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Chapter Text

During one of their stops in India, a book catches Kakyoin's eye. It has a bright blue shiny holographic cover that Kakyoin thinks is half goofy and half actually really cool. It has little sea turtles and manta rays on it. What makes him snort, though, is the presence of a swordfish that somehow looks startlingly like Dark Blue Moon, the aquatic stand that Jotaro defeated only a couple days ago. The title is in English: 101 Amazing Sea Creatures! There's a blurb underneath advertising "Realistic full-color illustrations that inspire a love of the ocean in any child!"

Kakyoin bites his lip. It's pretty cheap for a full-color children's book. Should he? Does he dare? 

He does. 

He's not even really sure if Jotaro will think it's funny (does Jotaro think anything is funny?), but the others definitely will, so he's willing to weather whatever reaction Jotaro has. He pays for the book and slips it into his bag, biting back a smirk, and heads back to where the group had agreed to meet.

--

Jotaro is waiting for the others at an outside table at a cafe. He had wandered around town a little, peeking into stalls in the market and dodging salespeople, but he had gotten bored pretty quickly and decided to just hang out at the cafe they'd left from that morning. He remembers hearing some quote about war-- or maybe flying?-- that went like: It's hours of interminable boredom punctuated by brief moments of stark terror . That's kind of how he feels about this whole trip-- the battles are scary and exhilarating and far too frequent, but at the same time all the waiting in between is almost worse. They've only been out for a week or so, so while he trusts the other members of the group entirely, he still isn't hugely friendly with them. He likes them all fine, it's just that he has no idea how to chat or, like, be friendly . What do you even say? So, guys, how about this weather we're having? Sure is hot and dry! Sure hope we kill this Dio guy before my mom dies forever!

For some reason he can't picture that going over well.

He's pulled out of that particular train of thought by Polnareff's giant, hot hand clapping down on his shoulder.

"Eh, Jotaro! Holding down the fort, I see. Did you save a spot for me?" Polnareff bats his eyes. 

Jotaro kicks the chair opposite himself out for Polnareff to sit in. Polnareff continues to bat his lashes as he sits down. "Stop that," Jotaro says, "You look like you're having a stroke." 

Score one for friendliness, he thinks to himself as Polnareff pouts dramatically. Thankfully, Polnareff perks up almost immediately, waving cheerfully at something behind Jotaro.

"Kakyoin! Over here! Oh, and there's Joseph. Joseph!" 

Joseph and Kakyoin make their way to the table Polnareff and Jotaro are at. After all the customary greetings ("Abdul's going to be back soon, he got distracted talking to a bookseller. Ah! Jotaro! My favorite grandson!" "Joseph! My least favorite grandfather.") have been exchanged, Kakyoin turns to Jotaro. He's lifted his bag up so that he's peeking over the top in a way that could be shy, or maybe mischievous. 

"Jotaro." 

"Kakyoin."

"I got you a souvenir."

Oh, no. That's definitely mischief. He cuts a glance at Joseph, who looks surprised and interested at the proceedings. "Uh, let's have it then," he says. Kakyoin lowers the bag and pulls a large, bright blue book out, presenting it to Jotaro with a flourish. Jotaro takes it cautiously. 

"I thought it would bring back sweet memories of punching bad guys into watery oblivion," Kakyoin explains, the shithead. On examining the cover, Jotaro understands what he's talking about: there's a big swordfish that looks like Dark Blue Moon, surrounded by other sea creatures. Obviously Kakyoin bought it as a joke.

" 101 Amazing Sea Creatures! " Jotaro reads out loud.

"Awww, little Jojo, he got you a book for little kids! How thoughtful," laughs Joseph. "He took your emotional maturity level into account and everything." 

"Joke's on you, Gramps, marine biology is the shit," Jotaro says mildly. He flips the book open to a random page. "For example, did you know that scallops swim by clapping their shells together to push water out like jet propulsion? Also they have lots of eyes." 

Polnareff makes a horrified face. "What, really? You're lying. No way that's real, does it really say that? Lemme see that book's credentials."

Jotaro yanks the book out of Polnareff's reach. "Ah-ah. This is a children's book. Only children get to read it." He turns to Kakyoin and holds the book out, smirking. "Kakyoin, would you like to confirm what the book says?" 

"You just said the book's-- Oooh. Oooh , burn," Polnareff crows. 

Kakyoin takes the book, laughing, and Jotaro's stomach does something funny when their fingers brush. "Alright, I deserved that. Let's see… Yeah, it says here that 'scallops escape predators by clapping their shells together repeatedly, a form of jet propulsion. Unlike most other animals with two shells, they have many eyes around the edge of their shells.' That's pretty horrifying, man." 

Jotaro shrugs and tugs on his cap. "No more horrifying than, say, human hands. Have you ever thought about hands? I feel like having a bunch of eyes is pretty forgivable when you really think about what hands are. These weird collections of bone and gristle, in little tubes. You know?" He should stop talking now.

Polnareff and Joseph are staring at him in alarm and distress. Kakyoin just kind of looks delighted. "You are much, much cooler than I thought you were," he says confidently.

"That's. That's one word for it," Polnareff says.

--

Later, when they're walking back to the hotel they're staying at for the night, Kakyoin catches up to Jotaro from his more leisurely pace at the back of the group.

"Hey, I just wanted to make sure you weren't… offended, or anything. About the book," he says, watching Jotaro's face. He doesn't know why he's bothering to watch, since Jotaro barely emotes, but he does anyway. He's rewarded by Jotaro's eyebrows lifting maybe a millimeter as he glances towards Kakyoin.

 "What? No, the book is great. I wasn't being facetious when I said marine biology is the shit," Jotaro says. 

"Oh," Kakyoin says. "Okay. That's a relief. You're... kind of hard to read sometimes, you know." Understatement of the century. "I was convinced that you hated me until, like, two days ago." 

"Ahh, I don't hate you. My face just looks like that, or so I'm told. I like you fine."

That makes one of us, Kakyoin thinks, but he doesn't say that, because most people don't really talk casually about their self-hatred with people they've only known for a week and a half. "Hm. Well. I like you fine too," he says instead. They make eye contact, both smiling just a little. Kakyoin wonders if this is what everyone feels like when they make a new friend.

Chapter Text

They've been on the road for maybe three hours when it occurs to Polnareff to turn on the radio. He fiddles with it for a while, picking up mostly static and different local news stations, until he hits on a music station. It seems to be a pop station, some sort of top-100 deal, and maybe half the songs are in English. Polnareff seems to know almost every one, and he demonstrates this loudly and off-key.

"You gotta fight!  For your right! To paaaaaar-tay!" he shouts, pounding the steering wheel. Abdul has subtly drawn his scarf a little tighter around his ears to block out the noise, but the rest of them remain victim to Polnareff's passion. Joseph is entirely unhelpful, gleefully complimenting Polnareff's singing after each song, and to Jotaro's horror, Kakyoin joins Polnareff in humming along to some of the more rock-y songs, because apparently Jotaro will never have an ally in this world. (Kakyoin, at least, has some sort of sense of rhythm, so he's not actually too terrible.)

Jotaro, of course, doesn't know a single song they hear, because he lives under a rock. A nice, quiet rock. After a while Polnareff gains the confidence to start singing along to the songs he doesn't know, even the ones that aren't in English, and Jotaro quietly accepts the fact that at some point he must have been killed by an enemy Stand, and now he is in hell, and it is so much worse than he ever thought it would be.

He hits his head against the window gently, letting a yare yare daze escape from where it feels like his entire soul is just one huge yare yare daze.

"Are you not enjoying yourself, Jotaro?" Kakyoin asks, his voice pitched below Polnareff's soulful crooning of what sounds like it might be a song about cowboys. Jotaro slides his eyes over to him and arches one eyebrow. A shit-eating grin stretches across Kakyoin's face. "Gosh, how could anyone not enjoy this?"

"Next time we stop I'm going to break the radio," Jotaro whispers back. "Well. Either the radio or Polnareff." Kakyoin snorts, grinning.

"Mm, break Polnareff, we might actually need the radio at some point," he says. Jotaro smirks.

Polnareff stops himself mid-verse to say loudly, "I can hear you two plotting my demise back there and I would like to register my complaint!"

"Sorry, Monsieur, the bureau is closed," Kakyoin says, without breaking eye contact with Jotaro. "We are not taking complaints at this time."

"Was that a-- oh, my God, it is. And in Japanese, too, you awful nerd. Abdul, Kakyoin is using my own country's classical literature to insult me!"

Abdul says something like, "You deserved it," or "You did set it up perfectly," or something, Jotaro's not sure, because he's still looking at Kakyoin and Kakyoin is still looking at him, and he's gotta look away soon before this gets weird. Kakyoin is a nerdy asshole, and Jotaro is also a nerdy asshole, and everything Kakyoin does makes Jotaro like him more. He's never had a close friend before. He isn't sure what it's supposed to feel like, but he feels like this might be something else.

Jotaro manages to look away eventually, the corners of his mouth still caught in something that's halfway between a smirk (safe!) and an actual smile (not safe!). Abdul catches his eye in the passenger-side mirror. He looks way too amused for Jotaro's comfort, so Jotaro tugs his cap down and goes back to staring at the landscape whipping by. Polnareff resumes his singing, but he's pretty sure it's a little quieter this time. Maybe he won't have to break the radio after all.

---

Seven hours later, Jotaro knows all the words to "Kiss" by Prince and the Revolution, and he might actually have to break the radio. Polnareff has lost his voice by now, but he still taps the steering wheel in time with the beat (sort of).

On the other hand, the sun is setting into a deep bright orange, splashing everyone in the car with warm golden light. It's mostly coming from the front of the car, but the road they're on meanders enough that for a while Kakyoin makes a dark silhouette against the reddening landscape. He's looking out the window, not at Jotaro, so Jotaro feels safe looking at him. His angular face lends itself well to side lighting, emphasizing his dark eyelashes and wide mouth, and his hair looks fiery. Jotaro isn't an artist, but he still feels like it's necessary-- practical, even-- for Star Platinum to quietly grab Joseph's clunky Polaroid camera from the bag in the back. Abdul catches his eye again when he notices the Polaroid's movement, and Jotaro just shrugs. He takes his time, peering into the viewfinder to get the composition just right, and then pushes down the button.

It's possible that he forgot how loud cameras are.

It clicks and whirs, loud even over the music, and Jotaro finds himself the subject of four different inquisitive stares. Polnareff opens his mouth, eyes on Jotaro through the overhead mirror, and then when he remembers that his voice is still out of commission he reaches across Joseph and jabs Abdul in the shoulder pointedly.

"Polnareff would like to know what you're doing with the camera," Abdul says politely, a laugh barely concealed in his voice. Polnareff gives him a thumbs up.

"Yeah, Jojo, " Joseph says, as if calling him "Jojo" is some sort of joke, "What are you doing with the camera?"

Jotaro has dug this hole and he will damn well lie in it, or however that idiom's supposed to go. "I, uh. I thought it might be nice to take pictures. Make this whole thing less awful," he tries.

The photo slides out of the camera, and Joseph reaches around to grab it. He waves it around to help it develop faster, and Kakyoin leans forward to watch it develop.

"Hey," he says, when the colors have mostly come in. "That's actually kind of a cool picture. Didn't take you for an artist, Jojo."

"Yeah, well, it was mostly the camera," Jotaro says. Somehow Kakyoin calling him Jojo is really different from Joseph calling him Jojo. "I just pointed and clicked."

"Still," Kakyoin says.

"I'm sure it helps that Kakyoin is so cute," Polnareff says cheerfully. Abdul leans across Joseph to swat him.

"Jean-Pierre! Kakyoin is like 12. He is far too young for you," Abdul chastises. Polnareff cackles over Kakyoin's indignant " Hey!"

"You're right, Mohammed, Kakyoin is totally like 12, but upon whom else should I lay my affections, hm? Could it be that you're jealous?" Polnareff says in a smarmy voice, wiggling his eyebrows in Abdul's direction. To Jotaro's amazement, Abdul looks almost flustered when he snorts and rolls his eyes. Jotaro cuts a glance towards Kakyoin to see if he caught it, only to find Kakyoin glancing right back at him, looking surprised and interested. Jotaro silently thanks Polnareff for having refocused attention back on himself so quickly after the camera incident.

Joseph takes one last look at the now fully-developed photo, then hands it to Jotaro. "This is a good picture, kid," he says. "You might be onto something there." Jotaro just takes it and hums. It is a good picture. It doesn't quite capture the vibrancy of the colors in real life, but it's close enough.

Kakyoin scoots across the bench seat to look at it again. "I think that's the first picture anyone's taken of me that I actually like," he observes. Jotaro snorts. "You oughta sign and date it. Do you have a pen?"

"What, really?"

"Yeah, why not? What's today's date, anyway, the 12th?"

"Yes, it's the 12th," Abdul confirms. He rummages around in his pack and comes up with a black ballpoint pen. Jotaro takes it, feeling awkward, and scrawls 12/12/88 at the bottom of the picture, and then, India . And then a question mark, because actually they might be out of India by now, he's not sure.

Kakyoin seems satisfied, and he takes the picture and tucks it between the pages of the sea creature book. "There," he says, "Now I won't get lost."

Jotaro is hopelessly charmed.

When he opens the book later, two photos fall out; the one he had taken, and then one of him that must have been the next morning. The light is soft and tinted blue, and his cap is off, and his face is kind of smushed into the window in a way that he vaguely remembers waking up from. At the bottom of the photo, in Kakyoin's neat, angular print, is written 13/12/88 - probably not India .

Chapter Text

The car breaks down for an hour in the middle of the day. Without the wind from the rolled-down windows, it turns out that sitting in the car is actually worse than just waiting outside, so everyone evacuates while Joseph pokes around in the engine. The radio still works, of course , so they spend a while half-listening to it. Then "Walk Like an Egyptian" comes on and Abdul just squints towards the car, so Polnareff turns it off.

After a couple more minutes of just sitting around in the dead heat, Kakyoin has no choice but to drag his hands over his face and groan. Somehow sitting quietly in a moving car isn't nearly as excruciating as sitting quietly on a bunch of rocks. He turns to Jotaro and nudges his foot.

"Hey. Let's spar or something," he says. Because nothing says "I like being your friend" like trying to punch each other, obviously.

Jotaro raises an eyebrow. "You sure you wanna fight me again? I feel like I remember kicking your ass only like two weeks ago," he says.

"Is that a no?" Kakyoin taunts.

"Yare yare daze," Jotaro grumbles, but he gets to his feet and reaches a hand down to help Kakyoin up.

Kakyoin turns to Polnareff and Abdul. "You guys wanna join? We could team up or something."

Abdul laughs a little. "No, thank you. I have more important things to do, like not die of heatstroke at 28."

Polnareff grimaces. "Yeah, I'm gonna save my strength here. You guys go kill each other, I am content to sit here and try not to melt into a puddle of my own sweat."

"Weak," Kakyoin says. "What's it like being old and boring?"

Joseph pops his head out from where he's been engrossed in the engine. "Jesus, if Abdul and Polnareff are old and boring, what am I?"

Jotaro smirks. "Do you really want us to answer that, old man?"

Joseph sticks his tongue out at them and dives back into the engine. Abdul snickers and says, "If you absolutely must go fight each other, you should probably at least take off your jackets. I wasn't really kidding about heatstroke. I'm actually not sure how you haven't both passed out already, to be honest."

Kakyoin shrugs. "My body is cooled by the icy wind of self-hatred," he says automatically. Then he takes a second to imagine Hierophant Green just picking him up and flying him into the sun. He's great at talking to people. Just a real charmer.

Thankfully, the others seem to think he was being much more sarcastic than he really was, and laugh it off as he and Jotaro free themselves from their jackets. Then, feeling weirdly naked in just his shirt and trousers, Kakyoin scans the area for a space open enough for them to spar in. "Over there looks okay," he says, pointing, and Jotaro nods and leads the way. He has nice shoulders. He kept his stupid hat on.

They stop and face each other, and Kakyoin realizes belatedly that he's not actually sure he knows how to spar. Not, like, for real. Most of the fighting he's done so far has actually been mostly Hierophant Green pulling more than its own weight.

"Do you wanna not use our Stands?" Jotaro asks, surprising him.

"Uh, yeah, I was actually going to suggest that," he says.

"Great," Jotaro says. Then with a smirk, he adds, "I don't wanna kill you this time, so…"

Kakyoin snorts. "Thanks, Jotaro. That makes me feel better about our friendship." He settles into what he assumes is a fighting stance-- feet far apart, leaning forward a little, his center of gravity low. Jotaro does the same. "Should we have ground rules?"

"Mm. No gouging, no shots below the belt, stop if you say 'stop,' try not to do any permanent damage?"

"Does 'no shots below the belt' include kicking you in the shins?" Kakyoin asks. It's a real question. He's noticed that Jotaro doesn't always seem to stand very solidly, and he wants to take advantage of that if he can.

Jotaro squints at him, then says cautiously, "Shins are fair game. No kneecapping."

"Okay. Ready?"

"Sure."

Kakyoin takes a breath, and promptly catches Jotaro's fist in his stomach. He doubles over and drops to his knees, all the air leaving his lungs in a whoosh , and somehow has the presence of mind to flip off Polnareff, or at least Polnareff's general direction, where he can hear the Frenchman cackling already.

Jotaro is clearly also holding back laughter. "Are you okay? That was-- I expected-- oh my God," he chokes out, taking a couple steps closer.

Right into Kakyoin's range.

Kakyoin drops onto one knee, shoots out his leg, and hooks his foot around the back of Jotaro's knee. Jotaro topples forward, knocking Kakyoin back onto the dirt and hitting his face on Kakyoin's shoulder on his way down. He only barely manages to catch himself before he faceplants into the ground. They stare at each other for a moment before Jotaro rolls off of Kakyoin and grabs his own nose with a swear, their legs still tangled together. If Kakyoin could draw breath yet, he would ask Jotaro if he's okay, but since he's still feeling that gut punch, he just flaps a hand vaguely in Jotaro's direction and tries to look inquisitive.

Jotaro sits up and leans forward, still holding his nose. "I hit my nose on your shoulder," he says, but it comes out more like I hib by dose od your shoulder . Blood is leaking out from under his fingers. "We're really good at sparring."

Kakyoin is finally able to breathe in, and does so with a gasp. "Just. Really just the best," he agrees. He's okay with being on the ground for a bit. The ground is nice. The ground doesn't cackle when he lasts a stunning three seconds in a fist fight. Maybe if he asks the ground nicely enough, it'll just open up and swallow him whole. "Is your nose okay?"

Jotaro shrugs, tugs his cap off and runs his free hand through his hair. "I don't think it's broken, just kind of jammed. Or… whatever happens to noses. I don't know." He looks down at Kakyoin. "Are you okay? I tried to pull my punch, but…" Motherfucker.

"Oh, I'm fine. I'm just, you know, communing with the rocks. I only acted like you punched me so I could make you fall over," Kakyoin lies. Jotaro makes an amused sound through his nose and then immediately winces. Kakyoin practices deep breathing. Jotaro didn't actually even hit him that hard, it just took him by surprise. He'll probably be sore tomorrow, but only a little.

Just then the engine coughs and sputters and roars to life, and Joseph lets out a victory holler as he slams the hood down. "Suck my dick, you piece of shit Indian car!"

"Hey! Wonder nerds!" Polnareff yells to them, "Are you two done proving your masculinity or courting or whatever yet? We can leave now!"

Kakyoin rolls his eyes, but forces himself up and reaches a hand down to help Jotaro. They brush the dirt off themselves and go to rejoin the others.

"You know, Polnareff, I feel like it would take a lot more than Jotaro punching me in the stomach to prove my masculinity," Kakyoin remarks as everyone climbs into the car. "Given my everything."

"I don't hear you arguing the point about courting each other," Abdul points out. Kakyoin turns to Jotaro.

"Are you seduced, Jotaro? What was it that got you, my dying-fish heaving after you punched me in the stomach? Or perhaps the close up of my shoulder when you hit it with your face? Interested parties would like to know."

"Ah, Kakyoin," Jotaro sighs with a straight face. "It was your cunning leg-hook manoeuvre that made me fall for you."

Kakyoin squints. "Is that a goddamn pun?"

Jotaro hums and looks away. Fucker. His nose has mostly stopped bleeding by now, so Kakyoin feels no shame in leaning over and nicking Jotaro's cap. Jotaro looks back over, indignance written in the wrinkle between his eyebrows, but Kakyoin just jams the cap down on his own head and makes eye contact, like, What're you gonna do about it?

Jotaro seems to decide that fighting Kakyoin again isn't worth the injuries that would no doubt befall both of them, so he just lets Kakyoin keep the cap for now. He turns away again with a yare yare , but Kakyoin can see the corner of his mouth turned up. He grins to himself and looks out the window as the car chugs back up to speed.

Courting each other. That's… that's a thought.

Chapter Text

The next day is the fight with J. Geil, and it's mostly just awful. Abdul "dies," and Jotaro feels bad about lying to Polnareff, but it's really for the best. He just hopes that Abdul is able to join back up with them before anything... worse happens. To any of them, but especially to Polnareff, who is nowhere near his normal goofy self. He turns on the radio for a while, but doesn't sing along to any of the songs-- even Livin' On A Prayer comes and goes without so much as a tapped finger. He just turns the radio off after a while. It's… it's pretty pathetic.

 Kakyoin meets Jotaro's eyes in the mirror from his place in the passenger seat and grimaces sympathetically towards Polnareff. He raises his eyebrows: what do we do? Jotaro frowns a little: I don't know. He's not really sure why Kakyoin seems to think he would be a help. It's not like dealing with emotions is exactly his strong point.

 "So, Joseph, I have a question," Kakyoin starts, which is how Jotaro knows he's not gonna like wherever this is going. "How tall is Holly?"

 Huh.

 "Kakyoin, what a great question. My beautiful, wonderful, flawless daughter is only 152 centimeters tall. The world couldn't take any more of her brilliance, so it had to stunt her growth," Joseph says. "I was thrilled when Jotaro turned out as tall as he did, I was so scared that between Holly and his dad he would end up a tiny little munchkin." 

"Picture Jotaro, but only 165 centimeters tall," says Kakyoin. That gets a reluctant giggle out of Polnareff. Of course. Of course Kakyoin's method of cheering him up would be to make fun of Jotaro. "But still super buff. You Jojos and your age-inappropriate buffness, my God."

Joseph puffs up his chest. "Hohoho, I'm so glad you noticed. You know, Jotaro got tall before he got muscley," he says. Oh, no.

" Please tell me there is photographic evidence of this , " Polnareff says. Oh, no.

Kakyoin meets Jotaro's eyes in the mirror again, looking half gleeful and half apologetic. Jotaro heaves a sigh and looks pointedly towards Polnareff, shrugging massively. If his 14-year-old self has gotta get dragged back into the open at some point in this trip, he supposes this is at least an okay cause. He figures it would happen at some point. Kakyoin seems to catch his meaning, and lights up.

He's not the only one. Joseph is digging around in his pockets for his wallet, grinning like a weirdo. "WELL. POLNAREFF. I'M SO GLAD YOU ASKED. I have exactly one photograph of Jotaro as an adolescent and it's the best picture you will ever see in your lives." He finally comes up with a folded, wrinkled photograph, and unfolds it with a flourish. There are little 14 year old Jotaro and his mom, grinning for the camera. Young Jotaro towers above Holly, as one might expect, but he's also a fucking beanpole. His shoulders are barely wider than hers are. Kakyoin swivels in his seat to stare back and forth from the photo to Jotaro, looking thrilled.

 "Oh, my God. Oh my God. Oh my God," he says. Jotaro hates him so much (no, he doesn't). "Polnareff, man, you gotta see this. Pull over for a sec, this needs your full attention." Polnareff complies, a smile stretching across his tired face as he glances back towards the incriminating photo. When they're safely parked on the shoulder, Polnareff joins Kakyoin in twisting around in his seat to look back at the photograph.

"Oh, putain de merde , that's the most incredible picture I've ever seen. Jotaro, you look like Abraham Lincoln if he shaved. You look like someone took a normal kid and just fucking stretched them out. You look like a Slim Jim with arms. You look like--"

" That's enough of that," Jotaro interrupts. Kakyoin is laughing into his hands. "Good lord, it's not that surprising. Did you just think I sprang fully-formed out of Mom's head or something?"

Polnareff and Kakyoin blink at him. "Kinda, yeah," they say in unison. He hates both of them.

But at least Polnareff doesn't look so beaten-down anymore.

Chapter Text

Joseph and Polnareff are sort of interested in celebrating Christmas, but Kakyoin and Jotaro are pretty ambivalent about it. The big problem is that none of them have been exactly focused on getting gifts for anyone, or any sort of decoration, or even fancy food. They compromise by spending the evening of the 24th "feeling grateful for their families," as Joseph describes it. But between Polnareff's remaining guilt about his sister (and Abdul), Holly's status as "currently endangered," and Kakyoin's strained relationship with his parents, it turns out that there's not a lot that any of them feel comfortable talking about. So after a couple embarrassing words of appreciation from Joseph about Jotaro, and Jotaro's grumbled "Yeah, you're okay," the four of them fall into an awkward silence around the campfire.

"I guess… I'm thankful for you guys," Kakyoin says eventually. He stares into the fire so he doesn't have to make eye contact with anyone. "Not to, like, make everything all mushy, but. I haven't really had friends before. It's nice."

Joseph mimes wiping his eyes, and Polnareff throws an arm around Kakyoin's shoulders.

"Awwwwww, little Kakyoin, that's so sweet! We love you too, bro. Right, Jojo boys? Come here, both of you, you're not escaping this disgusting group hug deal. Come on, bring it in," Polnareff says, reaching out to pull Joseph and Jotaro in.

"Shit, if I'd known you'd do this, I woulda just kept my mouth shut," Kakyoin says, but he accepts his fate of being awkwardly sandwiched between Jotaro and Polnareff. Jotaro holds himself carefully a little bit away from him until Kakyoin rolls his eyes at him and leans into his side.

"Just humor him," he whispers, feeling his face heat up stupidly. He's pretty sure that between the darkness of the night and the warm glow of the fire, no one can tell, but still. Jotaro sighs noisily, but relaxes against him and doesn't move away even when Polnareff releases his death grip on his jacket.

Joseph and Polnareff eventually scoot back to being a normal distance away from each other and from Kakyoin, talking about something else. Normally Kakyoin might try to engage with them, but right now he can't really pay attention, because he's busy quietly dying over how he can feel every time Jotaro breathes. He's still so close, and he's so warm.

"For what it's worth," Jotaro murmurs, "I'm in the same boat as you here. I never really had friends either."

Kakyoin looks at him from the corner of his eyes. "What, really? But you're so…"

"Most people would end that sentence with 'intimidating' or 'unfriendly,'" Jotaro says dryly.

"Right, because most people have been right about the two of us so often," Kakyoin says with an eyeroll. "I was going to end that sentence with something flattering, but I guess you don't wanna hear it."

"Ugh, compliments," Jotaro says with an exaggerated grimace. "Gives me hives." But then he leans closer, ducks his head so he's more at eye level with Kakyoin. "No, tell me what you were gonna say. If only I can know what to avoid expressing next time I'm out in public."

Kakyoin chuckles. "I didn't actually really know how I was gonna end that sentence. There's kind of no adjective that's a really good fit there. You're kind of a weird guy, you know. I guess you're just…  you're so… you're so you, " he finishes lamely.

Jotaro is watching him intensely. "I'm so me," he repeats.

"Yeah."

"And that's a compliment to you," he says.

"Yes?"

Jotaro just keeps staring at him. He feels like he should probably look away, but apparently extended eye contact with Jotaro isn't as physically painful as it is with pretty much anyone else, so. He lets it happen. Something feels like it's cracking open inside his chest.

"Kakyoin?" Jotaro says, tugging on his cap.

"Yeah?"

"Can I--"

" All right, boys, pack it up! It's bedtime for babies. And grown-ups. And whatever Polnareff is, I guess," Joseph interrupts him loudly. He's already rummaging around in the car for the sleeping bags, not even looking at the two of them.

Jotaro just groans and tips his head forward so that his capped forehead rests on Kakyoin's shoulder. "I'm gonna kick his ass, I swear to god," he grumbles. Kakyoin doesn't answer, on account of his heart being somewhere up in his throat. He's pretty sure Jotaro just tried to kiss him. He is choking on fondness for this disaster of a boy, but all he can do is pat the inside of Jotaro's knee awkwardly. Jotaro just hums and mushes the side of his face further into Kakyoin's shoulder.

Polnareff leans around to look at them. He raises his eyebrows at Kakyoin and gestures curiously at Jotaro. Kakyoin shrugs with the shoulder Jotaro's not on and smiles helplessly. Polnareff's face splits into a wide, goofy grin and he flashes Kakyoin a double thumbs up.

"Are any of you weirdos listening to me? I'm not gonna set up your sleeping bags for you!" Joseph calls.

Jotaro finally peels himself away so they can both set up for the night.

Kakyoin feels colder immediately.

Chapter Text

When they finally meet back up with Abdul again, he is accompanied by a flurry of activity. The submarine sinking is obviously not ideal, and neither is getting eaten by the sea floor, but it does give Jotaro an excuse to punch the shit out of things. In the ocean. It's two of his favorite things combined. Also, he learns that Kakyoin apparently knows both scuba hand signal etiquette and Japanese Sign Language, which is embarrassingly charming. When did he learn those things? How did he not have friends before this whole disaster road trip? Jotaro may never understand.

They haven't really had another moment of closeness since the 25th, which on the one hand kind of sucks, because he likes Kakyoin, likes hanging out with him. Likes the fact that Kakyoin would probably let him kiss him, if he asked. But on the other hand, they still haven't talked about what happened with Death 13, and how no one believed Kakyoin, and how Kakyoin is still the only one who remembers what really happened. Jotaro knows, logically, that at some point they should probably talk about it. But "talking about my trust issues" is way, way, way down on the list of things that Jotaro wants to do with anyone , let alone Kakyoin.

At least with Abdul's return, Polnareff is back to his normal goofy self ("normal" being relative here). He's handsier with Abdul than he is with anyone else, to which Abdul seems to put up only token protest. Jotaro is glad he's not the only one with a crush.

A couple days after their arrival in Egypt, Joseph stops in the middle of whatever inane story he's telling this time to ask, "Say, what's the date today? Like what year is it?"

After a brief, puzzled pause, Kakyoin informs him that it's "December 31, 1988. Are you feeling okay?"

Joseph scoffs. "I'm fine, can't an old man lose track of the years once in awhile? I have so many more of them under my belt than you infants. My god, 1989 already."

"Something significant about 1989?" Abdul asks, because he's a good friend. It would not have occurred to Jotaro to pursue that line of thought. It feels like all of the natural good-naturedness is concentrated in the front of the car: Joseph driving, Abdul in the passenger seat, while Polnareff, Kakyoin, and Jotaro are crammed onto the back bench. Jotaro misses the Indian car, which had three seats in both ends. At least he has a window seat, though-- of the three of them, Kakyoin has the narrowest shoulders, so he got stuck in the middle. Sucker.

"Yeah, it'll be fifty years since I fought a bunch of Mesoamerican gods, met my weird hot mom, lost the best friend I've ever had, and got married to my darling Suzie," Joseph says. Then he lets go of the steering wheel to wiggle the fingers of his right hand. "Also I lost this hand when I punched one of the gods into space. It was a wild couple of months."

Polnareff squints at him. "Is this like… Are you doing one of those 'three truths and a lie' things? Some of those events don't sound like real things that happened."

"No, no, all of that happened. Jotaro, you know Grandma Suzie, back me up here."

"Y'know, old man, as shocking as it is that you convinced some poor woman to marry you, something tells me that is not actually what Polnareff is questioning here." Jotaro knows only a little about Joseph's youth, and what he does know makes him think that he's probably telling the truth here, but sometimes you just gotta be a shithead to your relatives. He knows that Joseph would do the same if he were in Jotaro's position.

"Ah, Jojo, you think that giving a smartass answer will save you from this conversation. What's that you said a couple weeks ago? Um, joke's on you , I believe were your words. Now I have an excuse to tell everyone in the car all about my young adulthood." Oh, for god's sake. "It all started when I moved to New York…"

The next couple hours of the drive are taken up by Joseph's colorful explanation of his entire life ages 16-18. It's actually pretty interesting-- not that Jotaro would ever tell him that-- and it means that the only time Jotaro has to speak is to heckle Joseph, which is always a good thing. Joseph is actually an okay storyteller, and Polnareff actually tears up when he gets to Caesar's fate.

"Anyway," Joseph finishes eventually, "I don't really feel the need to celebrate punching Karz into space, but I guess I'll want to do something for Caesar. And my 50th anniversary with Suzie is a big deal, obviously."

"Don't take this the wrong way or anything-- I know you Englishmen are weird about this kinda thing-- but like, were you and Caesar… a thing?" Polnareff asks. "The way you're talking about him kinda sounds like he was a thing."

Joseph hums thoughtfully. Jotaro feels weirdly anxious about what his answer's going to be. "We never kissed or anything. But I was in love with him, yeah. We never talked about it or anything, but I think he felt the same way."

For a moment they're all quiet. The only sound is the engine growling. "Anyway," Joseph says with a tired-sounding laugh, "I guess that's my advice for the day. Don't let the people you love die without telling them you love them."

"That's a fucking downer of a moral," Jotaro says, trying to wrench this conversation back into safe territory.

"Okay, how about: try to avoid fighting ancient superpowered gods, even if they're really, really evil?"

"That one sucks too," Kakyoin says.

"Tough crowd," Joseph grumbles. "How about you fuckers try to sum up your lives into one piece of advice, it's harder than it sounds."

"I know what mine would be! Fuck bitches, get money, " Polnareff says gleefully. Abdul rolls his eyes and makes a pfuh sound through his lips. This is a mistake, as it only makes Polnareff focus back on him. "Abdul's would be… hmmm. 'Be nice to handsome strangers with nice hair?'"

"It's interesting you should say that, Jean-Pierre, as I haven't had a meaningful encounter with a handsome stranger with nice hair in years. Have you become a fortune teller too?"

Polnareff clutches his chest. "Abdul, you wound me!"

They bicker back and forth for a while, and Jotaro tunes them out in favor of staring out the window at the dusty landscape passing by. The sun is starting to go down. He's really glad he's here right now, and not in fucking high school.

The bickering peters off after a while, and Polnareff turns on the radio for the first time, the volume down low. Jotaro doesn't know the song, but it's slow for a pop song. A good song for zoning out to. Towards the end, he's pulled back to reality by something jostling his shoulder. When he glances down, his stomach flips a little: Kakyoin is leaning against his side, his head on Jotaro's shoulder.

"Is that comfortable for you?" he whispers. Kakyoin just grunts sleepily. Jotaro actually, physically feels his soul ascending. Abdul catches his eye in the side mirror-- of course -- and grins widely at him, but doesn't draw attention to them. Honestly, Abdul is his favorite.

Jotaro just leans his head back against the window and tries not to move. After a while he falls asleep, feeling nervous but good.

He's solidly enough asleep that he doesn't stir when Polnareff leans around Kakyoin to take a picture of both of them, with flash and everything. That photo, too, finds itself tucked between the pages of 101 Amazing Sea Creatures!

Chapter Text

Of course-- of course -- three days later they fight with N'Doul, and Kakyoin gets his eyes almost torn out, because apparently he can't have anything good. To his later embarrassment, he passes out when his eyes get slashed-- all he remembers is watching the claws of N'Doul's stand coming towards his face in almost slow motion, and then a burst of pain, and the omnipresent fear he has hidden so successfully up until then rising up and choking him.

When he comes to again, he's dizzy and disoriented and someone is touching his face. He can't see anything, and it feels like his whole face is on fire.

"Don't open your eyes," comes Jotaro's voice from somewhere above him. "I'm trying to bandage them." Some of the fear leaves Kakyoin: he's probably not dead or dying. He reaches out blindly and manages to hook his fingers around what feels like might be part of Jotaro's jacket.

"Is everyone else okay?" Kakyoin manages.

"We're all fine," comes Polnareff's voice. "Jotaro found the guy and punched him to shit. My one regret is that they were too far away to really be entertaining."

"Wow, Jojo, show some consideration next time," Kakyoin says to hide his relief.

"Ah, Kakyoin's got jokes, I guess he's feeling better," Jotaro says. He finishes tying the bandage, giving it a soft tug to make sure it's secure, and pats Kakyoin's cheek gruffly. "Are you okay to sit up? We have a helicopter from the Speedwagon Foundation coming to pick you up."

Kakyoin focuses on the ground beneath him, tries desperately to ignore the pain in his eyes, and levers himself up slowly. He feels a wide hand on his back, firm and comforting. His head is still kind of swimming, so he feels justified when he tips to the side to lean against Jotaro, silently pleased when he successfully makes contact instead of just falling back over, as he feared. Jotaro huffs out a breath, but his hand stays. They sit like that until the helicopter arrives.

--

He doesn't realize how anxious he still is until the doctor tells him, "It'll take a while, but your eyesight should be fine," and then suddenly he can actually breathe. It's less as if a weight has been removed, and more like he was being eaten by a boa constrictor and its coils have fallen away. He stutters out a thank you and then bravely waits until he hears the doctor leaving to collapse back against the hospital bed. He realizes, of course, that there are plenty of blind people who are completely capable of doing the things they want to, but still-- he'd never expected to do it himself. He's been having a hell of a time thinking how he can help fight Dio without being able to see.

(Of course, when he learns later that N'Doul himself was blind, he feels stupid. If N'Doul could kick ass while blind, why couldn't he?)

He's stuck in the hospital for almost two weeks. Towards the end of the first week, he's about to tear his own hair out with boredom, so he's thrilled when a nurse peeks into his room to tell him he has visitors. By now the bandages are off his eyes, but the room has to be kept dark in order not to damage them further. He can barely see when Joseph, Polnareff, Abdul, and Jotaro file into his room, but the ongoing dialogue from the four of them is reassuring. Apparently Jotaro was impersonated briefly on their drive here? It's hard for Kakyoin to follow the conversation closely. He lets it wash over him. He's just happy to be back among his friends.

Also, Jotaro started holding his hand when he sat down, so like, there's that.

They have to leave all too soon, but Joseph makes cheery demands that Kakyoin not have too much fun without them, and Polnareff leans over and places a loud, wet kiss on his hair, and Abdul does a quick one-card reading for him (he gets the 10 of Swords, which. Could be more reassuring, frankly), and Jotaro just squeezes his hand and tells him, "Get better soon, it's awful without you there to distract them," and Kakyoin is so helplessly glad that he knows them all.

---

When he is finally able to rejoin them almost a week later, he is accompanied by little Iggy, who is getting along surprisingly well for a dog who lost a foot. Polnareff flings himself around Kakyoin's shoulders, as if they hadn't seen each other for a year instead of only, like, five days, and actually picks him up before handing him off to Abdul, who graciously sets Kakyoin right back the fuck down again. Kakyoin mouths thank you at him, and gets a wink in return.

"Kakyoin! My tiny baby boy! You who are so small, so terribly young! It's good to see you back out in the light of day," Polnareff croons.

Kakyoin rolls his eyes, and then says, "I'm rolling my eyes," because he's wearing sunglasses and he needs Polnareff to know. "Also, fuck off."

"Kakyoin," Jotaro says. Kakyoin looks over to him, and can't help a tiny smile.

"Jotaro," he parrots.

"You look like even more of a dweeb with the sunglasses," Jotaro says.

"Eat shit, Jojo," Kakyoin says, and then he pulls Jotaro in by his giant lapels until they're only inches away, and then he says, "You should probably kiss me," and then Jotaro does.

Polnareff hollers. Joseph hands Abdul ¥2000. Iggy doesn't react, because Iggy is a dog. Kakyoin doesn't notice any of it. He has better things to think about. Like how his sunglasses are kind of in the way, and how his forehead is kind of pushing Jotaro's cap off his head, and how he's not really sure what to do with his lips, actually?

They pull apart a little. Jotaro is doing the thing with his face where he clearly wants to smile, but he feels weird about smiling too wide, so it ends up really understated. Kakyoin likes him so much. "That kind of sucked," he says, grinning.

"Yeah," Jotaro agrees, "We should probably practice more."

"Oh, my God, you two are disgusting already," Polnareff groans. "Let's hurry up and defeat Dio so I don't have to spend any more time around you fuckers."

"Honestly, yeah, we should get going. We only have a couple hours of sunlight left," Joseph says. "Not that I'm not happy for you, or whatever. But also, Kakyoin, get your paws off my favorite grandson."

Kakyoin complies with a laugh. This is good, he thinks. This is a good way to launch into the beginning of the end of it.

"All right," Jotaro says, striding towards the mansion. "Let's do this."