His heart drops at the words spoken by his mother. She didn't remember him? The nineteen-year-old can feel his stomach start churning with anxiety and despair as she stares blankly off to the side, out the window. "I didn't know I had a son... Though I can see it.." Her voice is small and quiet, almost.. nonexistent.
The redhead hurts. He physically hurts. He doesn't want this to be real.. but it is.
And there is nothing he can do about it.
—
"Jotaro! Congratulations on graduating!" The crippled teen has trouble standing up on his own so has to rely on his crutches; but he's getting better. He's supposed to start wearing leg braces soon to stabilize his legs. He's really excited about it. "Mm-hm." Jotaro only nods softly in reply before slowly walking beside the boy. Kakyoin's very quiet.. it's unnatural. "What's wrong, Noriaki?"
That name. God, it just rolls off his tongue. Kakyoin freezes. "....Nothing, it's.." He starts to blow it off as nothing but he falls silent again. Tears start welling up in his eyes and before he can do anything about them he's starting to cry, soft sobs coming from his mouth as he raises his free hand to cover it as a muffle. He needs to sit. His legs are starting to give—and Star suddenly appears when the redhead starts to stumble. Jotaro catches him and pulls him close into a hug, something he refused to do in public often. But even he could see that he needed it, more now than ever.
"Come on, let's go home." He pulls him along, leading him down the road.
—
Kakyoin grabs the boys hand, laughing as he pulled him up. It was a little past four, but they had the rest of the day for sleep. Everyone was in need of it. "What the hell are you doing?"
"Dancing! Don't you hear the music?" Kakyoin has a grin on his face, laughing as he twirled around the room. He didn't have the ability to be a kid when he was small. Now he had a friend to, and he was gonna make the most of it. Jotaro stares in confusion, but just shakes his head.
Kakyoin wouldn't be stopping anytime soon.
—
Shakily, Kakyoin sits on the bed. Tears still streaming down his face, Jotaro carefully wraps a blanket around him and rubs his shoulders. Comfort wasn't his forte, but he didn't mind doing it. "What's wrong."
"..." Kakyoin sniffs, leaning into his body. He can't talk. He needs to but he will start crying again.. crying was something he didn't like doing. "M-My... mom doesn't remember me..." A quiet whisper of words. Jotaros' hand raises to wipe his face for him, pulling him into a well needed hug. Kakyoin just breaks down, gripping his jacket desperately as he let out pain filled sobs into his chest. Jotaro aches. A hand rubs at his back as he pulled him close, settling back against the bed with him in arms. Seeing his best friend—no, boyfriend... seeing him hurt like this was painful.
Actually—were they even boyfriends? He's.. kissed him more than once in the past few months and they've cuddled and slept in the same bed.. but neither of them actually asked. Maybe he will sometime later on. For now, his priority was getting Kakyoin calmed.
"I'm so scared.."
—
Hand is placed carefully on her almost paper thin skin. She's cold, but not too cold. He pulls the cover over her.
He can't stomach the thought of losing her.. how long does she have? How much time does he have until she's completely gone and unable to function, or how long until she—
"When is my father coming?" Her voice is soft, but sweet. Kakyoin can feel the color drain from his skin. His grandparents have been dead for years. "H-He.. isn't here with us anymore.."
"Nonsense. He was here yesterday!"
—
More tears come barreling down his face as he thinks about it. Jotaro places a hand on his head and carefully runs it down comfortingly slow, eyes shut tightly. He knows how hard this is hitting him.. how much it's gonna affect him.
How much it'll destroy him.
-
"She has something. I don't know what it is.. my dad never told me. He says it's for the best." Kakyoin's words crackle under pressure as he tries to keep his composure. Jotaro looks at him with a stern look as always; but it.. softens. Just a tad.
"Says it's to protect me. I'll be eighteen next year for christs sake! Shouldn't I get to know what the fuck my mom's dying of?!"
-
He can feel his shaking die down and his grip loosen. Kakyoin shifts a little and moves to lay under his arm, his eyes heavy with sleep now. He's exhausted. "I..." He starts to speak a bit before he just goes silent. "...I..I really don't want her to let go.." He sulks out, violet eyes lidded and barely open as he curls himself into the raven haired male. Jotaro doesn't know what to say... he had been there with his own mother—but nothing like this. His mom had a chance to be saved.
His didn't.
"I'm... sorry.." He says softly and gently turns to face him, pulling him close as he rubs his back; in turn, Kakyoin grips onto him and shakes his head. "We can go see her." He knows that time is vital in times like this, it was the same when he was losing his grandma on his fathers side. He doesn't see his father much.. but he tries. That day he was torn to pieces, and for the first time he seen his father break down crying.
Jotaro was eight at the time. He remembers it vividly, though; as if it was yesterday, he remembers the words he said: "I'm sorry for not being there."
"Can we...?" Kakyoin whispers, face red from crying so much. Jotaro nods, slowly leaning up and brushing the red haired boys locks from his eyes once he did the same. "Yeah. We can." He nods, standing up moments later. Visiting hours didn't end until later that afternoon so they had time. Kakyoin slowly leans up and stands with the help of Jotaro, grabbing his crutches and slowly heading towards the door.
—
"Is your knee torn up that bad..?" Soft voice comes over the small boys crying, gentle hands rubbing the blood away from the gash. He slipped and fell getting off the porch and cut his knee open. His mother was tending to the gash now, letting him catch his breath and calm down.
"Don't worry. Mama will kiss it better." She smiled and reached over, grabbing a bandage and some disinfectant before patching him up. Leaning down, she pressed a kiss to his knee over the bandage before kissing his head with a soft smile. "There, all better. Do you want some cherries?"
—
The walk to the hospital was quiet. He didn't need to talk, nor did he really want to.. just the presence of Jotaro was enough to calm him... it was all he needed. The sound of the moving doors comes into earshot as they approach and the two go through them with ease, checking in before heading to the elevator.
"She's.. been acting weird. Saying her father—my grandfather, is still alive.. and that she's been talking to him.." He talks in a whisper, almost. "..." Jotaro adjusts his hat and looks down. He doesn't know much about it, what she has—which he doesn't know either, but is guessing it's degenerative dementia of some kind, but it's tough to watch him be in such pain. He waits before moving to gently grab his hand, holding it. An attempt at silent comfort.. he didn't know what to say so he'd just be there for him. That's all he could do.
The elevator jolts as it stops and sends Kakyoin's heart racing for a split second, hand squeezing the others before he begins out, hobbling along. She was just down the hall from the waiting area, so it was a short lived walk. Knocking gently, he pushed the heavy door open. "Hey, mom.." He says as he enters; violets meeting with her icy blue ones. "Mom..?" She repeats; looking back to the window. "I guess so.. we do look alike." She chuckled. Kakyoin looked down at the tile, a sigh having to be forced down. He hated this.
"Have you eaten today? Did the nurse bring you anything?" He asks, sitting on the bed near her. She nods, looking back over. Her eyes cast to Jotaro. "Who's that?" She starts; "Jotaro. Friend." He grunts out, sitting in the chair in the corner with a huff as he lands. "It's nice to meet you, Jotaro-san." She smiles, bringing a hand up to cough.
This.. was going to be a long visit.