Say I Love You Without Saying I Love You

Cologne

Kakyoin sighed heavily as he ran his fingers through his hair. At 42, it wasn’t as lustrous and full of volume as it had been a decade ago, especially with all the medications he took to prevent the rejection of his various organ transplants. With another sigh that ended in a slight growl of determination, he headed to the bathroom but stopped in the doorway and tried not to grimace. 

Jotaro was there, finishing up his own process of getting ready for Kakyoin’s ‘surprise’ party later. To Kakyoin’s utter dismay, Jotaro held in his hand the item Kakyoin hated most in their house, a bottle of amber colored cologne. 

In their 20 years of marriage, Kakyoin could never understand how someone with such divine taste as Jotaro Kujo, could love something that smelled so god awful. Yet here his darling husband was, spraying that nasty liquid on himself, as he did for every family event and every date.

But Jotaro absolutely loved it, so every year for his birthday or Christmas, Kakyoin gifted him a new,  albeit small, bottle. 

“Hey. You ok? You look sick.”

Kakyoin started a bit but recovered quickly with a feigned laugh, “Sick of my hair. It’s so flat and lifeless now. Maybe I should just shave it off?”

Jotaro’s eyes softened and a small smile played over his lips, “You’re as beautiful now as you were the day I met you.”

Kakyoin’s face flamed and he couldn’t stop the stupid giddy grin that formed on his lips, “Jojo! Stop!”

Jotaro sat his cologne back in its place and crossed the room, pulling his husband into a hug, “Never. You’re gorgeous, Nori. You will always be the most beautiful person in the world to me.”

Kakyoin slipped his arms up around Jotaro’s neck and looked up at him instead of hiding his face in Jotaro’s chest as he’d currently prefer to avoid as much of the smell as possible, “Thank you, love. But I do need to do a bit more work on my hair to be presentable.”

Jotaro rolled his eyes, “Fine, fine. Just hurry up. We’ll need to leave in a few minutes. You know how Jiji gets if we’re late.”

Chuckling, Kakyoin raised up and gave a quick kiss to Jotaro’s cheek, “I’ll be out in a minute.”

****

Kakyoin looked around the room, the party was still in full swing. Based on the expensive venue and number of people invited, Mr. Joestar must have taken over the planning this year. Yet, despite the crowd, Kakyoin loved it. His lonely teenage self would have never imagined living a life where parties so grand would be thrown in his honor for something simple as his birthday. 

Now, though, he was getting tired and wanted one more dance with his husband before they started trying to leave. 

He started towards the balcony where he’d seen Jotaro and Mr. Joestar heading earlier, figuring Jotaro would be stuck listening to another story of his grandfather’s youth. Just as he opened the door, he heard Joseph’s aged but still to loud voice.

“Jotaro, that stuff is awful!”

“Tch! It’s not that bad. Don’t be dramatic.”

“I’m not being dramatic. You wear it all the time and it stinks! Think of your poor husband!”

“My poor husband is the one who buys it for me! You think I’d walk around smelling like this if Noriaki didn’t absolutely love it?”

“…what?”

Jotaro sighed, “Good grief, he buys me this shit every year for my birthday or Christmas. He has since just after we moved here. I don’t know why he loves it so much but he does. That’s the only reason I wear it.”