@praeteritus-memories   /   continued from   here .

    by no means does kakyoin exhibit a   duplicitous nature .   he is stealthful ,   yes ,   &   even well - versed in certain   manipulation tactics   by necessity of certain aspects of his job ,   but he doesn’t show that side of himself at home ,   or in his marriage .   there’s genuinely no need ;   he   &   jotaro have a healthy   &   fulfilling relationship built on a foundation of open communication   &   understanding one another more than anyone else in their lives .   yet ,   on the occasion he   does   find himself wanting to keep something from his husband   (   for innocent enough reasons ,   usually   ) ,   it can be quite a task   ━━━━   jotaro is sharper than a sashimi knife   (   it seems he always has been ;   kakyoin easily recalls that   bladelike wit   being one of the many things that attracted him to jotaro ,   back when they were teenagers   ) ,   &   given that they talk about any   &   everything together ,   it isn’t so difficult to recognize when something’s been   left out .

    but kakyoin   ━━━━   now kujo   ━━━━   noriaki is   determined .   &   when his mind is set ,   he will pull out every stop to ensure he reaches his goal ,   valiant efforts   employed for even the smallest ambition ,   for he’d decided the day he vowed to face dio again that he would never lose sight of   himself   as he had that cruel spring day they met .   this considered ,   when jotaro agreed to   take on the challenge   of getting jouta down for a nap ,   kakyoin figured he’d bought himself an opportunity to put his plan to action   (   that child behaves as if he’s in the   fight of his life   at naptime ,   after all   ) .

    either time had evaporated too quickly or their son elected to be   merciful   for once ,   for kakyoin is all but   startled out of his skin   when jotaro makes his presence known behind him .   the office is   exceptionally quiet ,   as expected of any place of work or study ,   but somehow ,   kakyoin hadn’t heard those footsteps he’d recognize from rhythm alone .   it could be that he’d just been too absorbed in trying to find the   damned thing ;   bent over with his ass in the air as he canvassed the lowermost shelves   &   narrowly avoiding   hitting his head on the way up once he’d realized he was no longer alone .   jotaro wouldn’t carry it around on his person at home ,   &   kakyoin hadn’t spotted it anywhere in their bedroom ,   thus ,   this is the only logical location he’d expect to find the item of interest .   so where the fuck is it ?? 

    he’s seen it so many times ,   that little black book with jotaro’s name scripted on the front cover in neat kanji   ━━━━   drawn from his pocket ,   left on the chabudai or on the edge of his desk ,   jostled at the bottom of his laptop bag .   but now that he actually needs it ,   it’s nowhere to be found .   isn’t that just his luck ??   “   oh ,   ”   says kakyoin ,   daintily tucking a stray red tress behind his ear ,   violet eyes shifting toward the far wall .   normally ,   he’d have no trouble playing it cool ,   but this is jotaro .   even after years of knowing each other   &   now being   fucking married ,   kakyoin still manages to feel a little nervous around him ,   sometimes .   mostly because he’s hiding something .   “   uh ,   no ,   not really .   it’s   ━━━━   i’m never really in here ,   so i just got curious as i was passing by .   ”

    clearing his throat ,   kakyoin places his hands on his hips ,   attempting to look a little more confident   &   a little less suspicious .   the fact that the navy sweater he’s wearing belongs to jotaro   &   covers his hands completely likely foils his intent to be taken seriously .   “   sorry ,   i shouldn’t have shouted at you .   i was just a little startled ,   ”   he mutters ,   cheeks suddenly feeling unbearably warm .   “   i’m guessing jouta didn’t give you much trouble ,   then ??   ”

↳               ❛   how about a kiss before i go ??   ❜   -   Jotaro <3

 sender :   @praeteritus-memories   /   source :   prompted   /   status :   open .

    it’s nothing of a rarity for jotaro to initiate displays of affection   ━━━━   he’d always had a tendency to rely more on actions than words ,   given his eloquence tends to falter where matters of the heart are concerned .   &   considering the ways in which they’ve always just   clicked   naturally ,   kakyoin isn’t often of the expectation that jotaro will put his desires into words ,   even if he’s made a lot of progress since their relationship began   (   &   perhaps kakyoin finds a fair amount of   fun   in encouraging it ,   showering his beloved in loving remarks   &   watching with fluttering heart as he gives his best ,   adorably flustered   efforts to reply   ) .   

but even after so many years of intimate companionship ,   jotaro still manages to surprise him .   the request sees kakyoin freezing for half a second as they linger in the doorway ;   obviously   he was not going to allow his fiancé to depart without a sweet send off ,   especially on a day like today ,   but the fact that jotaro is outright   asking for it   is delightfully unexpected   ━━━━   to the extent that a soft cerise tints the shells of kakyoin’s ears   &   stains his cheeks the same ,   all while an airy giggle thrums at the base of his throat .

“   as if i was actually going to let you leave without one ,   ”   he says ,   blush - pink lips pulled into a wide ,   dimpled grin as slender fingers tug with a gentle firmness at the lapel of jotaro’s jacket .   the gesture lessens the distance between their faces until the tips of their noses touch .   “   but i’m glad you asked ,   baby .   ”

with that ,   kakyoin closes the distance ,   pressing inward as their mouths slot together with familiar ease .   there’s that   white - hot spark   that never goes away ,   even with a kiss as considerably chaste as this ,   &   despite his intentions to keep it short   &   sweet ,   kakyoin’s arms raise to drape over jotaro’s shoulders ,   slanting deeper into him to indulge in his   addictive taste   so that it lingers on his tongue long after he’s gone .   managing to seize his self control in a nick of time ,   he pulls away ,   uttering a breathless   ‘   okay   ’   as he separates ,   looking up at jotaro with starry eyes .

“   i don’t want to make you late ,   ”   kakyoin giggles again ,   a playful mischief warbling in his voice .   “   you have to go hand in the best thesis ever written   &   give the most incredible presentation about sea stars anyone has ever seen .   ”   his hands raise from jotaro’s shoulders to brush against his face ,   the warm pads of kakyoin’s thumbs gliding over his cheekbones .   “   so go kick ass !!   i’ll be right here to celebrate however you want when you get back .   ”

【   *  🍒     ·     𝗝𝗢𝗧𝗔𝗥𝗢   /   ⁽  @praeteritus-memories​​ .  ⁾   】   ©

That was the last time he ever takes advice from his grandfather on how to actually flirt. Are you an angel because I'm falling for you!? Seriously, Jotaro Kujo?

How in the world could his husband flirt so effortlessly is something the marine biologist will never actually be able to understand. Sometimes, it feels like Kakyoin is the one to sweep him off his feet rather than the other way around.

Still, he gives a grumpy frown when he stares down at him.

"Good grief..." He starts, trying to act like he isn't hopelessly flustered. "I thought that...it would make you blush or somethin'."

          to merely state that noriaki is charmed by his husband’s flustered display would fail to encapsulate the extent to which he is both enamoured   &   entertained .   a blindingly bright smile spreads along the wide expanse of his tender mouth ,   so large it nearly forces his eyes shut ,   the violet hues phasing into crescents of mirth .     “   that sounded suspiciously like something mr .   joestar would say ,   ”   he says ,   leaning forward   &   lifting up onto his toes ,   limiting the space between them so that jotaro may not avoid his coquettish gaze .   “   don’t tell me you’re starting to become your grandfather already ,   jojo .   you aren’t   that   old ,   yet .   ”   he snickers ,   stretching the mere six - month gap between their nativities .

          upon closer inspection of the shift in jotaro’s expression ,   noriaki’s heart flutters just like it had over twenty years ago ,   his affection for the other man as juvenescent now as it had been then .   “    my ,   my !!   ”   he exclaims ,   his laugh like mellow music as it fills the air around them .   “   kujo jotaro ,   are you   pouting ??   you’re adorable !!   ”   to emphasize this opinion   (   which noriaki would argue is   utter fact   &   purely undebatable   ) ,   he reaches up   &   takes the other’s face into his hands ,   tugging him down until their foreheads can meet .   

          “   i’m sorry ,   i didn’t mean to make fun of you ,   ”   he snickers ,   brushing his thumbs gently over his partner’s cheekbones .   “   here ,   i’ve got one of my own .   life without you would be like a broken pencil   . . .   ”   the redhead pauses ,   allowing the silence to build anticipation like any seasoned comedian would .   “   . . .   pointless .    ”

↳               @praeteritus-memories​  wrote   :     “   i  feel  like  such  an  insomniac .   ” - Jotaro <3

                              prompted          /          accepting !!

          the pale blue moonbeam reaching through a crack in the curtains serves as the only source of light in the room ,   but even so ,   it’s all kakyoin requires to find his lover in the dark .   he faces him in bed ,   soft sheets of ivory spilling over a scarred abdomen ,   revealed by the friction of his body moving against the mattress tugging up his pajama shirt .   without hesitation ,   he reaches out to cup jotaro’s face in his palm ,   thumbing tenderly over his cheekbone .

“   trouble sleeping again ??   ”   he questions by way of a thoughtful whisper ,   the rhetorical nature of the inquiry evident by the way he doesn’t wait for an answer ;   without another word ,   kakyoin is rolling onto his back ,   tugging the other man with him insistently until a head of dark hair rests atop his chest .   perhaps he lacks the extent of   . . .   cushion   jotaro has ,   but given that the other man has offered him a similarly safe   &   warm place to rest   &   feel comforted in his nights of anxiety   &   unease ,   he thinks the very least he can do is extend the same invitation .   lovingly ,   he brushes his fingers through the silken mane of his beloved ,   combing through it the way he knows he likes ,   even if he hasn’t yet admitted it out loud .

“   i’ll stay up with you until you can fall asleep ,   ”   says the redhead ,   voice near to a hum in its quiet ,   mellifluous timbre .   “   if counting sheep doesn’t help ,   we can try to count dolphins instead .   ”   it’s a joke ,   &   probably not a very funny one ,   but kakyoin cannot help but be amused at the image of dolphins leaping up out of some unspecified ocean ,   clicking happily as if they are eager to be quantified for the sake of ushering in good dreams .   it allows him some reprieve from the way his heart hurts ,   seeing the man he loves be torn apart by stress   &   trauma   &   anxiety ,   among other things .   jotaro is strong ,   both of body   &   mind ,   but even he requires a place of solace ,   a body to lean on when the pressure of everything that’s expected of him   &   that he expects of himself resurfaces from whatever waters he’s attempted to drown it under .   kakyoin desires to be that place ,   that body ,   that person . 

he thinks of sleepless nights on the road to egypt where they’d kept each other company ,   where he yearned so intensely to be even closer to jotaro ,   as close as close can be .   even now that they’ve managed to bridge that gap ,   kakyoin can only hope to find some way to give the other man every good thing in the world .   he deserves no less ,   after all .

“   do you remember in singapore ,   when we were able to sneak off to the beach for a little bit ??   ”   asks the redhead ,   still caressing through the other’s hair .   “   it was one of the nights where neither of us could sleep .   we just sat   &   watched the sea for a while ,   &   talked like everything was normal .   i felt so close to you then ,   i thought my heart was going to burst .   ”   he giggles again ,   pressing his cheek to the top of his lover’s head ,   catching the clean scent of his shampoo .   “   well ??   am i boring you enough to put you to sleep ,   yet ,   jojo ??   ”

↳               @praeteritus-memories​​​  wrote   :     “   what do you think they think we’re talking about ?   ”    -    Jotaro >:3c

                                prompted .          /          accepting !

          such an inquiry renders violet irises cornerbound ,   shifting subtly so that their   audience   may still think of them as none - the - wiser to their   very obvious   staring .   withal ,   they cannot be blamed ,   nor can kakyoin feel any embarrassment or shame in regard to his position at the center of their attention .   it’s rather   endearing ,   actually ,   that the teenagers he’s becoming fonder   &   fonder of still take such deep interest in the romantic aspect of his personal life .   or ,   it could just be that two attractive people behaving so affectionately before them triggers some pronounced adolescent hormone that kakyoin   &   jotaro have   (   presumably   )   outgrown .

kakyoin had been less than surprised to learn that jotaro had not made josuke ,   okuyasu ,   &   koichi aware of their status as a couple .   verily ,   to most people ,   jotaro doesn’t talk much about his personal life at all ,   even when asked ,   &   beyond that ,   the kids certainly had no reason to so much as think he may have been romantically involved with anyone ,   let alone inquire about it   (    that ,   &   though it may not be true in kakyoin’s specific case ,   he can recognize that to others ,   jotaro is not the most   . . .   approachable   person   ) .   as for him ,   the explanation is just as straightforward :   he simply hadn’t spent as much time with the morioh kids as jotaro had ,  being that spw hasn’t hesitated to pull him away from his work in the peculiar little city despite his protests .   but now that he’s here to stay for the foreseeable future ,   he’s got every reason to be a bit more intimate   &   open with his new   &   very charming young friends ,   right ?? 

sure   . . .   except   that seeing their shocked   &   flustered reactions to his   &   jotaro’s skinship is a little   too entertaining   to do away with so easily .   maybe it is far too impish a game for a man of nearly twenty - eight to indulge ,   but no one of any importance has deemed it a sin for him to have a little bit of fun while he’s here .

 “   i could make a guess or two ,   ”   the redhead murmurs ,   an unmistakable grin starting to form along the seam of his lips as he notices the way all three sets of eyes lock onto his hand the moment he places it overtop jotaro’s thigh ,   casually brushing upward until their fingers can intertwine .   okuyasu ,   no doubt possessing the least stealth of the trio ,   emits a rather obnoxious sound of interest ,   though he is quickly   &   aggressively   shushed by the other two .   kakyoin’s free hand raises to shield his mouth as he snickers cheekily .   “   come on ,   they have to know something is up by now .   i think the only thing we haven’t done in front of them yet is kiss   ———   ”   a spark ,   sudden  &   bright   &   dangerous   derails that train of thought .   

          “   oh ,   jojo .   we have to .   ”

【   *  🍒     ·    JOTARO   /   @praeteritus-memories   /   x .   】

"Guess I'm still on edge, even years later." Is it that hard for him to just relax? He's sitting on the edge of the bed, of course he can already feel his husband's slender hands against his back where he clearly feels his tense muscles.

"Nori, how the hell do you relax?" He swears the red head is always so calm compared to how tense and almost heated Jotaro was at every moment. Perhaps it just shows the contrast between the two of them.

          touching had been nothing of a necessity where noriaki’s ability to perceive his husband’s unease is concerned .   since their hearts converged at seventeen ,   the redhead could detect even the subtlest intricacies of jotaro’s mood ;   he understands him like no one else ,   &   this aspect of their bond had only strengthened   &   deepened impossibly more over the years they’d shared ,   &   even now as they navigate their   forties .   

          yet ,   even if he does not need to touch jotaro to sense the tension that wrings his limbs in tightly like those of a   ball - jointed - doll ,   he finds the physical contact can serve as a grounding reminder of his presence in the life of his beloved ,   a wordless whisper of   ‘  i’m here for you ;  i’m right here ,  ’   when talking comes as too much of a chore for either of the two men .   noriaki recalls restless nights in foreign hotel rooms where he’d settled a deceivingly delicate hand overtop of jotaro’s much larger   &   more calloused one ,   &   similarly reassuring caresses on shoulders   &   thighs   &   upper backs .   this had   always   been part of their relationship ,   long before they’d fully understand just how far their feelings would go .

          “   no matter how many years it’s been ,   it’ll always feel like it happened yesterday ,   ”   replies the crimson - tressed ,   skating thoughtful fingers down the solid muscle of his husband’s back ,   pressing slightly into the emphasized bulge where the stress clusters into knots .   “   you know ,   jotaro ,   sometimes i wonder how the time passed for him .   we were so young back then ,   but he’d lived our whole lives ten times over   &   then some ,   even if he’d spent a lot of it locked away at the bottom of the sea .   ”   a pause ,   &   the wide seam of soft lips pulling tighter with unease .   he’s not a teenager anymore ,   but even still ,   it’s hard to talk about dio without that   bitter   feeling eclipsing his mind .   he’d faced his fear of the vampire ,   &   beyond that ,   he conquered it ,   but to say the whole process had   fucked him up   would be an understatement .   the blunt truth is that they’re   all   still fucked up after egypt .   &   it’s likely that in a handful of ways ,   they always will be .   “   those fifty days felt like an eternity to me .   but for him ,   for dio ,   was it only a few moments ?? ”

          the question makes his heart ache .   truth be told ,   noriaki is far from calm   &   collected at all times ;   he’s only learned to play the part well .   for the sake of quick wit ,   for the sake of not causing alarm in his loved ones ,   for the sake of being able to move on   &   enjoy his life to the fullest .   slowly ,   he wraps his arms around jotaro from behind ,   pressing his cheek to the larger man’s nape as he kneels behind him on their bed .   “   i keep busy ,   ”   he answers ,   the softest chuckle in his tone .   “   with spw ,   before i retired from the field so my children wouldn’t have to worry about me dying before they even got to high school .   now it’s mostly with research ,   &   teaching ,   &   training ,   not to mention the fact that there’s never a dull moment around here   . . . ”   there’s a smile on noriaki’s face ;   something of a bittersweet one .   “   but   . . .   there are still times where i lie awake at night ,   &   i see the streets of cairo from where i was crushed into that water tower .   &   i get scared to close my eyes ,   just like i was then .   ”   he’s pulling away now ,   but only so that he may sit at jotaro’s side ,   rather than at his back .   his hand does not move from its place at the dark - haired man’s shoulder blade ,   however ,   even as lavender eyes raise to meet the oceans of his beloved’s gaze .   

          “   but i’m still here ,   jojo .   &   you’re here with me .   &   we have a beautiful family ,   &   a beautiful life .   so ,   to answer your question   . . .   most days ,   just remembering that   ——   just being with you   ——   is enough to help me relax .   ”