The fear of the ocean

5 - Maelstrom

He huffs, a sheen of sweat on his body and rivulets of it streaming down his face. Kakyoin squirms out of the tight cocoon of blankets and sheets that was uncomfortably warm. He finds Hierophant Green missing from the foot of his bed, sits up and scans the room for his stand.

"Kakyoin?" He must still be asleep, dreaming. Jotaro wasn't in Japan. He was still overseas studying. That baritone voice must belong to dream Jotaro. Kakyoin gazes longingly at dream Jotaro, taking in the white hat and coat he wore and those lovely blue eyes that seemed to set him at ease in a mere second...

And dream Jotaro reaches out and pulls Kakyoin into a hug, snapping him out of his post-nap confusion.

"I'm here." Jotaro says. Kakyoin pushes Jotaro back, scanning the other's face, confirming that this was no dream nor stranger.

"Jotaro!" Kakyoin yells and he tackles Jotaro down and he clings onto Jotaro for dear life.

"Yare yare daze, Kakyoin. Careful, don't kill me before we can talk again." Jotaro rubs Kakyoin's back as Kakyoin just cries and cries. Jotaro pulls Kakyoin closer, laughing to himself as he stares at the ceiling fan rotating.

Kakyoin's heart was bursting. Jotaro was really here! He was here! He should be angry at him for not telling him that he couldn't make it to the art exhibition on the day itself, and that he let him down, but he was too overwhelmed by Jotaro's presence.

"You are so weird." Kakyoin chuckles through his hiccups and sniffles, and buried his face into Jotaro's shoulder. "Fuck. I feel like a big baby."

Jotaro sits up and adjusts himself into a more comfortable position on the bed, shifting Kakyoin away from his shoulder to look at him.

The foundation on his eyes had been terribly smeared and smudged all the way to his chin. Kakyoin's eyes were bloodshot and his nose dripped from all the crying. His purple eyes danced with joy, his hands now gripped the lapels of Jotaro's jacket and was sitting on Jotaro's lap, legs on either side of the bigger boy's.

"The foundation's smeared. I thought you gave up on covering the scars up." Kakyoin looks away. The intensity of Jotaro's gaze made him fidget. Kakyoin scrambles to get up when he realized he was sitting in Jotaro's lap, groping about for a chair.

Jotaro's deep, rumbling chuckle comes out of the blue. Kakyoin stops struggling and watches his best friend laugh a little. Jotaro's long lashes brush his cheeks as his eyes closed, large hand curled into a fist to cover his beautiful smile as he chuckles...

Kakyoin was mesmerized.

He reaches out for Jotaro's fist, and moves it away. Jotaro opens his eyes with the flutter of lashes and the ocean stares back at Kakyoin, his smile from laughing softens and he sighs.

"Well, did you miss me?"

Kakyoin feels all the hairs on his neck stand and at this point he was sure he was a puddle of human flesh at Jotaro's feet. Jotaro's smile slowly melts away and a brow arches.

"Are you alright, Kakyoin?"

"No!" Kakyoin yelps, suddenly remembering to breathe. The ocean blue of Jotaro's eyes was all that he could see after that smile disappeared. "I mean, yes! I just... now that you are here, I thought you would never be since you called me telling me that you couldn't make it, and I was thinking that you had let me down and-"

"Hey, slow down. We got all the time in the world." Jotaro places a warm hand
on Kakyoin's shoulder, reassuring the red head that he won't leave just yet. "Take a breath, Kakyoin. Your face is extremely red and you feel warm. Are you sick?"