Chapter Text
Ever since Star Platinum had manifested Jotaro had taken care not to get close to anyone, cutting off any friends or acquaintances he may have had before in fear that he would hurt them. He had fully planned to do the same when he met Kakyoin, but it seemed fate had different plans.
Sharing a hotel room with Kakyoin had made since, and Jotaro was immensely grateful not to be forced to share with Polnareff or worse, his grandfather. He had spoken to Kakyoin the most during the trip anyway, and was starting to truly enjoy the man’s company.
“With how our luck is going we’re going to have to walk all the way to Cairo.” Kakyoin called out from the bathroom. He had just showered and had insisted on brushing his teeth before he even let Jotaro think of showering as well. “Enemy stand users on both our plane and our boat? Oh, and don’t get me started on that boat stand, I mean what was that? I’m starting to think you Joestars might be cursed.”
Jotaro huffed in a mimic of a laugh. “I think it’s the old man. Something about him seems to attract trouble.”
“Maybe it’s his personality.” Kakyoin mused as he finally exited the bathroom. “People get their hopes up because of his looks, but then he starts talking and they start punching.”
Jotaro paused. “Are you calling my grandfather hot?”
“Maybe.” Kakyoin shrugged. “All I’m saying is good looks seem to run in the family.”
“Are you calling me hot?”
“Maybe. Who knows, I might be calling your mom hot.” Kakyoin smiled. “Now go shower. Your good looks can only make up for so much.”
“Good grief.” Jotaro grumbled. Kakyoin said something else, but it was lost to Jotaro’s ears as he closed the door to the bathroom.
Jotaro was able to push thoughts of Kakyoin’s comments to the side as he showered, but the conversation quickly returned to his mind when he reentered the room.
Kakyoin was sitting on the bed by the window, which he had claimed the moment they entered the room, and was quietly drawing in the sketchbook Jotaro had only seen a few times. For once Kakyoin didn’t put the sketchbook away when Jotaro returned, but he did angle it in a way that clearly conveyed the fact that he didn’t want Jotaro looking at it. As Kakyoin sketched he would periodically look up at Jotaro, which only piqued the latter's interest even more.
Because Kakyoin wasn’t really trying to hide the fact that he was looking at Jotaro, Jotaro decided it wouldn’t hurt to look at Kakyoin for a bit. He examined how the light from the setting sun highlighted the man’s bangs, how his hands expertly moved across the paper as he sketched, the slight yet prominent bulge of muscle that appeared from under his pajamas as he flexed his arms, the slight crinkle around his eyes and the soft upturn of his lips as he smiled.
All of a sudden something started crawling up his throat, launching Jotaro into a small coughing fit. Kakyoin looked up from his sketchbook with a look of concern, the smile Jotaro had been admiring falling.
“Are you ok?” Kakyoin asked, setting his sketchbook aside.
Jotaro nodded, attempting to speak but unable to stop coughing for long enough to get something out. Kakyoin shot up from his bed to run to the bathroom to get Jotaro a cup of water, but when he returned the coughing had ceased. Instead Kakyoin found Jotaro staring at a small petal in his hands.
“Is that?” Kakyoin asked, setting the cup aside to be forgotten about. “Did you…cough that up?”
Jotaro grunted in affirmation, and felt the bed dip down next to him after. Kakyoin took Jotaro’s hand so he could examine the petals in Jotaro’s hand as well. They were purple with a yellow stripe near the middle. And they had just come out of Jotaro’s lungs.
“Maybe we should tell Mr. Joestar or Avdol about this.” Kakyoin said. “It could be a stand user.”
“Right.” Jotaro muttered, though he made no move to go. If it was a stand then Kakyoin would also be coughing up flowers, but he was fine. Kakyoin moved to the hotel phone anyway, calling Joseph and Avdol’s room and asking them to come down.
Kakyoin moving also spurred Jotaro into action. Jotaro deposited the petals onto the nightstand, opting not to throw them away yet in case Avdol wanted to look at them or something, and moved to sit by Kakyoin so he could listen into the conversation.
“They look almost like Iris petals.” Kakyoin said as he answered whatever question Avdol asked. “I’m not 100% sure about that, though.”
“I’ll take a look at them in the morning.” Avdol replied. “How is Jotaro doing? Does it feel like there are still more petals?”
Kakyoin repeated the questions to Jotaro, and the latter shook his head. “I feel fine.” he added as an afterthought.
“He says he feels fine.” Kakyoin repeated. “And he hasn’t coughed up anything else. Just those first few petals.”
“Alright.” There was some muttering between Avdol and Joseph that neither Jotaro nor Kakyoin could make out, before Avdol spoke again. “Unless more petals come I don’t believe we have anything to worry about at the moment. Hermit Purple hasn’t revealed anything about a stand user, so we doubt this is a stand attack. I have an idea as to what it may be, but I’ll only know for sure if this happens again.”
“So for now we just wait?” Kakyoin asked. “There really isn’t anything we can do about it?”
“Unfortunately not. Our only option now is to wait. Make sure Jotaro knows that if this happens again he should tell me immediately.”
“I will.” Kakyoin hung up on Avdol before turning back to Jotaro. “So. Now we wait.”
Jotaro grunted, standing up so he could return to his own bed. “I’m going to sleep then. Wake me up if something happens.” Jotaro faceplanted onto his bed.
Kakyoin snorted. “Fine. Wake me up if you start choking on flowers again.” Kakyoin sat down on his bed much more gracefully than Jotaro. “Good night, Jotaro.”
Jotaro grunted a good night, reaching up to turn the nightstand light off and plunge the two into darkness. He hoped that when he woke up this whole petal fiasco would just be some weird story they can leave in the past.
The next morning Avdol asked Jotaro if they could speak privately, and Jotaro willingly took the opportunity to not listen to whatever bullshit his grandfather and Polnareff were talking about.
When they were out of earshot Avdol immediately got to the point.“Have you coughed up any more petals, Jotaro?”
“No. Just the ones last night.” Jotaro answered.
“Alright. That's good.” Avdol’s tone made it sound anything but good. His voice and body language screamed uncertainty and worry. “Listen to me, Jotaro. I’m going to tell you about a very rare disease. It is only found among stand users, and even then there have been very few cases of it. This is also only speculation and there is a chance this may not be what is affecting you, but I am telling you just in case my fears are right and you have this disease.”
“Just spit it out, Avdol.”
“The disease is called Hanahaki. It is characterized by flowers growing in the lungs of a stand user. The first symptoms are coughing up petals or leaves, but as it progresses you will start to cough up full flowers and even blood. This disease is fatal if left untreated, so I truly pray that I am wrong.”
Jotaro paused. Fatal? Jotaro could die from a few stupid petals? “How do we treat this?”
“You’re not going to like my answer.” Avdol laughed, but it lacked any humor. “Hanahaki is a disease brought on through sudden or intense feelings of love or longing, and the only way to cure it is to have those feelings reciprocated.”
“I don’t love anyone.” Jotaro snapped.
“As I said, this could be speculation and I truly hope I am wrong.” Avdol sighed. “I just have no idea what else could cause you to cough up petals.”
“It could be Dio. My mom.” Jotaro faltered for a moment thinking about Holly. “My mom is being killed because of a vine-like stand because of Dio. It could be related to that.”
“You’re right, Jotaro. It could be. I just wanted you to be prepared for the worse case scenario. You haven’t coughed up more petals, which is a good sign your theory is correct.” Avdol's tone once again betrayed that he didn't quite believe what he was saying.
Jotaro sighed. “I’ll tell you if the petals come back, but until then last night never happened, alright.”
“Alright. Though make sure to keep a close eye on Kakyoin too. When Mr. Joestar used Hermit Purple to try and figure out what was happening. All it came up with was pictures of you and him, so I worry Kakyoin may start coughing up flowers too,” Avdol smiled. “Now enough of this. Let's head back, shall we? Kakyoin has been practically begging us to return since we left.”
Jotaro turned around just to meet Kakyoin’s eyes. True to Avdol’s words, Kakyoin looked like he was desperate to have someone save him from whatever Joseph and Polnareff were getting up to. When he saw that Jotaro and Avdol were heading back, Kakyoin seemed to physically relax.
“If he starts coughing up flowers I’ll end this myself.” Jotaro quickly muttered to Avdol. “Dio is already attacking my mom and I. I won’t let him take Kakyoin with whatever this is too.”
“I have full faith in you fixing this, Jotaro.” Avdol muttered back “Whether it’s a disease or Dio’s doing, I truly think you and Kakyoin will be able to get through it together. With the rest of our help, of course.”