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Jotaro watched as Kakyoin sat down on the chair next to him. The two were sat on the balcony of their hotel room, just having finished unpacking the few belongings they had with them in time to watch the Egyptian sun set over the horizon.
The journey to Egypt had been tiring, and only having arrived in the country earlier that day, they had not had any time ro rest.
Jotaro was nursing a cigarette as he looked at the streets below them, calming down from the rush hours that had passed them already. He inhaled, paused for a moment in thought, then removed the cigarette from his mouth and exhaled out the smoke, watching as it got lost in the wind. He tapped the end of the cigarette before letting out a small sigh. The red haired boy looked over at him with a sparkle of something Jotaro could not quite place in his eyes, and smiled softly at him. "Tired?" the redhead asked.
Jotaro smiled back almost instinctively, not being able to help himself before nodding and using his free hand to rub at one of his eyes. "I'm glad it's almost over now," he mumbled, taking another drag of his cigarette afterwards.
Kakyoin hummed whilst scrunching his face up in dismay at the smell of the cigarette. Jotaro had always found this habit of Kakyoin's funny, if that was the right word Jotaro did not know, and so decided to blow the smoke over at the shorter. Jotaro watched with a small smirk as the red head spluttered over the smoke, sending a playful but half-serious glare over to Jotaro.
"Have you never smoked before?" Jotaro mused, knowing the answer before the shorter even responded. He took a final drag of his cigarette before turning his head towards the red head, waiting for his answer.
"You know I haven't, Jotaro, but.. I wouldn't mind having a try if it was with you.. I might need a taste of it first though, to make sure I like it?" Kakyoin breathed out hastily, before starting to close the gap between them both.
Jotaro sat still, confused momentarily until he realised just how close Noriaki was getting. The taller's eyes widened as the shorter drew nearer, his heart racing faster than it ever had before. He could feel the funny, sick feeling in the pit of his stomach once again as he had many times before, and his shoulders and hands began to shake out of panic.
Jotaro sharply turned his head around to look out at the city once more, choking on the smoke that was trapped in his mouth a little too long. Noriaki recoiled slightly, moving backwards as his cheeks warmed to a shade similar to his hair. Jotaro patted his chest lightly whilst coughing in an attempt to clear his airways, before gasping quietly and sitting up straighter than he had been previously.
"I- uh, don't get me wrong, Kakyoin, you're a good friend and all but- I don't.." Jotaro paused, mulling his next words over in his mind out of pure panic. "I don't swing that way, I-I'm not a queer,"
Kakyoin stared at the floor of the balcony hard enough to burn circles through it, head hung in embarassment and shame. He opened and closed his mouth several times, as if wanting to say something, anything, but not knowing exactly what it was he wanted to say.
Jotaro snuffed the butt of his cigarette out on his shoe before pinging it over the edge of the balcony. He glanced over at Kakyoin, feeling his heart shatter as he was met with the pitiful sight of the red head. He did not mean what he said, but it was too late to take back now.
Seeing him like this made Jotaro realise how much he wanted to grab the shorter and hold him softly, but that funny, sick feeling in his stomach would not allow him to do so. Instead, he could only ask a pathetic question to the broken boy. "Do you know where I put my cigarettes?"
This only seemed to worsen the tension in the air between them both as well as the red head's mood. Noriaki stood up from his chair, shaking slightly, before silently walking back inside of their hotel room and out into the hallway. Jotaro assumed he was going to find Avdol, and let out a small groan as he realised he would now have the Egyptian to deal with, as well as the complex array of emotions he had been feeling these past few weeks.
The tall boy let himself hold his head in his hands for a moment as he groaned in frustration, before standing up and walking inside of the hotel room. He walked over to his bed and sat down on it, picking his pillow up and burying his face into its softness, letting his frustrated, angry tears fall freely into the cushion.
Tonight would be a long one.