Teen Idle

Golden Days

Fireworks erupted in the sky above, shimmering and shining in the night, their loud bangs reverberating through the noisy city. But those sounds didn't scare you, not anymore at least, why should they? It was just a noise after all.

The coloured glitter rained down from the sky, down on to the cheering people in the streets, down onto the sand-coloured buildings, down onto the graves in front of you. The slabs of stone, large and bleak before you, so this was all that remained of your friends now. Of all the people in that graveyard, what remained? A stone, a mound of soil and a scatter of bones. What remained of him?

Had they just thrown his body in still wet, with the gaping hole in his stomach still bleeding? Was he still recognisable or had the bugs already eaten away at his eyes? Was he rotting there six feet under?

All those people, underground. All those lives. Where were they now? Everyone of them was born. Then they lived. Then they died. It seemed so unfair. You wanted to cry.

So you did.

That day Jotaro had come to your apartment, felt so long ago now, had it been a year ? A week? A Day? You didn't know, but you didn't care. He had come through the doors, enveloping you in his arms, his hat falling to floor as he embraced you.

"JoJo?" You had whispered, the old nickname returning to your tongue.

"(Y/N)."

So you stood there, melting into each other, the door still open, letting a warm early breeze make its way into the room. Both of you perfectly content to stay there, wrapped up in each other, Jotaro didn't care that your hair was a mess, that your clothes were crumpled and that you didn't smell the best, he had been exactly the same yesterday.

Only the thought of seeing you had dragged him out of bed early this morning, out of the crummy hotel he had been staying in. The thought of seeing you had pulled him on to a plane, last minute yesterday, Jotaro would much rather die than admit it, but he missed you, so much it hurt sometimes. But just thinking of your (E/C) eyes and (H/C) hair made him remember the good days, when you, him and Kakyoin were still together. Teenagers, innocent teenagers who still had no clue what true pain was. What loss really felt like.

Jotaro had a cardboard box, small in size and shape, under his bed, still unopened from when he moved. He couldn't, he just couldn't look at the contents, he knew exactly what was in there, and Jotaro didn't want any reminders of that trip, of the friends he had come to love so dearly, bonds he would never forget.

But, right now he was stood next to you. Something he had told himself all those years ago in the airport that he would never do again, his hand holding on to yours as you stood in front of the graves of your friends. The fireworks providing nice background noise, to the deadly void that had filled the both of you.

Flowers adorned the earthy mounds, cherries on his one too, and a small packet of coffee flavoured gum in front of the smaller stone between the two bigger ones. Somewhere in the distance a clock tower chimed, midnight, now 3 years, 36 months, 156 weeks, and 1096 days had passed.

Warm arms wrapped themselves around your body, pulling you into a bone breaking hug, as you sobbed into Jotaro's shoulder, the city buzzing and cheering around you, but in this moment it was just you and him in the silence of the cemetery, the only living creatures in a city of ghosts.

He patted your back gingerly, still scared of stepping too far, you two after all had never touched each other until that day he turned up at your apartment, Jotaro was not the 'touchy' type. But he really couldn't care less anymore, he was not the angsty teenager who had once left you alone in the crowded airport, Jotaro had abandoned his, and your feelings, for long enough, the guilt and misery driving him to the edge of insanity. His younger self thinking it would be better to cut off all ties to the past, leaving all the regret and sorrow behind, but it wasn't that easy and he found that out the hard way.