Wordless (Angst)

Wordless

"Need a hand?"

You spit dirt from your mouth and brush Jotaro's hand aside before getting up on your own.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

You frown, "I'm fine, and I don't need your help." His expression flickered towards hurt for a brief moment and you sighed, "I mean I don't want you getting hurt on my behalf any more. This is the third time this week and you took a real beating. Are you okay?"

He shrugged, "I'm fine, I've been through worse."

His off-handed comment makes you flinch. The two of you had been friends for a long time as kids but had drifted somewhat as you entered high school. Then, all of a sudden, an incident at school occurred involving a nurse and three students, one of them being Jotaro.

Shortly after, Jotaro disappeared completely for two months before reappearing with fantastical tales of magic, vampires, found family and lost friends. In fact, you might not have believed any of it if he hadn't demonstrated the powers of his stand for you.

You still weren't entirely sure of everything that had happened, but one thing was for sure. Jotaro suddenly seemed a lot more keen to rekindle your friendship.

"You'd think they'd learn to stop picking on you at this point, I've certainly beat them up enough." Jotaro's voice jolted you out of your reminiscing.

You frowned, "You know they only mess with me because of you, right?"

He blinked, "What do you mean?"

You sigh, how could he be so perceptive about some things and yet so oblivious about others?

"I mean the reason I'm a target is that when you disappeared, I was the only one who didn't immediately assume the worst of you," you explain. "Everyone was sure you'd either gone off and died somewhere or finally been locked up for good."

The more you spoke, the more the stress of the past two months hit you. Up until then you'd been so careful not to betray a hint of emotion for fear that it made things worse but now that Jotaro was back and standing before you, you couldn't keep it up anymore.

You laughed harshly, "And because they couldn't tell it to your face, they told it to the only person who cared."

Jotaro pulled down the brim of his hat slightly and looked away, "I didn't know."

"No, you didn't," you say. Tears stung at the corners of your eyes but you ignored them. The words inside had been bottled up for too long and now nothing was going to stop them from flooding out.

You drew yourself up to your full height, trying to pretend that Jotaro wasn't still a good couple of inches taller. "You still don't know anything, Jotaro. You hear me? Nothing! You left me alone without an explanation and then you left everyone."

"I went to ask your mother where you'd gone and I find her with a team of strangers, wasting away with a fever. No one would tell me anything so I just kept quiet and defended your honor. And for what?"

The tears that you'd learn to hold back in front of bullies were flowing freely now in front of your oldest friend. You jabbed his chest with a finger as he stood there, a strange expression on his face and took your rantings. "For what, Jotaro Kujo? Tell me? For you to never love me like I love you?"

He swallowed nervously, "You love me?"

"Don't!" you warn, "Don't change the subject. Don't disappear without a warning and come back just as suddenly, all friendly and buddy buddy. Don't play with my heart any more."

"[Y/N]," he began but you cut him off weakly.

"Don't say anything."

So he didn't.

Instead, he wordlessly drew you into a hug. Surprise stopped your tears for a moment as he tenderly held your head against his chest. One hand stroked your hair while the other pressed you closer to him.

You held your breath, worried that he might laugh and push you away again. Might say that he was just kidding. But when he planted a tender kiss on the top of your head, you broke. You muffled your sobs with his shirt and he held you up while your legs threatened to collapse below you.

The two of you stood there for a moment until your breathing finally slowed to normal and your eyes had dried, leaving tearstains on Jotaro's shirt. "I'm sorry," you manage.

"No, I am," Jotaro replied quickly. "I didn't mean to hurt you. And I don't want to hurt people anymore, not if I can help it."

He held you out and looked at you, his piercing gaze rooting you to the spot. "I've never wanted a relationship," he admitted. "All those girls chasing after me felt like nothing more than a nuisance."

"But you're different. For, well, many reasons. But I think the most important one is that it never felt like you were trying to impress me. You were just being yourself, and that was already more than enough. So I think, maybe, I would like to try being with you."

You couldn't help but laugh, your voice still hoarse from crying. "Really Jotaro? You're asking me out now? After I just yelled at you and then cried all over your shirt?"

He nodded earnestly. "I am. [Y/N], would you like to go on a date with me?"

"Yeah, I would Jotaro."