
“I was almost sure you had astral projected into the fifth dimension because my words were just that boring.”
“Why must you be this dramatic?” Noriaki rolled his eyes. “I was paying attention to you. And also to your face. But mostly to what you were saying.”
By this point, Jotaro was not even trying to suppress his smile anymore —it would be a waste of time and effort. This made Noriaki smile widely. Jotaro leaned towards him, to leave a soft little kiss on his lips. The other quickly stole a second kiss. As revenge, Jotaro stole a third, which lead to Noriaki stealing a fourth, and soon enough they were showering each other with pecks all around their faces until they were giggling.
“You’re so pretty,” Jotaro muttered, once they had calmed down.
“What did you say?” He had heard it perfectly fine, but he wanted to hear it again.
“Nothing, I was just calling my boyfriend pretty.”
Kakyoin’s eyes widened, his face turned almost as red as his hair, and suddenly his abilities to compose rational sentences left his body. He covered his mouth, even though no sound could come out.
“I thought it was time to call you that. Was I wrong?” Jotaro was now looking for confirmation. He had actually been wanting to do this for some time, but it was just now that he had found the courage to use that word.
Noriaki opened his mouth, but no coherent words came out aside from “uh” and “ah”. Seeing his sudden impediment, he nodded. And then he shook his head. And then he nodded again. Yes, it was time to call him that. No, it was not wrong. While this could have been confusing for a random person, the smile that Jotaro had on his face told him that he understood perfectly what he meant.
“You can call me that way if you want, too,” Jotaro added, with a sprinkle of playful teasing on his voice. “If you ever regain your ability to speak, or course.”
If one managed to get close enough to Jotaro, they would get snarky comments such as that one.
“Man, I have such an annoying boyfriend,” Noriaki replied, rolling his eyes. “Everyone thinks he’s so calm and serious but behind that first appearance, he still has that annoying teen rebel energy. I’ve heard people ask if he is even able to smile, and that’s really funny to me, because I see him smile almost every day. He’s doing it right now, and he probably thinks that I’m being a dork.”
“You are being a dork.”
“But who’s the actual dork here, if you fell for me? My dorky, annoying boyfriend is blushing. Cute.”
Kakyoin had heard other people at university say that the words boyfriend and girlfriend were too childish —that they would rather use something else. He had internally agreed at that time: those words seemed kind of childish to him. However, that was before he had realised just how good it felt to call Jotaro his boyfriend, and vice versa. So screw those people. If they could not find joy in the little things, that was their own problem. Noriaki had now decided he would take any opportunity to refer to Jotaro as his boyfriend. Because it felt good.
“Shut up,” Jotaro grumbled, not actually wanting him to shut up.
“You said it before. Tell me to shut up and kiss me so that I don’t feel bad.” Noriaki had mimicked his boyfriend’s voice there, because teasing him was fun.
Sounding exactly like an annoyed teen (even though he was in his twenties now), he huffed and frowned.
“Shut up and kiss me, Noriaki.”
“But don’t look at me that way, I can’t take you seriously!”
“For fuck’s sake, Nori,” he rolled his eyes. “You’re being exceptionally asshole-y now.”
“You’re one to talk, Mr. Delinquent.”
“I preferred when just a few moments ago you were so awestruck that you couldn’t say a thing.”
“...I really got myself a mean and annoying boyfriend.”
“You had the opportunity to refuse, run away, and get a small adorable girlfriend.”
Noriaki paused for a few seconds. He faked thinking about it —he would not change Jotaro for anything, but given that he was being quite dramatic this night, he decided he could be dramatic as well. Eventually, he shrugged.
“Nah, I like you.”
Jotaro smiled softly. He expected something like that, but it still made him feel warm and fuzzy.
“I’m afraid I like you too.”
They sighed.
Then they giggled, because they were a pair of dorks that had shared the same reaction.
“Come here,” Jotaro murmured. They were already side by side, but judging by the look on his face, what he wanted now were cuddles.
And, of course, he would get cuddles from his boyfriend.
Of course.
They did not fit perfectly together, but they made it work somehow. They always made it work. Whispering sweet words to each other, the music still playing around them, the world was loud around them but the only thing that they heard were their own voices.