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“Fuck… I’m fucking dying...”
“Well, what else did you expect?”
Turquoise eyes glared from where they laid in one of the beds, eyeing the source of unsympathetic sass that sat across the hotel room on the other bed. “You literally had a zombified baby take a chunk out of your leg, how the hell did you not think that’d make you sick at all?”
Kakyoin had a valid point, loathe that Jotaro was to admit it. After the fight with Enya and her stand, Justice, he and Polnareff came down with pretty bad fevers that forced the group to stop at the first hotel they came across. Thankfully, he didn’t have it nearly as bad as Polnareff did, having only suffered a small wound on his left leg, but it was still enough to have him weak, shaking, and feverish upon arrival.
Joseph took it upon himself to room with Polnareff (thankfully), reasoning that “he’s more experienced taking care of sick people anyways, so he should probably take the sicker of the two.”
Really he and Kakyoin just knew that of the two remaining healthy crusaders, Kakyoin would annoy Jotaro the least, especially in this state.
And so here they were, Jotaro practically buried in blankets (the redhead had been nice enough to help him out of his school uniform, hat set aside on the bedside table) glaring at Kakyoin because yeah, he was pretty stupid for not thinking about the possibility of getting sick. He sure as hell didn’t like being told it though, even if it was coming from the one person he genuinely loved the most (besides his mother, but that was a familial love).
He let out a long, weary sigh, shutting his eyes as he did so. It was pointless to snap back or act like a sarcastic ass, even he knew that. He'd rather bite the bullet than piss off his partner further, especially in his current state. “Sorry…”
Silence. Long, somewhat awkward silence. Then, he heard shuffling from the other bed onto the carpet, steps coming towards his own bed, and felt a weight dipping down on the mattress next to him. He slowly opened his eyes, looking up to see violet orbs full of genuine concern staring down into his own tired ones.
“No, I’m sorry for being pretty rude. You okay? Usually you’d give me a ‘good grief’ or some kind of witty remark.” He reached one of his hands up to run his long, nimble fingers through Jotaro’s hair, earning him some relaxed sounds and seeing the tension leave Jotaro’s fever-flushed face. “Honestly, I feel like shit to the point I might say something stupid and awful… You don’t deserve that, no matter how much of an ass you are sometimes…”
Kakyoin let out a quiet laugh. “At least you’re honest! Still... feel free to call me out of I’m being a bit much though. I don’t even realize it half the time, so I’d appreciate a heads-up to avoid it.”
A small, bleary smile formed on Jotaro’s lips. “Yeah… sure… It doesn't really bother me that much though...”
.
..
…
They sit like this for a while. Jotaro falling in and out of wakeful consciousness, Kakyoin next to him carding his fingers along Jotaro’s scalp as he reads a book he found in his free hand. At one point he went to the bathroom to shower and change into his striped, silken pajamas; Then afterwards coming back with a cold damp hand towel to lay it on Jotaro’s forehead. This gave him an appreciative hum in return. Overall, probably the most peaceful and relaxed they’ve been since starting this crusade.
So of course, the peace had to be broken by a loud series of rapping on the hotel room door. “For fucks sake… ” Jotaro grumbled, struggling to sit up and glaring at the door like he was trying to annihilate both it and the visitor with vision alone. The now-warm towel sliding off and flopping onto his blanketed lap. “I don’t care who it is, I’ll fucking deck them with my stand if they keep that up…”
The redhead hung his head. “Ugh… Believe me, I feel your pain Jojo. I’ll go check, it’s probably Mr.Joestar.” With a huff, Kakyoin got up off the bed (Jotaro letting out a slight whine at the lack of comforting body heat next to him now), and strode over to stare through the peephole.
“Yup, it’s Mr.Joestar.”
“Tell him to fuck off please …” Jotaro moaned, “last thing I need is a plane crashing into this hotel or something… would rather be taken out by this damn fever...”
Kakyoin chuckled as he softly opened the door, glancing up at Joseph. “I finally got Polnareff to go to sleep after hours of nonstop whining! Is Jotaro doing any better?!”
The redhead winced slightly at the volume and gave him a somewhat sympathetic look. “He was , but the knocking woke him up put him in a bad mood. Probably the yelling too actually.”
Joseph look appalled, and notably toned his voice down to a loud whisper. “Oh my god I’m sorry… If it’s any consolation though, I brought some medicine with me. Should be strong enough to knock him back out again. Definitely worked on Polnareff.” He lifted up a small bottle in his right hand, handing it to Kakyoin.
“Thanks Mr.Joestar, I’ll go ahead and give it to him right now.”
“No problem, just make sure he actually drinks the damn stuff” He laughed.
Kakyoin shut the door closed behind him, reading the label on the bottle as best as he could considering it was in English. Nyquil . Whatever that was sounded pretty gross. He glanced over at his partner, who he noticed was laying back down on the bed again, the hand towel having traveled to lay uselessly on the carpet. “Hey, I’m back Jojo. Mr.Joestar gave me this for you.”
He stood and held the bottle up as Jotaro stared at it, his face slowly morphing into one of absolute disgust. “Of all the shit he could’ve given me it had to be American medicine…”
Kakyoin walked the rest of the distance, flumping down on the bed beside him and turned to give him a pleading look. “Please tell me I won’t have to tie you up with Hierophant just to get you to drink this stuff.” Jotaro snorted (as much as he could with a clogged nose anyways) and gave him a smirk. “No… I’ll drink it. Just be prepared for a lot of complaining afterwards though. I hate this stuff with a burning passion.”
Kakyoin smiled thinly, scooting forward to lay down on his back as well. “Alright then.”
.
..
…
Jesus he wasn’t kidding. Instead of falling asleep like Joseph said he should, Jotaro stayed awake, clearly intent on bashing Nyquil as much as he could. Kakyoin leaned over and picked the bottle up to read the label again. Yeah, it was supposed to make this boy tired. Instead it felt like it just made him more awake.
He gently set it back down on the bedside table and gave Jotaro an exasperated look that made him pause his rambling. “Are you even the least bit tired right now?”
Amazingly, he thought he could see a sheepish look on Jotaro’s face, or as much as his usually stoic face could muster. “Honestly, I’m fucking exhausted… I just don’t want to sleep.” He looked away aimlessly, a hint of red dusting his cheeks (which thankfully were much less flushed than earlier).
Kakyoin raised his eyebrows. “Why?”
“... It’s just been a while since we’ve been in the same room together. I just really want this.” As if to make his point, he shifted and flopped on top of Kakyoin, wrapping his muscled arms around Kakyoin’s thin waist to hug him tightly. His head was level with the redhead’s collarbone, face nuzzling into the boy below him.
Kakyoin gave a contented sigh as he looked at the tired brunet on top of him, wrapping his own arms around Jotaro’s shoulders to hug him back, rubbing small circles in-between his shoulder blades. “Yeah… I definitely know what you mean...” He paused to let out a long yawn. “But we’ll have plenty more times to do this after all of this is over. Alright?”
“Mhm.”
“I mean it. Who knows, maybe we can make it official when we get back to Japan.”
“Mhmm…”
The peaceful silence is back, surrounding the pair of them like the world's safest blanket. It feels like ages before quiet snores began to ring out into the room, signaling that Jotaro finally fell asleep. Deciding he should turn in for the night too, Kakyoin had Hierophant Green slither over to the nearby lamp to turn it off while he still held Jotaro, leaving only the lights outside to gently stream in through the hotel room window like nightlights.
“Goodnight Jojo… I love you…”
He’s pretty sure he felt a light squeeze around his waist in response. Smiling, he too finally succumbed to sleep.