starmark | IC Inbox | prismatica

I need that, Nori. I need you to tell me when it's enough.

[They all need that, don't they? Adrian, ripping open portals between dimensions out of his terror of being left alone. Kakyoin, desperate to be useful so that his use defines his worth. And himself, now, saddled with an unfathomable responsibility that comes with an equally unchecked power, still so accustomed to carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders that he doesn't always know when it's okay to set it down again.

But they're good for each other. They check each other. They can each see the things that the others can't.]

So don't ever let me forget, okay...?

I'm going to be pissed with you, you know. For all kinds of reasons. [ He looks up again. Hierophant pushes Jotaro's head down so that he can manage kiss 3 without too much extra climbing and then holds it so that they don't break eye contact again. He's glad he chose not to wear the shades today, because he wants Jotaro to know that he's looking at him. It's important. ]

Because you keep making it a pain to kiss you. Or because you did something wrong in a videogame. Or because punching a puzzle solved isn't the right way of doing it. Or because I have a plan for getting around the grocery store expediently but Adrian wants to go to the freezers first even though everyone knows that you should go to the freezers last and you side with him because he's excited about the limited edition flavour and you think it's cute.

[ ...that last one hasn't happened but he can picture it far too well for comfort and it's actually making him angry on behalf of hypothetical-him. ]

Never because you didn't do enough. Never.

He is cute, though. And someone might get the last one if we don't go there first.

[It's sad that he's not even doing this to rile Kakyoin up so much as it is just his actual opinion. Kakyoin's got his number, oh no.

That said, maybe it's time to be helpful instead of smug, and so he runs his hands down Kakyoin's sides and over his hips and under his thighs, and lifts him up to take over for Hierophant because sometimes it's just nice to hold your boyfriend, too.]

Maybe you just want to do the produce first because that's where the bagged cherries are.

You get produce first because produce is at the front of the store. If you get frozen goods first, they'll have thawed by the time you get them home.

[ He'd raise his voice about this, except that his face is already up against Jotaro's now. He can wrap his arms over his shoulders comfortably. He can manage three kisses in quick succession.

...wait. ]

You're going to punch the ice cream frozen again, aren't you. [ That's just the sort of useless, stupid thing that's fair game for resolving with punching. Like fixing a leaky tap. Or cleaning a dress that would otherwise take forever to fix. It doesn't matter, except for the tiny ways in which it does. It doesn't save anyone's life. Just makes them better by single degrees. He sounds fond. Tired. Slightly exasperated with a hypothetical Jotaro from a future they havn't made yet for encouraging irresponsible grocery store pathfinding. ] I'll get pissed at you for that, too.

If I was going to do that, why wouldn't I just punch one left in the freezer, no matter when we walk past to pick it up? See, it could go either way.

[He grins a little, sideways, and pecks a kiss against the very tip of Kakyoin's nose.]

It's not even about the groceries. It's because he's cute when he's excited, and you're cute when you're mad. So when you're mad about something he's excited about, I win twice.

You could do it that way. But you won't. Because you'll want to go around the store in the wrong order. So you can piss me off. So Adrian'll be excited to get home and try the ice cream for longer.

[ He holds on tighter to Jotaro, burying his face in his neck in what looks suspiciously like an embarrassed reaction to that one tiny kiss. ]

You're impossible. I love you.

You make me sound like such a bastard.

[There was a time, once, not so long ago, when Kakyoin was dead and never coming back and he was never, ever in his life going to have this, it was just gone, Kakyoin clinging to him like a koala and hiding his blush in his neck and complaining about dumb inconsequential bullshit that doesn't matter and saying I love you like it's a fact — it was gone, he missed his chance, it wasn't coming back and he was going to spend the rest of his life living with that.

It wasn't so long ago that Dio took away the chance for all of this.

They're not thinking about Dio anymore. It doesn't make him choke up any less, in times like this when it really hits him that Kakyoin is alive and all right and so, so in love with him.]

Don't I always make it up to you?

You are such a bastard.

[ He's almost died twice, today. Watched Dio die twice, pathetic and coiled up in his own stolen stand. Watched, twice, as he encroaches on Jotaro. Slides his fingers under his skin. As he hurts him. Almost kills him. As that's part of the plan. He almost led Jotaro to his death, and Jotaro followed him. ]

You don't need to make it up. You could never piss me off so much I don't love you. You could never even scratch the fucking surface. You just think making it up is fun.

[ A bold accusation, then a long pause. And finally, he acknowledges the extra presence in that memory. ]

He saves me, doesn't he?

[ He doesn't remember that. He comes here before it happens. But he knows it does happen. Adrian puts him back together. The same way he put his eyes right. ]

Yeah.

[Kakyoin doesn't remember this part, either, and there wouldn't have been much point in playing it all out in the VR pods just to get there. Some things need to be seen. Other things, it's enough just to recount them in soft words while holding your heart close.]

Jiji makes us all go. You and me and Polnareff. That damn old man, he's the only one who gets out of that whole night unscathed, can you believe it? His crazy luck again.

[He hums under his breath, tugging Kakyoin a little closer.]

They put us in separate rooms and it pisses me off. You spend a long time in surgery, but when you get out I tell them to let me see you and they won't. Star stops time so I can go anyway. That's the first time I stop time myself, instead of just being able to move in someone else's — Star does it so that go see you without anybody stopping me.

[Sweet, faithful Star. He always does exactly what Jotaro needs him to.]

When I get there, he's in the room with you. Checking your charts and stuff. But then Hierophant — he starts weaving himself around the bed. Like a net or a canopy or something. I guess maybe you were falling asleep, and he wouldn't let you unless he was out. Maybe he was worried, I don't know.

I'm watching through the door and he reaches out and touches Hierophant. Runs his thumb along him. Like...like he knows you got hurt because Hierophant got hurt, and now he's checking on him, too.

That's when I remember. He tells Hierophant he's missed him, and then I remember.

He doesn't like it. If I sleep without him there. He hates that something might happen and he wouldn't be able to wake me. He tripped the janitor when I was under to get my eyes fixed. [ While Adrian sewed up his face stitch by tiny perfect stitch, still leaving scars but barely a shadow of the ones that had been there in a different time, and he didn't remember.

He could show Jotaro why Hierophant has that particular habit, here. Why he does it now every night when he never seemed to in hotel rooms before. But they've seen enough today. It doesn't matter anymore. It's enough to just say that Hierophant is protective. He'd make himself believe, if he knew, mess with his past self's head. Or he wouldn't, and it would just become one more thing to be not enough on a bad day. He could hold on to Jotaro instead, face still half buried in his neck, lips against that pale thin thorn-line.

Not kissing enough to count toward the total, but still kissing.

He could tell this Jotaro that the sky was green, and he'd at least look up to check before telling him he was full of shit. ]

Hierophant remembers him, then. [ This is after he comes here, but he doesn't need to remember to know. Hierophant encountering someone who sees stands while he's asleep and vulnerable and not immediately attacking means that he remembers. ] Of course he does. If any part of me would, it would be him.

[Or maybe it was me, Jotaro thinks distantly, as once again the weight and terrible power of being able to alter the very fabric of reality bears down on him in an unpredictable way. Did Hierophant remember Adrian because he really remembered Adrian, or did Jotaro somehow subconsciously change things just to ensure that Adrian would be remembered? Did he do it because he knew deep down how much Adrian would hurt to be forgotten? He doesn't know. Maybe he'll never know. But it's not something to dwell on, not now.

Not when Kakyoin's mouth is moving slowly over the skin of his neck, caressing the scar line that makes him, once again, just a little bit more like Dio in a way that altogether doesn't matter. Kakyoin is his now, and not Dio's. That's worth it to focus on.]

Yeah. He remembers him. That's what Adrian was waiting for, all that time. For us to remember him on our own.

[And oh, how their vampire had looked at him as it had slowly occurred to him that he remembered. Centuries of hunger and the ache for intimacy all finally coming to a head, and how his pretty fangs had flashed when he'd finally smiled.]

And I need him, right then. Looking at him is when it hits me that it's over, and I...I just. I need him.

Don't tell me how you explain all of that to Mr. Joestar. I want to see it for myself.

[ He probably just doesn't explain it. He's almost certain that he doesn't, because he is the sort of person who feels the need to explain himself and Jotaro is not. He'll need to carefully explain to Mr. Joestar that yes, he is dating his grandson. And also this vampire. Weird shit happened and now they're all boyfriends. He'll need to do it because he thinks his existence needs to be justified and Jotaro does not.

Jotaro is supporting him, so he doesn't really need to keep his arms wrapped around him this tightly. Not that he intends to let go, but it means he can bring his hands up and thread them into Jotaro's hair. ]

I'm glad. I- [ A lifetime ago, he told Jotaro he was glad when they first found each other again. It sounds the same. Genuine. A little sad despite it, but genuine. He's about to say 'should'. That's wrong. He shouldn't anything at this point in time. He should just lie there and sleep and stay alive. ] -I wish I were there for you. But it's best that it's him.

[ It is. Best that it's someone who wasn't there in the middle of it, someone Dio never managed to lay a finger on. Best that it's someone who isn't hurt. Who can protect Jotaro, and can not need protecting in turn for just a little while. He can't do that. Not at this point in time. ]

Nori...

[There's melancholy seeping into the conversation between them, discoloring the edges of the soft rapport they've built and are clinging to, but the source of it is still a long way away from the here and now. Kakyoin is talking about not being there for him when he's here for him right now, when he's tucked up in his arms and nuzzling against his neck and stroking his hair, exactly where he belongs.

He's not looking to be convinced otherwise, Jotaro knows. But by the same token, Jotaro remembers a world of things that Kakyoin doesn't. Things that will slowly fade away into obscurity, until he's the only one left carrying them anymore.]

You were there when I needed you. That's what changed.

[He turns his head, just enough to kiss the air next to Kakyoin's cheek. It's the most he can implicate without losing the fingers in his hair, and he won't surrender that.]

It was worse for me, without you. You saved me from...the other path. What it could have been for me.

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