Chapter Text
Jotaro clutches the pillow in a death grip. His body heaving as sobs racked his body. He holds the pillow up to his chest and curls around it, his eyes red with tears and his face contorted as he continues to sob. Tears stream down his face and stain the pillow that’s threatening to rip at the seams. After what felt like hours, Jotaro finally passes out from exhaustion, the pillow softly falling from his hands as his grip softens.
“Jotaro?” Noriaki softly knocks on the door as he peers his head inside Jotaro’s bedroom.
The room’s messy with clothes strewn about and blanks hanging haphazardly off the bed. Noriaki slowly opens the door just enough for him to get his slim frame inside, he steps around Jotaro’s gakuran and softly closes the door behind him.
“JoJo?” Noriaki says as he approaches the bed, making sure to not scare the teen.
He hears a grumble come from under the covers on the other side of the bed. Noriaki perks up and begins to move to that side of the bed where Jotaro is.
“So close, no matter how far,” Jotaro mumbles as he hides his face into his pillow.
He can hear Noriaki approach him so he quickly wipes his tears and fixes his hair. No-one can see him like this. Not even his own mother who raised him.
Noriaki kneels down in front of Jotaro and pulls the blanket away from his face, revealing a very distraught face. Noriaki softly smiles and cups Jotaro’s cheek with his palm, slowly caressing it. Jotaro sighs and leans into Noriaki’s palm, gladly accepting the kind and warming gesture.
“I know you're not okay, but can you please come eat?” Noriaki asks Jotaro as he continues to caress his cheek.
Jotaro just nods and sits up, grunting as his joints click and grind together from last night. He ignores the nagging voice in his head that’s telling him to kiss Noriaki. ‘We're just friends’ Jotaro thinks as he swings his legs off the bed, letting them dangle next to Noriaki. Jotaro sighs and rubs his face, it’s still raw and red from last night, he hopes it looks better this morning.
“Say, Nori, why'd you come check on me?” Jotaro asks as he puts on his gakuran, he looks over at Noriaki who’s leaning against the door frame with his arms crossed in-front of his own green gakuran.
Noriaki sighs and shifts his weight slightly, his face drops slightly as he looks at Jotaro.
“Because I care about you!” His smile immediately re-appearing when he says it.
Jotaro looks at him with a quizzitive look but he decides to not ask Noriaki about it, after all they both had their fair share of trauma. A sigh from Noriaki pulls him out of his thoughts and he looks at him while putting on his gakuran coat. Jotaro’s face shows no emotion as he tries to figure out why Noriaki’s smile dropped slightly.
“Jotaro!” Holly calls as she sees her son appear from his bedroom. She immediately drops what she is doing and runs towards him. She tries to wrap her arms around him to hug him but Jotaro immediately brushes her off.
“Shut up bitch,” He coldly says as he continues walking towards the kitchen.
Noriaki looks at Holly with a pitiful look and glares at the back of Jotaro’s head. He then hugs Holly, much to her surprise, he wraps his arms around her neck and holds her there while Jotaro broods in the kitchen.
“Jotaro, why do you keep calling her a… bitch?” Noriaki asks, he lowers his voice to a whisper when he says ‘bitch’. Jotaro just shrugs as a response and continues eating, he’s eating faster than usual, as if he wants to leave the situation that Noriaki has placed him in. Jotaro slams his chopsticks down onto the table and stands up, the cushion he was sitting on moved out of place. This only irritated him more.
“Give me a fucking break” Jotaro mutters as he walks outside, theres already a lit cigarette in his mouth before he was even standing outside. Noriaki sighs and finishes his meal, he thanks Holly and goes to join the now very angry Jotaro.
As Noriaki stands next to Jotaro, Jotaro puffs out smoke and stomps on the butt of the now gone cigarette.
“Good grief,” Jotaro mutters as he looks ahead at the plants Holly planted years ago.
He turns to look at Noriaki, who is also looking ahead, his hands are clasped together but the edge of his gakuran is moving slightly. He scoffs and reaches to light another cigarette, only to find that they are gone.
“I took them,” Noriaki confidently says, he doesn’t look at Jotaro, instead opting to look at the garden.
“Why,” Jotaro grinds out, he wants to punch the shit out of Noriaki but Holly would definitely kill him if he does, so he instead grips onto the wooden rail that his lighter is sitting on. The rail bends and begins to splinter with the force of his grip. Noriaki doesn’t notice the rail slowly crushing in on itself, instead he grabs the pack of cigarettes from his pocket and throws them into the garden.
“Because you need to quit this habit!” Noriaki shouts, he looks at Jotaro’s stone cold expression. He scoffs and looks away, tears start streaming down his face. Jotaro continues looking at him, his expression unwavering as Noriaki continues crying. ‘Does Noriaki actually care about me?’ Jotaro wonders as he looks at Noriaki and then the cigarettes that have been thrown over the railing.
“Do you really think that?” Jotaro says, his voice full of doubt.
Noriaki turns to face him again, the tears have stopped but his eyes are still red from the crying. Noriaki just nods his head and adverts his gaze down to look at his feet, feeling too humiliated to look Jotaro in the eyes. Noriaki can feel a soft hand lift his chin up, he looks up with his eyes and he can see Jotaro staring at him, but instead of his expression being emotionless, he can see the care in Jotaro’s eyes. Jotaro then slowly tilts his head down to Noriaki. He presses his lips onto Noriaki. Noriaki’s eyes open wide at the sudden contact but slowly shut as he falls into the kiss.
Jotaros lips are so soft and warm, it reminds him of drinking peppermint tea, curled up on the couch with a good book on a cold and rainy day. Noriaki sighs into the kiss, his lips feel electric as Jotaro pushes theirs together.
Jotaro’s the first one to pull away from the kiss. His entire face is flushed a deep red as he looks down at Noriaki. He smiles for the first time that Noriaki has seen, and puts an arm around Noriaki’s shoulders, without saying a word and stares out into the garden. Noriaki leans into Jotaros side and cuddles against Jotaros large frame.