((Based on the cover of JoJo Magazine for Winter 2024))

[Ship: Frozen Fruit]

[Co-written by GorgingGeorge ]

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"So, I heard about your cat, Formaggio."

"Oh? What about her?" Formaggio asked.  He was wondering why Melone of all people cared about his cat.  "Oh, she's a female cat, yes?  Hmm..." Melone stated as he leaned onto the buzz cut having assassin.  "Why does that matter?"

"Well, they say female cats are less playful and more calm than male cats, so that possibly reflects in you, her owner, I mean you're laid back and chill, perhaps a bit too laid back."

As the two talked, Melone felt him closer, getting a feel of his personality.  "Y'know if you could get pregnant, you would make a great host for baby face." He stated his head on the other's shoulders. 

"What the hell? Is that all you came here for? To try and make me your next lab rat?  Get real!" Formaggio shouted before Melone let go.  "Oh well, I was just saying as a compliment."

However, as private as the masked assassin thought the conversation was, it wasn't.  Ghiaccio, who was looking for Melone, saw them interact.  He didn't hear anything, but he saw how close Melone was to Formaggio.  He felt a rage building inside of him, a rage not similar to a rage that he already was used to.  It felt like anger and fear but at the same time resentment towards the tanned assassin.  It was jealousy, pure, bitter jealousy.

Though, this was ironic, since technically, Ghiaccio wasn't even dating Melone.  He had been pathetically crushing on him from the sidelines, though he thought his feelings were obvious, seeing how close they were to each other.

"Gah! I should have known he'd already be with someone else. How could he not have even noticed those obvious hints I've been dropping that I had feelings for him?!" He growled mentally. "Was I not being clear enough somehow? I was certain all those roses I left at his door would have given me away."

As he continued to be lost in his thoughts, all he could think about was Formaggio being a little too comfy near Melone's crotch. "They could at least wait until they were alone before they started getting all friendly with each other, grrah! Why am I even this angry at him? Melone wasn't interested in me, if he was, he would have responded to my feelings by now." He hissed.

As he kept thinking, Melone exited the room, bumping into Ghiaccio on the way out. "Oh! Sorry Ghiaccio, I guess I didn't see where I was going there." He mumbled.

Ghiaccio just grunted. "Yeah, apparently I'm really hard to miss here." He thought as he stormed off.

"Huh? What's gotten into him?" The purple masked assassin thought. "Well, I should probably get back to my laptop before someone opens it up. That would be awkward."

As he was on his way, Formaggio overheard. "I think I should go and check on Ghiaccio."

He proceeded to go to the icy assassin's room, knocking on the door. Once the door opened the two assassins made eye contact before Ghiaccio squinted at him. "What do you want?" He hissed.

"Take it easy, will ya? I'm just checking in on you, you seemed upset for some reason."

"Some reason, as if you don't know! Now get the hell out of here before I freeze you with White Album!" He shouted at him, slamming the door in his face. He knew it wasn't Formaggio's fault, but his jealousy made it hard to think clearly.

"Damn what the hell's his problem?" Formaggio thought before deciding to give Ghiaccio some space, for his own sake.

However, he knew one person who could help him in this situation. Knocking on the mirror in the hallway, he saw Illuso appear. "What is it, Cheese boy."

"Well, Ghiaccio's upset and is being kinda a douchebag right now, so I was thinking, could you like snoop in his room? Maybe see what's causing him to be an asshole?"

"Heh, what's in it for me?" Illuso asked, aware of the temper of the icy stand user. "Well, how about I take you out to get pizza, maybe even some wine too. I know we should like, give him space but, he like, super hates me for some reason." Formaggio stated. "... Alright deal." Illuso agreed, hopping back into the mirror realm.

Luckily Ghiaccio's room had a wall length mirror inside, it was thin but tall enough for Illusio to get a glimpse of the blue haired stand user stomping around his room. "That stronzo has some nerve to ask me what was wrong! He thinks he can just act dumb around me?" He hissed, finally slumping down onto a seat.

Illusio listened in closer, now this was getting interesting. Could he be talking about Formaggio? "The way he had Melone leaning on him like that, he might as well have given that bastardo a blowjob!" Ghiaccio added, slamming his hands down on the chair arms. "Why am I even still mad about this? I like Melone, augh. I liked him so much I needed to give him hints to it. Should I have just told him outright then and there? Then this whole mess would have never happened."

"Oh, so you like Melone now, do you?"

"AAH!! Were you eavesdropping on me, Illusio?!" Ghiaccio snapped.

The black-haired stand user exited the mirror once his teammate begun glaring at him. "Only up to when you confessed your feelings to Melone. So, what's stopping you now?"

"Don't you start too; I saw what he and Formaggio were up to!"

"Up to what exactly?"

"Grrr! Melone was leaning against that asshole! His crotch at face level, his arms were around him so tenderly! That should have been me!" Ghiaccio ranted, still very emotional about this. "Is that his type then? Stronzos who don't even care?!"

"Well how do you know they were going to get it on? Like were they flirting openly?" Illuso asked. "Um... Not exactly. But they were touching too much for it not to be romantical, or even sexual- Fuck! I hate this!"

Having heard this was basically possibly a big misunderstanding, the black-haired assassin made his way to the mirror. "Right well, I'll give you your space then."

"Don't tell anyone about this, or you're dead."

"Alright sheesh, I won't." He stated before leaving. That was a lie as he went to tell Formaggio what he found out.

"Wait, so, Ghiaccio thinks Melone and I were getting it on there?" Formaggio asked. "That's what this is all about? All that happened was Melone was talking about my cat and then said I'd be a good host for Baby Face if I could get pregnant, like who says shit like that?!"

Illuso couldn't help but snicker at that. "Yeah, frankly I dunno what he sees in Melone too. But seriously, you should talk to him about this, clear this whole mess up before he does something he'll regret later."

"What? Why can't Melone do it?! He's the one that Ghiaccio has a crush on!"

"I don't know if he'll listen to Melone at the moment."

Rolling his eyes, Formaggio knocked on Ghiaccio's door. "Uh, you in? Look, there's nothing going on between me and Melone. That guy's too freaky for me."

"... What?"

after a few shuffling sounds the door opened, inside of Ghiaccio's room was a broken chair, possibly broken during his outburst. "Yeah, he's all yours, bud.  He was just asking me about my cat. The guy has no sense of boundaries, so I'm not shocked you thought of it that way. I have no interest in him." Formaggio stated. "So, are we cool now?"

"... I guess. Just... Don't tell him."

"What? Wouldn't you want the person you have a crush on to know? Even if he's freaky as hell." Formaggio asked. "Yeah but... Just because you don't like him doesn't mean it's the other way around. He never holds me like that when we're talking..."

"I mean you don't like people touching you, so I mean he probably took that into account." Formaggio stated. "Well, if we're done here, I'mma head out." he added, turning heel.

Ghiaccio thought more about it as he looked over at the leaving assassin. "Goddamn, should I tell him? I know what he said, but what if Melone thinks I'm a prude for not enjoying being touched? Or worse, he thinks I'm straight?" He thought.

There was only one thing he could do; he would need to confess to Melone personally. As much as he hated confrontation, he needed some sort of closure about his feelings. "Fine, I'll tell him myself about this. Worst case he says he still likes Formaggio."

Melone was on his laptop as Ghiaccio was approaching his room, toying with his hair as he was one some... Unsavory websites to say the least. "Melone?"

"Gah! Oh, it's just you, Ghiaccio. What's up?" The purple haired man immediately exclaimed, closing his laptop in a flash.

"... Melone, I like you." The blue haired assassin stated bluntly. "Oh, is that it? I like you too, Ghiaccio, you're one of my closest friends-"

"No, idiota, I'm in love with you!" Ghiaccio corrected himself, just to make himself more obvious. Melone paused for a few seconds, trying to react.

"He fucking hates me, this was a terrible idea!" He thought. "Y... Y'know what you're probably still hooked up on Formaggio, though he doesn't even like you so-"

"Wait Formaggio? Why would I...?" Melone stopped when he realized. "Did you see me and him earlier?"

"Obviously, you had your arms around his neck! Grrr... But if you like him... that's whatever. It's not like I can make you love me..." He stated trying not to have another outburst and break someone else's shit.

Melone didn't immediately respond but held onto Ghiaccio's hands. They were freezing but he didn't care, he placed them onto his own face. "Wow, your hands are so soft." He remarked. "Ghiaccio, what happened earlier between me and Formaggio was nothing. I was just joking around with him."

"So... No, there's no way you feel the same before me, that's just in stories..." The blue haired assassin grumbled. He was about to turn away when Melone cupped his face. "Huh?"

"Ghiaccio. I never knew you felt that way around me. I found you honestly rather cute, even if I found it hard to tell you in words." Melone admitted, the purple haired stand user stroking his hair.

"You think I'm... Cute?"

The purple haired man blushed as he nodded, kissing him softly on the nose.

Ghiaccio then became a blushing mess. "I... I... Wait but if you thought I was cute why didn't you tell me? I literally sent you roses once a month before that to make my feelings clear." He asked.

"You sent those? They didn't have a card attached so I thought they were just appearing for no reason." Melone stated. Ghiaccio blushed more, mainly from embarrassment due to his own blunder. "I... Uh..."

"Though, of course I appreciate that you went through the trouble of doing that. And I'm sorry I didn't notice sooner. The thing is... I'm not good at detecting romantic ques, sexual cues are easy because my stand is basically based on intercourse, but love is hard." Melone admitted.

"It's fine, it's my fault for not being more forward about it. I just never really had a crush until now and so..." Ghiaccio stated before Melone reached towards him. "I know you don't like it when people touch you but... I want to show you how it felt." He stated as he slowly placed his arms around Ghiaccio, softly holding him in a similar way to when he was with Formaggio.

Usually, Ghiaccio would hit the person touching him but... Melone's touch felt warm, and oddly comforting, like he was being embraced by a blanket on a cold night.

"Oh.. I guess touching you isn't so bad." The blue haired man thought, slowly hugging back. "This is nice."

Melone just smiled, stroking Ghiaccio's hair gently and leading him into his room. "You're nice and cool to touch." He whispered into Ghiaccio's ear. "I love you."

"I uh, I love you too. Wait, are we supposed to kiss now? I mean, since we're a couple now and all." Ghiaccio blushed, looking up at him.

"If you want. I would like to feel your lips." Melone purred. The two leaned in, blushing as they kissed. "I covered the mirror, so Illuso doesn't walk in on us."

"Hey!"

Ghiaccio couldn't help but smirk, hearing the mirror-based stand user grumbling from the other side. "Uh, can we go on a date sometime? Just to get gelato?"

"Mn, I'd like that."