Chapter Text
Jotaro had thought that everything was going really well with Kakyoin, or so he had at least led himself to believe. He had even thought that just maybe there was a chance that his stupid feelings for the other man might be reciprocated. They had been close, after all. Kakyoin had even become the person Jotaro considered to be his closest friend, and he had actually admitted that belief to Kakyoin, albeit from behind a tilted hat brim and through very mumbled words. They had had… moments. Jotaro could have sworn there were moments. Granted, he had never really felt like this before, nor had he been on the receiving end of any sort of affection like this, at least real affection. Being screamed over by random women doesn’t count. But still, he had thought that he and Kakyoin had something. And he had been happy.
But now Kakyoin is being, well, weird.
All of a sudden he’s been distant, not acting like himself at all. Their usual conversations when Jotaro arrives to pick up Jolyne for the day have been cut down to an exchange of hellos and goodbyes, with nothing but an awkward silence in the middle. There’s no more playful teasing from Kakyoin, no more discussions of how their days went, no more smiles that shoot arrows into Jotaro’s heart because of the perfect way they make Kakyoin’s eyes crinkle at the edges. No more anything.
It’s beginning to make Jotaro wonder if he really was imagining that Kakyoin might feel the same way as he does. Jotaro had been considering asking the other man out on a date. He had never in his life thought that would be something he’d want to do with anyone , and yet Kakyoin brings out those sorts of feelings in him, emotions that he wanted to experience more of. Kakyoin makes him happy. Being with Kakyoin gives him the same feeling he gets when he wakes up to find that Jolyne has crawled into his bed overnight. Warm, content, and happy.
Now all he gets from Kakyoin is a cold shoulder. Romantics aside, whether Kakyoin likes him in the same way or not, he’s sure there’s something wrong, and Jotaro intends to find out what.
—
It’s been close to a week since Kakyoin began to avoid Jotaro, and he’s had enough. Today he’s going to confront him. He plans to show up a little later in the evening in the hopes that all of, or at least most of, the kids and other parents will be gone so that he can talk to Kakyoin in peace. It’s just his luck that as he comes in, he’s joining almost quite literally every parent at once.
Jotaro gives a begrudging hello to all of them, thankful for the fact that the only one who’s missing is Dio. Pretty much all of the other adults are perfectly fine. Bruno and Leone don’t talk much, but Bruno is polite and they both clearly love their kids, even if Jotaro is convinced they must be completely insane to have four of them. Especially seeing as he’s noticed that Guido, Trish, Narancia, and Pannacotta aren’t exactly the most calm bunch of brats. Narciso and Weather’s foster parents are also pretty normal, and as Jotaro comes in they disappear out the door relatively quickly with the two boys. Gloria, Hermes’ older sister, is friendly too, and seems to take very good care of her sister and possibly FF, who Jotaro has noticed goes home with them every day.
Dio, on the other hand, is a nightmare parent. Jotaro has had to restrain himself from punching the guy multiple times since starting Jolyne at Emerald Splash. He’s rude to Kakyoin and all the other adults, and he clearly is of the conceited belief that he’s the most important person in the room at all times, therefore making everyone else around beneath him. He also seems to think that his son, Giorno, is God’s gift to the earth. Jotaro has no problem with the kid, he’s perfectly normal and even polite and friendly to the other kids, but his father is a different story. Jotaro can’t help but wonder how that child was produced by someone like Dio.
Still, luckily Dio is nowhere in sight as Jotaro pushes his way through the pack of adults towards Kakyoin.
“Kakyoin.” He says, far more gruffly than he means to. “I want to talk to you.”
The redhead looks at him, his eyes sad, which is an expression Jotaro had never hoped to see on the other man. “Jotaro, I… I don’t know that we have anything to talk about.”
Jotaro doesn’t get the chance to argue before the door opens, and he is shoved to the side by none other than Dio, who has just arrived. Of course. Because why wouldn’t he have the worst timing humanly possible?
“Out of the way, Jotaro.” Dio sneers. “I’m here for my son.”
Kakyoin calls for Giorno and turns to look at Dio again, this time cringing ever so slightly. “I do have to warn you, Mr Brando… today Giorno-”
His words are cut off by a hideous scream from Dio, who has just laid eyes on his child. Giorno’s clothes are splashed with a light green paint, a few flecks of it splattering his chin as well. Giorno seems completely unbothered by this fact, though he looks down a little self-consciously upon hearing his father’s distress.
Kakyoin does his best to step in and rectify the situation, though Jotaro senses that words will do nothing to quell Dio’s outrage.
“He was at the art table and one of the other kids accidentally knocked a jar of paint over. It’s all water-based so it will wash out very easily, I promise!” He says, his voice slightly shaking as Dio’s eyes narrow at him.
It’s pretty obvious that Dio isn’t listening to a single word, just as Jotaro suspected, and as soon as Kakyoin’s mouth is shut, Dio’s opens, and a flood of angry curses and nearly incomprehensible screams of pure wrath begin to tumble out.
Bruno, Leone, and Gloria are all too stunned to make a move at first, but Jotaro is not. He doesn’t hesitate to take Dio’s shirt collar into his fist and slam the other man hard against the wall, using his wrist to press hard against Dio’s throat in an attempt to shut him up. Seething with rage at the way Dio dared to treat Kakyoin of all people, Jotaro snarls.
“Who the fuck do you think you are, talking to Kakyoin like that? He spends all day taking care of your kid, and you think you have the right to treat him like shit? You should be on your fucking knees right now begging for his forgiveness you fucking soulless dick!”
He takes a slight step back, loosening his hold against Dio if only to avoid assault charges and spits, “If you so much as look at him the wrong way ever again I won’t hesitate to break every bone in your pathetic body.”
He releases his grip and Dio shoves him away, taking Giorno by the hand and storming out of Emerald Splash without another word.
Jotaro lets out a breath and closes his eyes. When he opens them again, Kakyoin is standing in front of him, his expression unreadable and full of emotion.
“You’re right. We do need to talk.”
Jotaro just nods and looks at Gloria, who’s still looking a little bit shell-shocked next to him. “Hey, you mind taking Jolyne? She can play with Hermes for a while until I can pick her up.”
Gloria seems surprised by the request, but agrees, waves Jolyne towards herself.
Jolyne pauses in front of Kakyoin on her way over, her eyes wide and nervous. “Mr Nori, are you okay? That was scary.”
Kakyoin chuckles softly, his voice wavering slightly. “Yes, I’m alright. Your dad protected me.”
Jolyne grins, her worries having been eased. “That’s because dad likes you.” She says matter-of-factly before skipping off to join Hermes, FF, and Gloria.
Jotaro sighs and pulls his hat over his eyes, hoping it will conceal the embarrassed blush those words have forced onto his face. Kakyoin laughs a little lighter now.
“Come on, Jotaro, I’ll lock up and take you out for coffee. It’s the least I can do after what you just did anyway.”
—
Neither of them speaks on the way to the coffee shop, nor do they say anything for a few minutes after they take a seat in a booth in the corner. Kakyoin’s heart is racing wildly with a flurry of emotions. It’s racing with affection for Jotaro who just defended him, it’s racing with adrenaline after that confrontation with Dio, and worst of all it’s racing with absolute terror at the conversation that’s about to come.
The silence and the awkwardness between them is completely his fault, he knows it. He spent the last couple of months practically throwing himself at Jotaro, probably making the other man extremely uncomfortable, and yet Jotaro had been kind enough to be his friend anyway. And when he finally learned that Jotaro was taken, rather than reacting normally and keeping his disappointment to himself, he had taken it out on poor Jotaro who was now probably uncomfortable and confused as hell. How he can even begin to rectify the situation is beyond him, but he knows it has to start with an explanation. Still, it’s going to be difficult.
He decides to take the plunge and start.
“Jotaro, I… I want to apologize.”
Jotaro crosses his arms and leans back in his seat, waiting for more.
Kakyoin sighs and stares at the table, a furious blush on his face. “I’m sorry for coming onto you, it was inappropriate and I’m sure it did nothing but make you dislike me. It was foolish of me to think that it was acceptable to flirt with a patron anyway, and I can only hope that you don’t completely hate me. I quite enjoy being your friend, and I love Jolyne like she’s my own daughter, so if you can find it within yourself to forgive me…” He trails off, Jotaro’s silence unnerving him.
He looks up at Jotaro, expecting to see anger, disgust, or more hopefully, forgiveness. However what he sees instead is, well, nothing like he would have thought. Jotaro looks confused. Genuinely confused.
There’s no way in hell Jotaro hadn’t noticed the flirting; Kakyoin wasn’t exactly subtle with it after a while, so why is he confused?
Jotaro finally speaks. “Why are you apologizing for that? If anything you should apologize for stopping all of a sudden. You freaked me out, I thought I did something wrong.”
Kakyoin’s heart stops. “What?!” He shouts, lowering his voice when he sees people turn their heads. “Jojo, I stopped because you’re married! You have a wife! I can’t try to go after someone who’s taken, and you should definitely not be pursuing me when you have someone waiting for you at home.”
Jotaro furrows his eyebrows. “Where on earth did you get the idiotic idea that I’m married?”
Kakyoin blinks. “Well, Polnareff said-”
“I’ll kill that fucker!” Jotaro growls without letting Kakyoin finish his sentence. “I finally find the one guy I actually like enough to want to date and he goes and ruins my chances by convincing him I’m married.”
Kakyoin, admittedly, is dumbfounded, so Jotaro lets out an exasperated huff of breath and begins to explain.
“Marina and I were married, yes. But only for a month. We were both young and were being pressured by our families to settle down with someone, so we agreed to do that to satisfy them. We married, had Jolyne, and then divorced. I wanted a kid and she didn’t, so I got custody and she left to California for work.” Jotaro takes his hat off and runs his hand through his hair.
“She’s a good friend, and she makes sure to spend time with Jolyne when she’s in town, so I have nothing but respect for her, but I’m far, far from in love with her.”
Jotaro meets Kakyoin’s eyes. “Actually, I wasn’t even sure if I even could fall in love with people at all until-” He cuts himself off and looks down, his face bright red. “Until I met you.”
Kakyoin is sure his face is as red as Jotaro’s right now, if not even redder.
“Oh.” is just about all he can come up with to say.
“So, uh.” Jotaro says cautiously. “Does that clear things up?”
Kakyoin can’t help the smile that comes to his face. He can’t believe his luck, nor can he believe he was fooled by such a cliché misunderstanding. Jotaro really did feel the same way, not only that, but he had said he loved him. LOVED HIM. Kakyoin could scream. He also hopes Jotaro gives Polnareff the punishment he deserves after the mess the Frenchman caused with all of this.
Still, does that clear things up? Kakyoin knows exactly how he ought to answer, he has to do something he should have done quite a while ago.
“How about you go on a date with me and we find out?”
—
With school officially in session again, there is no need for Jolyne to go to Emerald Splash during the day while her fathers are away at work. It’s been this way for two years now, going to Emerald Splash over the summer and at breaks, and school the rest of the time.
Of course, having a consistent schedule does not make it any easier to get her to wake up in the morning.
Kakyoin’s alarm goes off and he groans. It’s his turn to get Jolyne ready for school, not that he really minds allowing Jotaro to sleep a little longer before work. He drags himself out of bed and heads for Jolyne’s room, gently shaking her awake.
She tries her best to pull the covers over her face and resist, but Kakyoin yanks them off of her.
“Let’s go little Jojo, you have to get ready for school. It’s the first day of fourth grade, aren't you excited?”
Jolyne makes a tired sound and squeezes her eyes shut.
“You’re in the same class as Hermes this year, don’t you want to go see her?” He tries again.
She peeks one eye open but remains laying down.
Kakyoin sighs. “I’ll let you help me make breakfast for your dad.”
Jotaro despises when Jolyne “helps” with breakfast, because she insists on doing it all herself and usually burns at least one item, but the promise is enough to make her sit upright with a wide, sleepy smile.
The two of them busy themselves in the kitchen, Kakyoin making sure he sets aside something for Jotaro to eat that hasn’t been tainted by their nine-year-old’s hands. A few minutes later, Jotaro comes into the kitchen and places a kiss to Kakyoin’s cheek, ruffling Jolyne’s hair as he goes.
For as it turns out, Jotaro Kujo is many things. Thirty-six years old, six foot five and very attractive, happily divorced, and a not-so-single father to a nine year old girl. Kakyoin can’t help but think there’s nobody more perfect on this entire planet. There’s nobody else he’d rather spend a morning like this with, and he’s confident in knowing that Jotaro feels the same way.