[The thought comes to him unbidden as Jotaro speaks, springing less from a place of pity and more from the deepest, most impossible groundwater stream of sympathy. He knows the truth of this, and he forgives Jotaro for it, and . . . so it's silly, isn't it, not to forgive himself. Talk about hypocrisy. Kakyoin wasn't kidding.]
[He squeezes Jotaro's fingers and smiles weakly, nodding with his head tipped slightly to one side.]
It's possible that that's a genetic trait.
[So. Me, too, in other words. And me, too to the rest of it, too, because he knows, he understands, that being stuck like that is horrifying. That's why he used it - because Jotaro told him not to hold back, with no qualifiers, and so he went as hard as he possibly could, until all of a sudden it was a thousand times too much.]
I understand. I do, and I'm not angry anymore, I just - I don't want to be the person to hurt someone like I just hurt you. Not anymore. You know that, I know you do.
And - when, with Diavolo, it wasn't - the same, but there was that feeling of being frozen while time went on around you - things were happening and you couldn't - so. It's a fear that makes sense. I won't do it again.
[Because they're going to fight for all they're worth, but they're going to take care of each other, too. Those are the new rules.]
[He blinks slowly, not at the name suggestion but at the concept of . . . having a grandma. And then he comprehends and nods and thinks for a moment, and - there's only one answer, of course there is.]
no subject
[The thought comes to him unbidden as Jotaro speaks, springing less from a place of pity and more from the deepest, most impossible groundwater stream of sympathy. He knows the truth of this, and he forgives Jotaro for it, and . . . so it's silly, isn't it, not to forgive himself. Talk about hypocrisy. Kakyoin wasn't kidding.]
[He squeezes Jotaro's fingers and smiles weakly, nodding with his head tipped slightly to one side.]
It's possible that that's a genetic trait.
[So. Me, too, in other words. And me, too to the rest of it, too, because he knows, he understands, that being stuck like that is horrifying. That's why he used it - because Jotaro told him not to hold back, with no qualifiers, and so he went as hard as he possibly could, until all of a sudden it was a thousand times too much.]
I understand. I do, and I'm not angry anymore, I just - I don't want to be the person to hurt someone like I just hurt you. Not anymore. You know that, I know you do.
And - when, with Diavolo, it wasn't - the same, but there was that feeling of being frozen while time went on around you - things were happening and you couldn't - so. It's a fear that makes sense. I won't do it again.
[Because they're going to fight for all they're worth, but they're going to take care of each other, too. Those are the new rules.]
[He blinks slowly, not at the name suggestion but at the concept of . . . having a grandma. And then he comprehends and nods and thinks for a moment, and - there's only one answer, of course there is.]
Narancia.