Saturday morning brought with it the warmth that could only mean one thing- beer, sand and the sea. Naturally, Polnareff was the one to suggest this, and before they could even retaliate, Kakyoin found himself standing under a parasol with his arms tightly wrapped around himself to hold his hawaiian shirt close to his body. Polnareff and Joseph were already drinking and Jotaro was in the sea, so the redhead (for a lack of other friends) just consigned himself to guarding the cooler filled with homemade snacks Holy had provided for the group in a bid to avoid the inevitable prompt to remove his shirt. While he appreciated the good intentions of the others, Kakyoin still couldn't bring himself to show others the scars left by Dio- mental, physical, ugly scars as he saw them, dominating his torso and memories of Egypt. Besides, he mentally noted the tall, muscular frames of the other men, just sighing and looking at his own toned physique; while above average height and of an immensely fit build, the giants he called friends still dwarfed him in every way as he saw them running and playing an odd one-a-side game of volleyball in which Polnareff just barely scraped the ball with his fingertips to send it flying back over the net haphazardly hammered into the sand. Their smiles seemed genuine, yet Kakyoin could still sense it: the emptiness hanging over them, the deep voice and angry barking missing from the beach. His own smile faded slightly, a voice taking him off guard as he zoned out a little.
"You sense it too, huh?" Jotaro's sudden presence caused him to jump, Hierophant instinctively protecting him but fading as Star Platinum just flicked it on the head in an endearing way.
"Jotaro… you're back."
"Clearly." He sounded disinterested, eyes slowly moving from the volleyball game (that Joseph had now won, predicting Polnareff's dejected groan with a prideful grin) to Kakyoin's abandoned painting he'd been working on to pass the time. It was relatively simple in the terms of colour palette, yet Jotaro quickly picked out the blues, blacks and skin tones contrasting against the yellow background, eyes widening an inch as he realised it to be himself. Kakyoin shifted under his gaze, awaiting feedback of any kind- yet Jotaro looked away, just retrieving his hat and beginning to walk off, leaving with him a sense of unease in Kakyoin that was quickly thrown with the arrival of Joseph.
"Ay, Kakyoin! Throw me a cold one!"
The teen quickly responded, the man nodding his thanks as he opened it and wandered over.
"Having fun?"
"I guess." The redhead shrugged, glancing once more at Jotaro (who was now poring over a starfish with incredible interest) with uneasy eyes. His departure had been so casual yet reaction so intense (for him) that Kakyoin couldn't help but worry, Joseph picking up on this and just offering him the beer.
"You, my friend, need this far more than me." He chuckled, Kakyoin not hesitating to start drinking as the man's chuckle developed to a full laugh of amusement. "Easy, tiger! You've got all day to drink. Don't blow it too early, eh?"
The day flew by this way- sun, sand, beer and laughter without a care for what they'd lost, sorrows drowned in water fights or wrestling on the beach. As the sunlight began to fade, the Crusaders sat in a row on a small bank overlooking the sea, drinking in the last embers of warmth before cool night came to steal their minds back to that fateful night halfway across the world. They returned to the house this way, each retiring to their rooms to reminisce and drink outside of the good natured 'cold ones' of the day, to cope (or not).