[ He freezes when Adrian turns. He'd thought he was far enough away. Perceptive.
But not perceptive enough. Because when Adrian turns, he's looking right at him, and he says nothing. Just moves toward the raccoon. He can't see Hierophant. He can't even see Hierophant.
It's been a long time since the darker second half of that thought has popped into his head. He'd thought his experiences with Dio had done a good job of cutting it from his heart, the idea that if someone can't see what's right in front of them they're barely even people. But there it is, inviting and comfortable as it always was before. A way to not have to think of the alternative, that he might be mad or broken or wrong in some way.
Jotaro loves him, and he's barely even a person. He's not jealous. He's just disgusted.
Hierophant retreats to his spot under the bookshelf.
For the next few days, he haunts Adrian like a poltergeist that isn't really putting enough effort in. It's cathartic to be doing this again, slipping into old habits, asserting his dominance over people who can't be bothered to put in the effort to see him in little, passive-aggressive ways. He puts crumbs of food up on top of the shelves so that the raccoon climbs them and knocks things off as he goes. Unscrews the lid of the payne's grey just slightly so it dries up in the tube. Puts a little water underneath all the bars of soap so they get slimy. Unplugs the console as he's about to win games.
He doesn't know what he's trying to achieve. He never has. And it's not like he doesn't have better things to do. He could be playing games or painting himself. Adopting his own horrible animal. Maybe even talking to Jotaro instead of locking himself in a room and stalking his boyfriend. He has school to prepare for. A whole world of new things to memorise. People to cautiously hold hands with so he's not doing all of this at a chroma deficit that'll undo all the hard work the doctors put into putting him back together.
But instead, Hierophant's tentacle is curled up on a cushion like a long green slimy cat, lazily watching him. He knows that Jotaro isn't there because he's here, in the same building as his broken flesh body. It's safe to be visible. He doesn't interfere too much with Adrian's art, beyond making one of his paints dry up. It feels more wrong than messing with him in other ways. It means that while he's working on it, he has nothing to do. So he just watches, wriggling around indignantly when that fucking raccoon tries to sit on top of him. ]
[The little things should irritate him. Mostly, he just wishes that Kakyoin would speak to him himself, but... well. He can't judge. Adrian is perfectly capable of being passive aggressive in his own ways and he knows it. That, and he honestly almost respects being messed with in a way. He has his own worries and concerns, knowing how Jotaro feels about Kakyoin, knowing how it must be right now even.
It would be selfish to ask Jotaro to focus only on Adrian. He could never do that to him. Even if he thinks back to how Jotaro asked if he would have Trevor live with him, and all Adrian could do was laugh and say no, that would be a terrible decision. Clearly, it doesn't go both ways. Maybe because he knows how Trevor feels about Sypha, never about Adrian. It's different, of course it is.
In any case, Adrian is present today with a green pet bed. Trevor's is black with lace, so clearly Adrian has just recently purchased this one. He sets it down next to Hierophant.]
Whenever you feel like visiting and being a pest, use that instead. [He's a bit cheeky when he says it, but his expression fades into something more bittersweet.]
And please don't bother my paints anymore. That's really the main thing I care about. Games are just that, but painting actually means something to me.
Somewhere a little way away, Kakyoin's eyes widen. He can see him. He's- probably been able to see him all this time. Shit. The tendril rushes over to Adrian. Moves like it's about to poke his chest angrily for tricking him, as if he didn't initiate a whole prank war. But Adrian mentions the paint and. It means something.
It shouldn't bother him that he's hurt him. It shouldn't even bother him that he's probably going to tell Jotaro that he hurt him. But nobody ever just catches him and asks him to be reasonable. The tendril droops slightly, and he backs off. Plops down on the green pet bed in a pile of angry noodle and slowly starts arranging himself into a perfect spiral. He's sulking. But he's not going away. ]
[Gently, he pats Hierophant's head, then withdraws his hand.] Forgive me. That's... generally how I'm used to treating Star. I actually don't know what you prefer. But make yourself at home.
[And Adrian is going to go tend to one of his paintings, an underwater scene of a sunken ship.]
[ Well, that's a first. Nobody has ever patted him before.
He stays on his pet bed for a while, still sulking about being seen, still angry at himself for crossing a line with the paint. But then he sets out again. Drapes himself around Adrian's shoulders like a scarf, looking to examine the painting. It- really needed the payne's grey. Oops.
He pauses - would it be crossing a line? - before unwrapping himself from Adrian and nudging over the tubes of ultramarine and burnt sienna. Combining the two of them will make a decent enough substitute. ]
[A scarf of Stand is odd, but not completely out of the question for Adrian. He quickly becomes adjusted to the weight of it. Hopefully that means they're having a step forward.
Curiously, Adrian watches Hierophant mix the paints. Yes... yes, that's actually a good color combination. He looks thoughtful, then smiles faintly.]
[ There’s no visible distinction between Kakyoin and Hierophant like this, but it’s Hierophant who answers. Twists the end of its tendril into a more brushlike shape, picks up a little of the colour. Like it’s used to being used as a paintbrush.
It takes the makeshift payne’s grey - a good colour, an almost-black made up of reds and blues, warm and cool and neither all at once, the kind of grey that never reads as grey but instead as the opposite of whatever colour it’s placed next to. Tentatively moves across the canvas. Twists itself smaller, into a brush so small that it couldn’t manipulate paint this thick if it were made of anything other than stand. Uses the almost-black-but-not-quite to deepen the shadows in tiny corners, where the ship buries itself into the ocean floor. The places that no light would hit. Deepens the contrast.
He just observes Hierophant working. It’s nice. Something like normal, as far as any of this is normal. ]
[Hieorphant's inclusion makes Adrian smile faintly. It's still easy to feel horribly jealous, but he knows what he's chosen, and that's for whatever will make Jotaro happiest. That, and he truly cannot begrudge Kakyoin for his circumstances; Adrian would probably have been just as petty, sneaking around and being as passive-aggressive as possible.
He knows he's no better.]
I like it.
You know. You should come paint with me sometime. When you feel like talking. For now, this is nice.
[ He wants to answer. He’s perfectly capable of answering, of speaking through his stand. Or he could nod. He could make Hierophant human-shaped and use any sort of body language because he’s still feeling petty and vindictive and he still might be tempted to push Adrian down the stairs if he could do it without getting caught but nobody has ever actually seen him for what he is and wanted to continue seeing him before.
He doesn’t answer. Instead he washes the paint off with the water and scrap paper and drapes himself around Adrian’s shoulders again, falling silent and watching the painting take form until he leaves, first to play with/antagonise Trevor by animating a pet toy. Then to curl up on the green pet bed and watch the raccoon try to figure out why the toy isn’t moving anymore. Then to fade away entirely.
Hierophant shows up a few more times over the next few days. It curls up on the pet bed or around Adrian’s shoulders to watch him work, mostly quiet, while a little way away Kakyoin tries to slow his breathing. Uses escaping to another place as a way to control the panic instead of being sick or crying again and being overheard by Jotaro and upsetting him. Sometimes it pokes around. Investigates cupboards. Finds treats to throw to the raccoon. Once or twice it takes Adrian’s paint water when it gets cloudy, emptying it and washing the container before returning it full of clean water. Sets cups of tea and sections of apple next to him if he’s been working for too long without eating or drinking.
It takes him a while to show up in person. When he does, of course, he doesn’t knock. Hierophant makes quick work of the door’s lock (it’s funny, how Jotaro locked himself out in order to leave him with a key. A purely symbolic gesture. Kakyoin hasn’t used a key for a door ince he was eight years old) and he just walks in, setting a bag of groceries down in the kitchen and setting about working. ]
[After awhile, he gets used to having Hierophant as additional company, as does Trevor in their own ways. The surprise visits, the occasional kindness even when he doesn't need to eat or drink, but he enjoys it anyway. It's pleasant, and he doesn't push for more than what's offered. If Kakyoin decides to speak in person, then he will do it.
While he's in the shower is when he hears the door unlock. He wonders if it's Jotaro at first, but then the weight of the footsteps sounds nothing like him. For a moment, he scowls to himself. An intruder?
Just as Kakyoin is working in the kitchen, Adrian comes out in a blur, completely nude and still dripping wet from his shower. His nails have extended into claws and he has a hand raised.
He pauses. Wait, he knows this smell. It usually lingers off of Jotaro these days, faint, and he tries to ignore the lick of anxiety and possessiveness that rolls through him.]
...You must be Kakyoin.
[Which is not a great way to introduce himself, still poised for striking, lacking clothes, and dripping water on the floor.]
[ He doesn’t flinch. Well. The fleshy, broken part of him still measuring out milk and cream doesn’t flinch. Hierophant’s tendrils turn as one from their tasks of grating chocolate and looking around for a suitable saucepan and mugs and separating the bag of tiny marshmallows into piles of different colours, forming a wall of glinting green glass knives between the two of them. And then they relax, returning to their work.
(A small part of him wishes he hadn’t stopped. He’s already dead, after all, and Jotaro would hate Adrian if those claws had gone through him. They’d never speak again. And oh, Jotaro would be miserable. And he’d be dead again. But he’d win.) ]
I’m making hot chocolate. [ He says it, as if breaking into someone’s house to make hot chocolate is a normal thing that normal people do. ]
[Well. He's just. Going to vampirerun to the bathroom and grab a towel even though his dignity is pretty much gone. Whatever, it's mostly to stop from dripping water everywhere like a dog.
The claws are gone and he's still puzzled.]
So. Would you like to tell me why you've broken into my flat to make hot chocolate? Not that I'm unused to your visits in other ways, but this is new.
I couldn't make hot chocolate outside. There's no kitchen there.
[ Obviously. Hierophant finishes chopping the chololate into small chunks, using itself as a knife the scrape it all into a neat pile. Another takes a bag of brown sugar from the grocery bag.
He takes a moment to say anything else, sorting through possible conversation topics in his head. Casual ones, ones that aren't Jotaro Kujo. He turns from the hot chocolate process, looking Adrian over. ]
Sounds like you didn't try hard enough, and also you're busy being avoidant.
[Fine, if Kakyoin doesn't want to address this practically, then so be it. Adrian pulls up a chair and sits in his towel because to hell with it, he'll just let Kakyoin make them hot chocolate.
Which is... a nice thing for him to do, so Adrian really shouldn't be flustered about it. But there's also the part where Kakyoin just showed up and broke in anyway. Yep.]
[ He doesn't answer, instead just turns around properly, allowing Hierophant to take over the hot chocolate making, and hesitates only briefly before pulling up his shirt.
He doesn't have a bellybutton, which probably seems weird until the shirt goes high enough to reveal that there's a band of flesh-coloured silicon-like material covering his lower abdomen. He scoots that up as well.
He still doesn't have a bellybutton.
There are organs there. Intestines and kidneys and a stomach and he looks like a diagram from a textbook only tinted green. His insides all held together by crystal, like they're insects trapped in green amber. ]
Adrian had never really asked in too many details how Kakyoin died, though he could imagine it in many gruesome ways. How did a narcissistic man like Dio execute his enemies? But here it is, Kakyoin being held together somehow.]
Were you found like this by the scientists?
[His tone is soft, but he is curious nonetheless. Sympathetic for certain, of course. Adrian's scar is nothing in comparison to this.]
[ He doesn't finish that sentence. It's what happens here when people die. If I die again it spreads to my heart. He pulls the band back down, a wide thin strip of the stuff they use to make sex toys look real. It kind of looks like skin, just a few shades brighter than his own. Missing hair and freckles and imperfections and bellybuttons. ]
Don't tell Jotaro. He- I don't care if he knows that I've been poking around here, or that I've been an asshole to you. It'd piss him off, but I don't really care if he's pissed off. This- I think it'd fuck with him, if he knew.
[ It's a gesture of- he doesn't know what it's a gesture of. He's giving Adrian blackmail material, essentially. To force himself to trust him. To see if Adrian's a better person than he is. If he cares more about Jotaro than about winning. ]
[What did he expect, exactly? Normal scars? But it seems to be different for everyone, and maybe Kakyoin had been too ruined to be healed quite right anyway. The gods have a funny way of helping, and the scientists have covered up what they could to at least make Kakyoin feel normal.
Not that he could be. Ever could be.]
I haven't really told him, actually. About any of that. I was more interested to see what kind of person you are. Then I found I rather liked having Hierophant around.
[Adrian places his hand over his own scar.]
But I'll keep this to myself. I think one day you should tell him, but that isn't my decision obviously.
I will. Just- not for a while. Once he's got his head around the fact that- you know. [ He can't say it. He still can't say it. ] Don't want to mess him up worse than I already have.
[ He re-dresses himself, turning back into the kitchen. Hierophant is pouring dark sugar and chopped chocolate into the heated milk and cream. It's putting hot water into the mugs to warm them. It's whipping cream and deciding on what colour marshmallows to use and- really, there's not much for him to do. He shoos away the tendrils attempting to the pan, taking over from them, just so he has something to occupy his hands. ]
Well, now you know. I'm an asshole. An asshole who has a lot of people fooled. [ It barely even sounds self-deprecating. Almost proud. ] But not him, don't worry. He knows.
You two seem awfully concerned you've fucked up the other person.
[It's so different than how Adrian and Trevor have... disagreements, if one could call them that. Sometimes they hurt each other so badly with words and never really get around to apologies. Instead, sometimes the wounds are left to fester before there's any real aid.
Yet, Jotaro and Kakyoin are so concerned about having hurt each other. It's sweet, even if it makes Adrian's heart ache a little.]
Oh, no. I always sort of figured you were. I just wasn't certain what kind of asshole yet.
[ He pauses for a little too long and the milk starts to bubble. Hierophant shoos him away from the stove and takes over, taking it off the heat.
Logically he knew that. Jotaro wouldn't be acting like he is if he didn't think that. But it's difficult, still, to get his head around it. ]
He hasn't. I'm just- When I showed up here, I just started playing house. Pretending. I got myself a calendar and acted like it was June and signed up for classes and went around convincing people I was alive and a good person and-
-and I'm not. And I can't pretend I am, when he's there. I have to deal with it and dealing with it is messy and ugly and filthy. I hate it. I hate you and I hate his daughter and I hate that, too, because he loves you and he loves her and I should be happy for him. I hate that I can't just act like there isn't a whole future and I'm not in it. I hate that he's not enough of an asshole to be in the future. People will be pathetic enough that he'll give them a chance and they'll take advantage and I won't be there to stop them and-
[ Hierophant pours the hot chocolate into two mugs and tops it with cream and marshmallows (it chose baby blue ones for Adrian, and mint green for him) and little chocolate stars. It puts one down next to Adiran and pushes the other into Kakyoin's hands and fuck, he didn't mean for all those words to happen. ]
I'm dead. [ He says it softly, and the words don't hurt as much as he thought they would. ] I don't regret anything, but I hate that I'm dead. I don't think I'm supposed to.
He thinks that he's hurt you with whatever he's said. I don't know what he's said about me, but I know he told you about Jolyne. Learning about her hurt a bit for me as well, but... I wouldn't want to stop him from making sure she stays existing.
[The mug is held in his hands and he glances at the Stand with a bit of fondness in his eyes. Not the way he adores Star, but Hierophant is still a guest he's become accustomed to seeing.
He has a sip. It's incredibly delicious. Better than the hot chocolate he's had anywhere else around here, actually. Maybe a gesture of goodwill, or an apology. Whatever it might be, he won't ask.]
I think it was a lot to demand from you, learning everything as you had suddenly at once while also being terribly aware of your own situation after death, unfair and cruel as it already was. Then you find out that Jotaro has involved himself with a vampire. How could you not resent it? How could you not hate me?
[Adrian shrugs.] Would you find it strange to know that I worried for the longest time that I was simply a placeholder for you? Oh, the notion waned and I was concerned less, but I used to think about it a lot. He'd say I would remind him of you sometimes.
In any case, I don't begrudge you. Not in the least.
[ His eyes widen a little. No. He isn't going to freak out. He's better than that, and if Adrian wanted him dead or under his thrall then he'd already know. Jotaro would already know, even if he's far too ready to give people chances they don't deserve. He counts the things he can feel. The heat of the mug in his hands. The carpet under his feet. The air going into his lungs cool and coming out warm. The distant sensation of Hierophant frozen in place, holding the pan under running water.
This isn't Dio. Yes, he's followed a beautiful man into a space devoid of anyone else and now they're a vampire. But that doesn't mean that this is Dio, it just means that he has an incredibly bad habit that he should really examine. Hierophant starts moving again, turning off the tap, and he manages not to call it to rush to his defense.
Jotaro would have warned him, if he'd known that he were going to visit Adrian. But he's being sneaky, going behind his back. So really, he deserves to be blindsided a little. ]
I- didn't. Find out that detail, I mean. I- apologise for opening the curtains, yesterday. That really was because the raccoon wanted the sun to fall on his pet bed, I swear. I was not trying to kill you.
Ah. Well. I didn't mean to drop that information to you this way, though it's not much of a secret I keep here.
[Whoops. As if Kakyoin really needed some additional anxieties here. Well, he was going to find out at some point, but he wishes he'd had paced that out better. He'd honestly just assumed that Jotaro infodumped onto Kakyoin as he did about Jolyne.]
Anyway, the sun doesn't affect me, and I'd honestly assumed that you were doing some tests. I wouldn't have blamed you for that. In any case, I'm not all vampire. Just half, by my father. The other part of me is human.
No, no tests. Or- not that, at least. Just a sunbathing raccoon. But I'm glad to know I didn't accidentally try to kill you. I'd much rather be intentional with that kind of thing.
[ He sips at the hot chocolate. It's warm and practically the consistency of syrup. Not exactly ideal for summer, but it's the beginning of February somewhere. And he's poked around enough to see all the ice cream and get an idea for what Adrian seems to like and it's the most indulgent sweet thing he knows how to make.
But there's something else that Adrian said. ]
Why would you be a placeholder for me?
[ Part of him realises it's a cruel thing to ask, but Kakyoin is a cruel person. And he wants to know. ]
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But not perceptive enough. Because when Adrian turns, he's looking right at him, and he says nothing. Just moves toward the raccoon. He can't see Hierophant. He can't even see Hierophant.
It's been a long time since the darker second half of that thought has popped into his head. He'd thought his experiences with Dio had done a good job of cutting it from his heart, the idea that if someone can't see what's right in front of them they're barely even people. But there it is, inviting and comfortable as it always was before. A way to not have to think of the alternative, that he might be mad or broken or wrong in some way.
Jotaro loves him, and he's barely even a person. He's not jealous. He's just disgusted.
Hierophant retreats to his spot under the bookshelf.
For the next few days, he haunts Adrian like a poltergeist that isn't really putting enough effort in. It's cathartic to be doing this again, slipping into old habits, asserting his dominance over people who can't be bothered to put in the effort to see him in little, passive-aggressive ways. He puts crumbs of food up on top of the shelves so that the raccoon climbs them and knocks things off as he goes. Unscrews the lid of the payne's grey just slightly so it dries up in the tube. Puts a little water underneath all the bars of soap so they get slimy. Unplugs the console as he's about to win games.
He doesn't know what he's trying to achieve. He never has. And it's not like he doesn't have better things to do. He could be playing games or painting himself. Adopting his own horrible animal. Maybe even talking to Jotaro instead of locking himself in a room and stalking his boyfriend. He has school to prepare for. A whole world of new things to memorise. People to cautiously hold hands with so he's not doing all of this at a chroma deficit that'll undo all the hard work the doctors put into putting him back together.
But instead, Hierophant's tentacle is curled up on a cushion like a long green slimy cat, lazily watching him. He knows that Jotaro isn't there because he's here, in the same building as his broken flesh body. It's safe to be visible. He doesn't interfere too much with Adrian's art, beyond making one of his paints dry up. It feels more wrong than messing with him in other ways. It means that while he's working on it, he has nothing to do. So he just watches, wriggling around indignantly when that fucking raccoon tries to sit on top of him. ]
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[The little things should irritate him. Mostly, he just wishes that Kakyoin would speak to him himself, but... well. He can't judge. Adrian is perfectly capable of being passive aggressive in his own ways and he knows it. That, and he honestly almost respects being messed with in a way. He has his own worries and concerns, knowing how Jotaro feels about Kakyoin, knowing how it must be right now even.
It would be selfish to ask Jotaro to focus only on Adrian. He could never do that to him. Even if he thinks back to how Jotaro asked if he would have Trevor live with him, and all Adrian could do was laugh and say no, that would be a terrible decision. Clearly, it doesn't go both ways. Maybe because he knows how Trevor feels about Sypha, never about Adrian. It's different, of course it is.
In any case, Adrian is present today with a green pet bed. Trevor's is black with lace, so clearly Adrian has just recently purchased this one. He sets it down next to Hierophant.]
Whenever you feel like visiting and being a pest, use that instead. [He's a bit cheeky when he says it, but his expression fades into something more bittersweet.]
And please don't bother my paints anymore. That's really the main thing I care about. Games are just that, but painting actually means something to me.
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Somewhere a little way away, Kakyoin's eyes widen. He can see him. He's- probably been able to see him all this time. Shit. The tendril rushes over to Adrian. Moves like it's about to poke his chest angrily for tricking him, as if he didn't initiate a whole prank war. But Adrian mentions the paint and. It means something.
It shouldn't bother him that he's hurt him. It shouldn't even bother him that he's probably going to tell Jotaro that he hurt him. But nobody ever just catches him and asks him to be reasonable. The tendril droops slightly, and he backs off. Plops down on the green pet bed in a pile of angry noodle and slowly starts arranging himself into a perfect spiral. He's sulking. But he's not going away. ]
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[Gently, he pats Hierophant's head, then withdraws his hand.] Forgive me. That's... generally how I'm used to treating Star. I actually don't know what you prefer. But make yourself at home.
[And Adrian is going to go tend to one of his paintings, an underwater scene of a sunken ship.]
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He stays on his pet bed for a while, still sulking about being seen, still angry at himself for crossing a line with the paint. But then he sets out again. Drapes himself around Adrian's shoulders like a scarf, looking to examine the painting. It- really needed the payne's grey. Oops.
He pauses - would it be crossing a line? - before unwrapping himself from Adrian and nudging over the tubes of ultramarine and burnt sienna. Combining the two of them will make a decent enough substitute. ]
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Curiously, Adrian watches Hierophant mix the paints. Yes... yes, that's actually a good color combination. He looks thoughtful, then smiles faintly.]
Would like to make an addition?
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It takes the makeshift payne’s grey - a good colour, an almost-black made up of reds and blues, warm and cool and neither all at once, the kind of grey that never reads as grey but instead as the opposite of whatever colour it’s placed next to. Tentatively moves across the canvas. Twists itself smaller, into a brush so small that it couldn’t manipulate paint this thick if it were made of anything other than stand. Uses the almost-black-but-not-quite to deepen the shadows in tiny corners, where the ship buries itself into the ocean floor. The places that no light would hit. Deepens the contrast.
He just observes Hierophant working. It’s nice. Something like normal, as far as any of this is normal. ]
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He knows he's no better.]
I like it.
You know. You should come paint with me sometime. When you feel like talking. For now, this is nice.
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He doesn’t answer. Instead he washes the paint off with the water and scrap paper and drapes himself around Adrian’s shoulders again, falling silent and watching the painting take form until he leaves, first to play with/antagonise Trevor by animating a pet toy. Then to curl up on the green pet bed and watch the raccoon try to figure out why the toy isn’t moving anymore. Then to fade away entirely.
Hierophant shows up a few more times over the next few days. It curls up on the pet bed or around Adrian’s shoulders to watch him work, mostly quiet, while a little way away Kakyoin tries to slow his breathing. Uses escaping to another place as a way to control the panic instead of being sick or crying again and being overheard by Jotaro and upsetting him. Sometimes it pokes around. Investigates cupboards. Finds treats to throw to the raccoon. Once or twice it takes Adrian’s paint water when it gets cloudy, emptying it and washing the container before returning it full of clean water. Sets cups of tea and sections of apple next to him if he’s been working for too long without eating or drinking.
It takes him a while to show up in person. When he does, of course, he doesn’t knock. Hierophant makes quick work of the door’s lock (it’s funny, how Jotaro locked himself out in order to leave him with a key. A purely symbolic gesture. Kakyoin hasn’t used a key for a door ince he was eight years old) and he just walks in, setting a bag of groceries down in the kitchen and setting about working. ]
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While he's in the shower is when he hears the door unlock. He wonders if it's Jotaro at first, but then the weight of the footsteps sounds nothing like him. For a moment, he scowls to himself. An intruder?
Just as Kakyoin is working in the kitchen, Adrian comes out in a blur, completely nude and still dripping wet from his shower. His nails have extended into claws and he has a hand raised.
He pauses. Wait, he knows this smell. It usually lingers off of Jotaro these days, faint, and he tries to ignore the lick of anxiety and possessiveness that rolls through him.]
...You must be Kakyoin.
[Which is not a great way to introduce himself, still poised for striking, lacking clothes, and dripping water on the floor.]
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[ He doesn’t flinch. Well. The fleshy, broken part of him still measuring out milk and cream doesn’t flinch. Hierophant’s tendrils turn as one from their tasks of grating chocolate and looking around for a suitable saucepan and mugs and separating the bag of tiny marshmallows into piles of different colours, forming a wall of glinting green glass knives between the two of them. And then they relax, returning to their work.
(A small part of him wishes he hadn’t stopped. He’s already dead, after all, and Jotaro would hate Adrian if those claws had gone through him. They’d never speak again. And oh, Jotaro would be miserable. And he’d be dead again. But he’d win.) ]
I’m making hot chocolate. [ He says it, as if breaking into someone’s house to make hot chocolate is a normal thing that normal people do. ]
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[Well. He's just. Going to vampirerun to the bathroom and grab a towel even though his dignity is pretty much gone. Whatever, it's mostly to stop from dripping water everywhere like a dog.
The claws are gone and he's still puzzled.]
So. Would you like to tell me why you've broken into my flat to make hot chocolate? Not that I'm unused to your visits in other ways, but this is new.
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[ Obviously. Hierophant finishes chopping the chololate into small chunks, using itself as a knife the scrape it all into a neat pile. Another takes a bag of brown sugar from the grocery bag.
He takes a moment to say anything else, sorting through possible conversation topics in his head. Casual ones, ones that aren't Jotaro Kujo. He turns from the hot chocolate process, looking Adrian over. ]
-do you want to see mine?
[ Nailed it. ]
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[Fine, if Kakyoin doesn't want to address this practically, then so be it. Adrian pulls up a chair and sits in his towel because to hell with it, he'll just let Kakyoin make them hot chocolate.
Which is... a nice thing for him to do, so Adrian really shouldn't be flustered about it. But there's also the part where Kakyoin just showed up and broke in anyway. Yep.]
See what.
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He doesn't have a bellybutton, which probably seems weird until the shirt goes high enough to reveal that there's a band of flesh-coloured silicon-like material covering his lower abdomen. He scoots that up as well.
He still doesn't have a bellybutton.
There are organs there. Intestines and kidneys and a stomach and he looks like a diagram from a textbook only tinted green. His insides all held together by crystal, like they're insects trapped in green amber. ]
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Adrian had never really asked in too many details how Kakyoin died, though he could imagine it in many gruesome ways. How did a narcissistic man like Dio execute his enemies? But here it is, Kakyoin being held together somehow.]
Were you found like this by the scientists?
[His tone is soft, but he is curious nonetheless. Sympathetic for certain, of course. Adrian's scar is nothing in comparison to this.]
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[ He doesn't finish that sentence. It's what happens here when people die. If I die again it spreads to my heart. He pulls the band back down, a wide thin strip of the stuff they use to make sex toys look real. It kind of looks like skin, just a few shades brighter than his own. Missing hair and freckles and imperfections and bellybuttons. ]
Don't tell Jotaro. He- I don't care if he knows that I've been poking around here, or that I've been an asshole to you. It'd piss him off, but I don't really care if he's pissed off. This- I think it'd fuck with him, if he knew.
[ It's a gesture of- he doesn't know what it's a gesture of. He's giving Adrian blackmail material, essentially. To force himself to trust him. To see if Adrian's a better person than he is. If he cares more about Jotaro than about winning. ]
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[What did he expect, exactly? Normal scars? But it seems to be different for everyone, and maybe Kakyoin had been too ruined to be healed quite right anyway. The gods have a funny way of helping, and the scientists have covered up what they could to at least make Kakyoin feel normal.
Not that he could be. Ever could be.]
I haven't really told him, actually. About any of that. I was more interested to see what kind of person you are. Then I found I rather liked having Hierophant around.
[Adrian places his hand over his own scar.]
But I'll keep this to myself. I think one day you should tell him, but that isn't my decision obviously.
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[ He re-dresses himself, turning back into the kitchen. Hierophant is pouring dark sugar and chopped chocolate into the heated milk and cream. It's putting hot water into the mugs to warm them. It's whipping cream and deciding on what colour marshmallows to use and- really, there's not much for him to do. He shoos away the tendrils attempting to the pan, taking over from them, just so he has something to occupy his hands. ]
Well, now you know. I'm an asshole. An asshole who has a lot of people fooled. [ It barely even sounds self-deprecating. Almost proud. ] But not him, don't worry. He knows.
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[It's so different than how Adrian and Trevor have... disagreements, if one could call them that. Sometimes they hurt each other so badly with words and never really get around to apologies. Instead, sometimes the wounds are left to fester before there's any real aid.
Yet, Jotaro and Kakyoin are so concerned about having hurt each other. It's sweet, even if it makes Adrian's heart ache a little.]
Oh, no. I always sort of figured you were. I just wasn't certain what kind of asshole yet.
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[ He pauses for a little too long and the milk starts to bubble. Hierophant shoos him away from the stove and takes over, taking it off the heat.
Logically he knew that. Jotaro wouldn't be acting like he is if he didn't think that. But it's difficult, still, to get his head around it. ]
He hasn't. I'm just- When I showed up here, I just started playing house. Pretending. I got myself a calendar and acted like it was June and signed up for classes and went around convincing people I was alive and a good person and-
-and I'm not. And I can't pretend I am, when he's there. I have to deal with it and dealing with it is messy and ugly and filthy. I hate it. I hate you and I hate his daughter and I hate that, too, because he loves you and he loves her and I should be happy for him. I hate that I can't just act like there isn't a whole future and I'm not in it. I hate that he's not enough of an asshole to be in the future. People will be pathetic enough that he'll give them a chance and they'll take advantage and I won't be there to stop them and-
[ Hierophant pours the hot chocolate into two mugs and tops it with cream and marshmallows (it chose baby blue ones for Adrian, and mint green for him) and little chocolate stars. It puts one down next to Adiran and pushes the other into Kakyoin's hands and fuck, he didn't mean for all those words to happen. ]
I'm dead. [ He says it softly, and the words don't hurt as much as he thought they would. ] I don't regret anything, but I hate that I'm dead. I don't think I'm supposed to.
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[The mug is held in his hands and he glances at the Stand with a bit of fondness in his eyes. Not the way he adores Star, but Hierophant is still a guest he's become accustomed to seeing.
He has a sip. It's incredibly delicious. Better than the hot chocolate he's had anywhere else around here, actually. Maybe a gesture of goodwill, or an apology. Whatever it might be, he won't ask.]
I think it was a lot to demand from you, learning everything as you had suddenly at once while also being terribly aware of your own situation after death, unfair and cruel as it already was. Then you find out that Jotaro has involved himself with a vampire. How could you not resent it? How could you not hate me?
[Adrian shrugs.] Would you find it strange to know that I worried for the longest time that I was simply a placeholder for you? Oh, the notion waned and I was concerned less, but I used to think about it a lot. He'd say I would remind him of you sometimes.
In any case, I don't begrudge you. Not in the least.
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This isn't Dio. Yes, he's followed a beautiful man into a space devoid of anyone else and now they're a vampire. But that doesn't mean that this is Dio, it just means that he has an incredibly bad habit that he should really examine. Hierophant starts moving again, turning off the tap, and he manages not to call it to rush to his defense.
Jotaro would have warned him, if he'd known that he were going to visit Adrian. But he's being sneaky, going behind his back. So really, he deserves to be blindsided a little. ]
I- didn't. Find out that detail, I mean. I- apologise for opening the curtains, yesterday. That really was because the raccoon wanted the sun to fall on his pet bed, I swear. I was not trying to kill you.
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[Whoops. As if Kakyoin really needed some additional anxieties here. Well, he was going to find out at some point, but he wishes he'd had paced that out better. He'd honestly just assumed that Jotaro infodumped onto Kakyoin as he did about Jolyne.]
Anyway, the sun doesn't affect me, and I'd honestly assumed that you were doing some tests. I wouldn't have blamed you for that. In any case, I'm not all vampire. Just half, by my father. The other part of me is human.
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[ He sips at the hot chocolate. It's warm and practically the consistency of syrup. Not exactly ideal for summer, but it's the beginning of February somewhere. And he's poked around enough to see all the ice cream and get an idea for what Adrian seems to like and it's the most indulgent sweet thing he knows how to make.
But there's something else that Adrian said. ]
Why would you be a placeholder for me?
[ Part of him realises it's a cruel thing to ask, but Kakyoin is a cruel person. And he wants to know. ]
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