diu hype train

In retrospect, he might not have needed to bring quite so much stuff.

But really, it was only the necessities for a beach trip.

In addition to the sunglasses on his face, the large floppy hat on his head, and the thin beach cover-up he wore as much out of a need to protect his shoulders from burning as from a reluctance to be fully shirtless at the beach next to Jotaro, he only brought a couple of things.

It was only an umbrella, so he could sit in the shade. And a chair to sit on, so he wasn’t sitting in the sand. And a towel to put under the chair, so his feet didn’t touch the sand. And three different sunscreens; for his face, his body, and a spare to share with Jotaro. And a cooler, with some chilled drinks and fruit for a snack. And a book to read, his sketchbook, his camera, a paper fan, a change of clothes, and a whole watermelon.

Necessities. That he had to carry on his own to where he was meeting Jotaro at the station, which proved to be much easier said than done.

“The beach is supposed to be fun, you know.” Jotaro said, one eyebrow raised as he watched Rohan approach slowly, laden down with his necessities. He made no motion to help.

“I need to be comfortable to have fun,” Rohan shot back. His oversized sunglasses slid down his thin nose a little with the force of his retort. “Where’s your stuff?”

Jotaro shifted to the side so Rohan could see the rolled-up towel under his arm.

“That’s it?” Rohan asked, his own burden somehow heavier after seeing what little Jotaro was carrying.

Jotaro shrugged. “That and a change of underwear, since I’m wearing my swimsuit under my clothes.”

Rohan paused for a moment to consider the idea of Jotaro stripping down on the beach and the possible styles of swimsuit he could be wearing under his ever-present long coat and white pants. There were no bad outcomes to this scenario.

“We should probably get going. Right now.” Rohan said quickly, pushing up his sunglasses and trying to gather his things again. “Gotta get to the beach. We’re already late.”

Jotaro didn’t say anything about the concept of being late for the beach but he might have smiled a little bit. Rohan being flustered never got old.

---

Despite growing up in Morioh, Rohan didn’t know too many of the people who lived there.

Sure, things had changed since he had left the town, but even upon returning he wasn’t exactly reconnecting with old friends. He might as well have moved to a new city with familiar surroundings. But even alone, he felt more comfortable in his hometown than he ever did in Tokyo. Everything felt much closer, much more authentic.

This was part of why he valued his relationship with young Koichi so much. The boy was genuine, and he provided some great inspiration for his manga whenever they talked. Which was often, since Rohan’s favourite cafe just happened to be on Koichi’s route home from school, and he could usually convince the boy to join him for a cup of tea before returning home.

This alone was why Rohan had made himself comfortable at one of the tiny tables on the terrace at Cafe Deux Magots, idly sketching some plans for a new colour spread with his sketchpad balanced on his knees. He sipped his tea and periodically glanced down the street he knew Koichi would be approaching from. The kid was pretty punctual, which meant he’d probably be walking by soon –

Rohan looked up, startled to notice that he could no longer see down the street toward the high school, as his entire field of vision was now blocked by the massive frame of the man sitting at his table. He was reading the newspaper.

“Um,” Rohan said eloquently. “What are you doing?”

The man across from him looked up from his paper. Most of his face was shadowed by the brim of his hat, but his eyes shined bright blue in the sunlight. Rohan swallowed hard under the intensity of his gaze. He shifted self-consciously in his seat and tried to make himself look as big as possible.

“There were no other seats,” the stranger said simply. He turned his attention to the mug of coffee in front of him, took a sip, and went back to reading without a second glance at Rohan.

Rohan bristled. He wasn’t a fan of sharing on the best of days, but here was a giant man who was not only in his space and blocking the view from his prime Koichi spotting location, but ignoring him while he did it. It didn’t matter that it was pretty impressive that this guy had managed to sit down and settle himself in without Rohan noticing, and it didn’t matter that the cafe really was quite busy for a usually slow time of day, and it especially didn’t matter that the longer Rohan glared at the invader the more he realized that this man was really quite attractive even with the excessive dolphin accessories. He knew he had to make him leave before he started to like him too much.

So Rohan lifted his sketchpad off of his knees and placed it on the tiny table in front of him, taking up at least half of the surface. The handsome stranger didn’t seem to notice. He leaned forward across the table and placed his cup of tea in the small patch of empty space between the sketchpad and the newspaper. Again, the other man didn’t even bat an eye. Then Rohan picked up his extra pencils and started placing them one by one on the table, closer and closer to the coffee mug, just as his companion reached for his drink and for two heart-stopping seconds his fingers brushed over the back of Rohan’s hand before wrapping around his mug.

Rohan froze, still leaning across the table. He let his eyes follow the mug as it was lifted to the man’s full lips, let himself notice the details of the man’s hands – tanned skin, blunt fingernails, tobacco stains – and tried not to let himself think about how red his face must be from something as simple as a touch. His eyes followed the mug back down to the table, placed carefully so it wouldn’t disturb Rohan’s pencil barrier, before falling on the surprised face of none other than Koichi, standing beside their table with his mouth half open.

“Hello Koichi,” said the other man at the table. “What are you doing here?”

“Hello, Mr Jotaro,” Koichi said in his usual cheerful way, eyes darting between him and Rohan. “I was just on my way home and I saw you sitting with Rohan-sensei, so I -”

“Koichi,” Rohan interrupted, trying to talk around a smile strained by embarrassment. He was still leaning across the table and looked more than a little unsettling. “Who is this?”

Koichi hesitated. Rohan could feel the man staring at him and forced himself to look up, the blue of his eyes just as intense as the first time Rohan saw them and almost too much for him to handle at the moment.

“My name is Jotaro Kujo,” he said. “I’m a relative of Josuke’s, I believe you know him.”