Chapter Text
Jotaro realizes that he's fucked on a particularly warm April night.
Prior to this startling realization, he’s loitering outside of a gas station, waiting for his ride. His cousin, Jonathan, wouldn’t be here for another ten minutes or so, but Jotaro doesn't really care. He wouldn’t mind walking home, but his mother and Jonathan both insisted on him getting picked up. Considering how dramatic his family could get over the slightest things, it just wasn’t worth not getting the damn ride.
A cigarette dangles from his lips and the gas station’s neon sign flickers on a bright florescent pink, contrasting against the dark purple and pinks of the sky. It hasn’t been a particularly exciting or noteworthy day so far; he had spent the vast majority of the day at the library across the street, going across the street every so often for a drink or a smoke.
Biting onto the cigarette harshly, he exhales slowly and reaches into his pocket for his phone, the smoke filling the already shitty smelling air. His notifications are all the same shit – miles of annoying texts filled with too many emoji’s from his mom and Polnareff and Joseph’s usual asinine bullshit – that he’s more than happy to ignore.
Even the snapchat notification is expected to some degree, because everyone in his life seems to be obsessed with the app. Jotaro scarcely sent any pictures with it, but the same thing could not be said for his friends.
Particularly, Kakyoin.
Noriaki Kakyoin was Jotaro’s best friend, though it occurred by what was technically an accident back in tenth grade. Most people would describe Kakyoin as quiet and thoughtful, which was not a lie in actuality, but most people also tended to severely underestimate just how sneaky and cunning he was capable of being. He deliberately got in a fight with Jotaro – six foot two and startling muscular even at fifteen - over some stupid, unimportant bullshit and had actually managed to leave Jotaro with a bloody nose. Much more than most people could achieve. But Jotaro had won that fight, even though the two of them had been given a detention by Jonathan’s asshole boyfriend and the APUSH teacher, Dio.
Dio was a huge asshole and probably only took that job in order to make Jotaro’s life a living hell because he quit as soon as Jotaro had passed, but by the time the detention was over Jotaro had a new tentative friend in Kakyoin. Eventually, Kakyoin had become his best friend so he guessed that both of them had won that fight in a way. Except, that was kind of sappy, so he would never admit that aloud.
Quiet, but all about expression in one way or another, Kakyoin was more than fond of sharing little mundane things, or art projects, or little updates through snapchats. Jotaro didn’t mind his snapchats, because Kakyoin didn’t really overuse it and Jotaro liked seeing what made Kakyoin happy, even if he didn’t really understand at least half of the shit that he put in his story.
This particular snapchat is simple. It’s a picture of Kakyoin with a shifty expression on his thin, angular face. The focus is meant to be on his long scarlet bang, which is sticking up in an odd direction. ‘ i fall asleep and i get this’ the caption reads. Eight seconds is more than long enough for Jotaro to notice the slightly petulant pout on Kakyoin’s lips and that he’s changed his septum piercing. Kakyoin was always one to care about his appearance, though Jotaro personally thinks that he always looks good, even with a pout that Jotaro would have thought annoying on anyone else. Kakyoin always makes things that Jotaro thinks is annoying look good though. Jotaro can’t help but feel his lip twitch into the beginnings of a smile.
At that, Jotaro promptly freezes and his grip on his phone tightens. Any lightness he feels disappears in an instant, his stomach dropping like lead.
Oh fuck. Oh fuck, he wasn’t really doing this, was he?
Jotaro could admit that he’s thought that Kakyoin was cute ever since they met and had that stupid fight that led them to becoming friends. That, however, just means that Jotaro has both working, functional eyes and a good sense of realism. That doesn’t have to mean that he has a crush on his best friend.
Except it would make a fuckton of sense if he did, because Kakyoin made him feel things that no one else could. Things that were kind of uncomfortable to talk about. Jotaro was admittedly very… happy around Kakyoin, even if he might have trouble expressing it. Kakyoin always seems to understand how he’s feeling in certain extremes though, which has always been something Jotaro appreciates.
Not to mention that Jotaro also really, really likes spending time with Kakyoin and seeing or making him smile.
Jesus fuck, he has a crush on his best friend and it has taken him roughly four years to realize it.
“Shit,” Jotaro whispers to himself, his cheeks uncomfortably warm in the hot spring night. By now, his cigarette has reduced to just a butt and he wants to do nothing more than light up another four cigarettes or so. The universe has decided to show just how much it hates him though, because Jonathan’s minivan pulls up to the curve, blasting the Lion King soundtrack.
This was awful .
After a ride of Jonathan sending Jotaro worried looks at every stop light and of his four-year-old son, Giorno, mumbling along to I Just Can’t Wait to Be King in the backseat, Jotaro is more than happy to slam the car door shut and trudge into his room, ignoring the cheerful greetings from his mother.
During the ride home, Jotaro had accepted the fact that he has a crush on Kakyoin, though it was still a strange concept to admit.
He would be lying if he said he never had borderline lascivious thoughts about the other boy, if he really thought about it. Jotaro guesses that it was always in front of him in a way, he just didn’t want to see it.
Jotaro has never actually had a crush on anybody before, so he has no earthly clue what to do in this situation.
He could tell Kakyoin his feelings, but he doesn’t want to make things awkward between them. Kakyoin isn’t the type of person to stop being his friend because of his feelings, but he knows that he would make things extremely awkward between them and Jotaro especially doesn’t want to do that, because Kakyoin is one of the only people he actually feels completely comfortable around.
Jotaro shakes his head and lounges on his bed, tugging his laptop close to him. Maybe he doesn’t have to say anything about it. It’s not like he talks a lot in the first place, so it shouldn’t be that difficult for him to hide his feelings from Kakyoin.
It should be easy.