A/N: I'm aware this story is set during summer when the events of Part 3 take place during autumn/winter but i think that summer is a more romantic season sorry ;; ALSO THIS IS SUPER DUPER CHEESY SORRY!
The summer air was too hot for Jotaro - too thick, too clammy. He desperately untangled himself from his bedsheets and sat upright momentarily. He sighed. Strange dreams again.
Jotaro was good-looking, everyone knew that, he himself knew that. Since he was little people had commented to his mother on play-dates or at school pick-ups that he would break many hearts in his lifetime.
It sounded cliche, but it was true.
Girls practically crawled on all-fours just to catch a glimpse of him. He'd be walking to his next class and would find himself interrupted by squealing first years and the occasional love confession. He shrugged it off. He hated attention. He hated most women.
Yet why this specific dream again.
Since he had met her during his confrontation with Kakyoin in the nurse's office that faithful day, he couldn't make his mind up on whether he liked her or not. Not 'like' in the sense of 'love', but in a general use of the term. He acknowledged her presence during the fight with Kakyoin but suspected that she was looking for attention just being there. When she followed him home -much to his dismay- he called her a stalker despite her adamantly telling him that she was there to help. But she didn't talk much, and didn't fawn over Jotaro like other women did.
And she was very pretty.
'Snap out of it', Jotaro thought to himself. He had to get ready for school, whether he felt like it or not. Since Egypt and his close encounters with death he was hell-bent on fixing his life. He got up and went to the bathroom.
'Is Jotaro coming today? Did you see him?'
She looked at Kakyoin. The two of them were walking to school down the 'secret passage' the trio always made an effort to walk down together to avoid Jotaro's fangirls.
'Hmm, no. No, I didn't.' Kakyoin replied, 'Which is weird. He said himself he wouldn't bunk off school ever again. And he didn't look particularly lethargic or downright sickly yesterday...'
'Honestly!' she sighed. 'I told him he'd better walk with us today. I have barely any classes with him and we need to organise this thing as soon as possible.'
Suddenly, the two of them heard footsteps behind them fastly approaching.
She whipped her head around. Jotaro. She smiled.
Shit. Jotaro slowed down a little. Why was she smiling at him?
'Okay,' she began while the three of them walked to school. 'Kakyoin and I have been discussing this already so you'd better not pull out at the last minute, JoJo.'
Jotaro turned his head towards hers, she looked cute when she was determined, he had to admit.
'Kakyoin and I have been trying to beat this game for weeks now, the one down at the arcade. But Kakyoin has come up with a really good technique that we're sure will help us beat this thing once and for all. Jotaro, you have to come with us. No-one else in the entire town has got as far as us in this game, it's gonna be monumental.'
'Seriously...' he thought, 'some random arcade game is what she's so excited about.' Sometimes Jotaro wondered what banal things went through her and Kakyoin's mind despite how much he valued them as friends.
'I'm coming to watch you play some stupid game. Do you want me to pay you 300 yen as admission while you're at it?'
She giggled.
'Jotaro! You're our friend. And you've been with us almost every time we've gone to the arcade before.' Kakyoin said.
'Yeah!' she agreed, 'C'mon, JoJo~' she teased him in a sing-song voice.
Jotaro couldn't help but blush only in the slightest when she teased him by using his nickname.
Jotaro exhaled, 'Fine. Whatever...'
'Yes!' she said while high-fiving Kakyoin, 'We can get something to eat after, Jotaro. Don't worry.'
For the rest of their journey to school, the two of them talked non-stop about the game. Jotaro spaced out, in his own little world. It suddenly dawned on him, looking at the trees subtly moving in the calm breeze, that maybe he was beginning to feel a bit jealous of the relationship between her and Kakyoin.
They spent a lot of time together. They had most of their classes together, after all. Maybe it was because Kakyoin was naturally a more friendly guy. Maybe it was because he was slightly feminine and that made her more comfortable around him. He didn't like to think about the possibility that maybe the two of them were beginning to get too close. Kakyoin was starting to build up his own fanclub full of naive high-school girls, whether he liked it or not.
Then the dream came back to his mind again.
He was siting in a secluded area of the school. A tiny, grassy area covered in trees near the back of the school. It was off-limits to both students and teachers, but of course Jotaro didn't give one. He was taking a cigarette break, and she was standing there with him. Except it was close to night time and the sky was turning pinkish-orange. She was shivering, despite it being summer. And she said, 'Jotaro, I'm really cold.' and the most logical thing he could think of, at that moment, was to pull her into a long embrace as his cigarette mysteriously disappeared. It was the warmest feeling Jotaro had felt in a long time. He didn't want it to end.
Suddenly he was in his World History class, learning about the Spanish Armada, or something. He didn't care, yet he knew he had to focus on his work. And in an effort to pull him out of daydreaming about her again, he began to take notes.
The two of them were giggling to themselves again.
She looked up and waved, smiling. 'Jotaro! Are you ready to witness Kakyoin and I make history?'
Jotaro rolled his eyes, 'And waste a whole months worth of money to beat a bunch of LED lights on a screen?'
She pouted. Cute, Jotaro thought.
The trio made their way into the centre of town. Kakyoin and her suspiciously close this time. Shit. He didn't want this.
The two of them were practically bouncing once they had made it to the arcade making a bee-line for the machine.
Despite towering above both of them, Jotaro found it difficult to see what exactly was happening on the screen. They had reached SOME level. SOME boss. But they were making such progress in such a short amount of time it was practically impossible to follow what was going on.
Their bodies were glued together, still mashing buttons - but was that on purpose? Jotaro felt sick. But he didn't want to admit that he loved her. Women are troublesome, you couldn't just read them.
'Ah! This is it!' Kakyoin exclaimed.
The three of them hadn't noticed that a crowd had begun to form.
Suddenly, there was a loud burst of colours and sounds from the arcade machine. The two exclaimed in happiness and jumped up and down while hugging each other.
What the fuck? Jotaro thought.
A clerk from the arcade came up to the two of them, 'Congratulations, you're the first to beat this game here! That's a super hard one, y'know...'
'Isn't it cute how he got his girlfriend involved in beating the video game?' a middle-school student remarked to their friend.
'Yeah! More couples should be like that, think about how many crane machine goodies my girlfriend and I could win if we were like those two.'
Jotaro felt even more sick. Shit. He had to go.
He left the arcade and immediately reached for his cigarettes. Lighting one while impatiently tapping his foot.
'Jotaro? What're you doing out here?'
He turned around to see her face. Somewhat upset and a little concerned. God, he felt like an asshole.
'Yeah, uh. I'm fine. Congratulations, by the way...'
Her face lit up just a little bit. Kakyoin walked out triumphantly. 'Jotaro, now's time for your treat. We can eat wherever you want.'
He chose a small family restaurant beside the arcade. Anything to get out of there as soon as possible.
The three of them sat there, chatting. But it was more just Kakyoin and her. Jotaro looked at the two of them, then took a sip of his beverage. God, he'd blown it. They think he's a dick for acting so emo. And what's worse ti that they're practically dating. Just look at how they look at each other...
'I have to go to the bathroom, excuse me.' she said, getting up.
Now it was just him and Kakyoin.
'Is something up?' Kakyoin asked.
Jotaro looked up from his meal, 'Like what?'
'Jotaro, don't try and act like you haven't been in a bad mood all day. We can tell.' Kakyoin replied, concerned.
Jotaro exhaled through his nose and pulled out a cigarette, 'Nothing.'
Kakyoin looked away to the window, '...Okay...'
He had to tell him.
'Kakyoin?' Jotaro put his cigarette away.
'Yeah?'
'Are you...' Jotaro began, adjusting himself in his seat, 'Are you and her...?'
Kakyoin looked over at the taller figure. He laughed a little, 'No, Jotaro. We're not dating. We're not a couple.'
Jotaro felt a sense of relief wash over himself.
'Why, because you like her?'
What? How?
'How did you-'
Kakyoin laughed a little more, 'JoJo, it's pretty obvious you're head over heels in love with her. We used to joke about how awkward you were trying to talk to her in Egypt.'
Jotaro blushed. Shit.
'But she's very pretty, I understand why someone would want to be with her. I just couldn't, she's like a sister to me.'
The two sat in silence a little more.
'Do you know how I could...' Jotaro began, his voice trailing off just a little.
'Hmm?' Kakyoin answered. 'Jotaro, I've no idea. I have never been out with a girl. She's the closest I've been to a woman since my mother.' He laughed awkwardly.
'Just play it cool. Okay? And treat her with respect if she says no.' Kakyoin ate a little more of his meal. And she was just coming back from having been to the bathroom.
The trio walked home. The sun was setting. A pinkish-orange colour.
'Kakyoin! Don't forget we have that Japanese homework to do!'
'You have that Japanese homework to do. I already did it last night.'
She rolled her eyes, 'Whatever, nerd. Goodnight!'
Kakyoin waved goodbye as he walked down the alley to his house. It was just Jotaro and her now.
'H-hey,' Jotaro said.
'Hmm?' she answered.
'Do you...' Jotaro swallowed, 'Do you want to stay at mine for the night?'
Her face lit up, 'Really? Jotaro, that's so sweet of you.'
'Because you're apartment is so far away, of course.' Jotaro hesitantly added.
The two of them made their way to Jotaro's, and she was still amazed as to just how big his house was.
'I just realised that I haven't been to your's since we rescued Kakyoin' she laughed a little, 'I wonder if your Mom still recognises me...'
Suddenly, the front door opened. Holly stood at the front door with a wide, warm smile.
'Jotaro! Welcome home.' she answered, getting on her tippy-toes just to kiss her tall son on the cheek.
'Mom! Don't...' Jotaro began, startled.
'Hmm?' Holly answered.
'Don't...' Jotaro remembered now, he couldn't be mean to her after what she'd been through months ago, 'Never mind...'
She turned round to see her standing outside. 'Ah! Welcome.' she said happily, 'I haven't seen you in months! How are things?'
Before she could answer, Jotaro butted in, 'Mom, she's really tired, she needs to go to bed.'
'Awwwh, okaay~' Holly said while she made her way back to the living room. 'If you two need anything, I'm just watching the T.V.'
Jotaro and her made their way across to a spare bedroom, just beside Jotaro's room.
'You can sleep here, tonight.' Jotaro said, gesturing to the small room.
Suddenly, Jotaro disappeared. She noticed a small bed with a cover and two pillows in the corner - this was probably the guest room.
As she was beginning to get undress to go to bed. Jotaro opened the door.
'Mom asked me to give you-'
She suddenly covered up her body, despite the fact she was only just beginning to unzip her school skirt.
Jotaro's face turned red, 'I'm so sorry.'
'No,no! It's cool!' she replied, reassuring him.
She grabbed the pyjamas, 'Thank you, JoJo.'
He stood in the doorway for a little while longer.
'I'm not getting changed yet, come sit with me.' she gestured, patting the space beside her.
Jotaro sat down, face still bright red.
'Why are you still blushing?' she asked, 'I'm not naked or anything.'
'I'm just...' Jotaro's mind went blank, racing for an answer as he looked across the room.
'Hey, is something up?' she asked.
He looked at her, 'You're just... very pretty.' his voice trailing off. There, he'd said it.
There was a pause for a moment. The two of them staring at each other, both blushing.
'Uhm...' she began, 'I think you're very good-looking too, Jotaro.'
He looked at her one last time. Does this mean I can hold her?
'C-can I hold you?' he asked. Shit, maybe I'm moving too fast, he thought.
She nodded her head. And Jotaro embraced her, moving her closer to him. He was slightly clumsy, afraid of hurting her. As if she was made of glass. But the warmth he'd felt in his dreams came up again, this time stronger. More defined.
She brought her arms around his broad frame and rested her head on his shoulder. Opting to move her arms to around his shoulders and neck.
It was an awkward start, but Jotaro was happy to be holding her. To actually be true to his feelings for once. Albeit in a clumsy way. He felt her heartbeat and the fragrance of her body lotion mixed with the heat of the summer night. He hoped that she didn't mind the smell of cigarettes on his clothes.
She let go of him, still holding his arms in her hands and bringing them to her waist. She looked up at him, as if signalling for him to make a move. But he was so stunned that he could barely speak. So she brought her face closer to his before their lips met and they stayed there. Nothing heated or passionate. Just simple and loving.
The two of them were happy to be together, even in a stuffy room while the muffled sound of whatever game show played in the living room and the sound of insects outside cooling themselves out in the garden resonated throughout the house.
When their lips parted, Jotaro sighed only a little bit. As if he had finally had a whole lot of weight taken of his shoulders. She smiled and laughed a little. Jotaro laughed too.
'I love you.'