Chapter Text
Polnareff rang the doorbell. He was dressed in a neat white suit, holding his just-turned-one-year-old baby, and greeted Jotaro with a handshake.
"Son, say good morning to Uncle Jotaro."
The little guy started crying in front of Jotaro, who thought of himself as kind and friendly, as expected.
"Yare yare."
"It's okay; he's a bit shy," Polnareff consoled verbally and stepped past Jotaro, walking into the living room.
"Hey there, Paulie. Come to big sis," Jolyne reached out and took the child, "Poor thing, did Dad scare you? Don't be afraid. Let's ignore him!"
"Happy Thanksgiving, Uncle Polnareff," Haruno said as he brought pumpkin pies and turkey sandwiches. "Breakfast has just been made. Would you like to join us?"
"Happy Thanksgiving, sweet and sensible Haruno. You're the first one to wish me a happy holiday. Sadly, I have to leave soon, so the pie will have to wait for me when I come to pick up Paulie in the evening."
Polnareff was handing over his weaned baby to the Kujo family so that he could celebrate his wedding anniversary with his wife. He passed a bag filled with baby supplies to Jotaro, kissed his son's cheek, and then left.
Watching his departing friend and the baby left behind, Jotaro showed a wry smile. He took the formula, a thermos bottle, and children's toys one by one from the bag, putting them on the high table, and then called for Haruno.
"Can I confidently leave him with the two of you and go pick up Mom?" he asked, though what he actually wanted to say was, 'Can I trust leaving the two of them with you?'
Jotaro was about to go pick up his wife, who had stayed at the lab to sort data from the previous night, and then would buy groceries from the local market.
"I'll take good care of them," Haruno replied.
Perfect.
"Before making the formula, be sure to sterilize the bottle thoroughly with boiling water to ensure hygiene. Typically, a two-year-old baby drinks between 150 to 240 milliliters of milk at once, and the water temperature for making milk should not exceed 45°C to avoid damaging the nutritional components in the formula."
"Okay, Uncle, I got it."
Five minutes after discussing the details, Jotaro, like his friend Polnareff, slipped away. In the vast house, there were only three kids in control of everything, one of whom couldn't even talk yet.
Haruno prepared the milk and took Paulie from Jolyne's arms, gesturing with his eyes toward the pumpkin pies on the table. "Eat something before it gets cold."
No sooner had he spoken than Paulie started crying loudly, his screams piercing Haruno's eardrums.
Haruno endured the ringing in his ears and offered the bottle to Paulie, but the little guy didn't seem to appreciate it and even began to struggle.
"Is he afraid of you?" Jolyne chuckled and took Paulie back. As if to prove her words, Paulie stopped crying immediately, whimpering and burying his head in Jolyne's arms.
Haruno pursed his lips, his brow slightly furrowed, making the same expression as Jotaro when he was worried.
"Paulie probably thinks you're Dad." Jolyne felt it made sense as she analyzed further. "Try giving him a smile. This way, he'll know you're completely different from our rotten old man."
"Or he's just smart and knows he can get the sweet stuff he wants by crying."
"Do crying babies get candy? But, big bro, Paulie is only one year old. How could he understand all this?"
"You could have a point." Maybe Paulie didn't need to understand because it was simply a survival instinct triggered in critical moments.
Paulie alternated between sucking the bottle and playfully chewing on the teat, making unintelligible sounds, while Jolyne patiently waited for him to drink. Watching this scene, Haruno couldn't help but feel envious.
Being pampered and crying to get attention was a happiness he had never experienced. Before being adopted by Jotaro, he had constantly moved between distant relatives, where compliance was the basic code of conduct, and tears would result in lashes rather than candy.
It was only after he came to live with the Kujos that he realized that being capricious was a child's privilege. However, his ingrained character of being observant and considerate had long been established, and he could never bring himself to seek attention in this way.
Seeing that Paulie was not letting go of the bottle and Jolyne showed no intention of putting him down, Haruno inwardly sighed. He took a knife and fork and cut the pumpkin pie on the breakfast plate into small pieces, feeding them to Jolyne, who was busy soothing the baby.
When he finished washing the dishes and returned to the living room, he found Jolyne playing with Paulie using a jingling cat bell. Giogio was also drawn to it, trying to reach the bell by stepping on Paulie's baby pants. The cat's paw wavered in front of Paulie's face, and Haruno watched, feeling a sense of foreboding.
"Giogio, move away, quick," he said.
Jolyne looked at Haruno in confusion, taking a moment to realize that he was calling the cat, not her. She pursed her lips at his distance attitude. Enough was enough.
"Why don't you call me Jojo anymore?" she asked in an unfriendly tone.
'Jojo' was a little-known nickname that only her family was allowed to call her. When she was addressed this way, she could feel their love.
Haruno obviously hadn't anticipated this misunderstanding and decided not to use the cat's name anymore.
"No reason. I've just gotten used to calling you by your name."
"But I remember you called me Jojo that time when you found me on the mountain."
Haruno choked up; he hadn't expected Jolyne to be so insistent about the name. Her eyes, filled with complaints and questioning, nearly pierced him.
When did he stop wanting to call her Jojo? Was it when he couldn't help but feel affection when he saw her acting silly and making mistakes? Or was it when he couldn't help but get nervous, anxious, and agitated every time another boy appeared by her side? Was it the first time he dreamt of kissing her?
All of these.
He couldn't call her in that loving way anymore, or he feared others would hear his impure thoughts. He knew that when he affectionately called her Jojo as a family member, the beast within him would roar, demanding to control everything.
His great affection was doomed to be concealed, and he could not repay the Kujo family by taking away their beloved daughter. He had already claimed Jolyne's love as an older brother, so how could he dare to ask for more?
She was Jolyne, his little sister. But she wasn't his Jojo.
Using the distant form of address, no longer crossing the line of care, and halting her closeness were all self-imposed safety barriers.
As the atmosphere grew increasingly serious due to his silence, he had thousands of perfunctory explanations, but Jolyne knew him too well, and she wouldn't listen to a single word.
"Meow!" Giogio's pitiful scream shattered the silence. In the blink of an eye, Haruno and Jolyne watched in astonishment as Paulie grabbed the cat's tail, only to be bitten by Giogio, which was followed by screams that could shatter the ceiling.
At this moment, the notion that children could serve as family peacemakers received perfect confirmation. If the cries of human infants couldn't halt a world war between parents, they would be supplemented by the cries of kitten offspring.
"Ahh! Big bro! Paulie peed on me!"
"The diapers must be in the bag. I'll find them in a moment."
Jolyne placed Paulie on the sofa and freed her hands to get some tissues. It was only when she returned that she realized her mom's beloved leather couch had been soaked with urine.
"Oh my god! We can't let Mom find out, or she'll be devastated!" Jolyne said in despair.
'I can handle this,' Haruno thought as he got the diaper.
"Jolyne, help me hold Paulie. Make sure he doesn't move around, okay?"
"I'm doing my best!" Jolyne lightly patted Paulie's back to comfort him and prevent him from choking on saliva. "Good boy, good boy. Don't cry. How about some delicious food in a little while? We can even play a flying game."
While Jolyne had Paulie's attention, Haruno quickly removed his baby pants, dried his bottom with a warm towel, and expertly diapered him.
"Let me hold him. You go clean up."
Jolyne gave Haruno a grateful look and then hurriedly left.
Upon hearing the heavy sound of the bathroom door closing, Haruno was sure that Jolyne had forgotten to bring clean clothes.
Looking at the dirty underwear on the floor and the urine stain on the sofa, and hearing the sound of running water from the bathroom and Paulie's cries in her arms, Haruno didn't know where to begin.
"I can handle this."
With determination, Haruno vigorously cleaned the sofa with one hand, threw the soiled clothes into the washing machine, and placed fresh clothes for Jolyne on the bench by the door. After completing all of this, he realized Paulie was still crying in his arms.
"Crying won't help. Don't expect me to comfort you when we all know that's useless," Haruno said, as if Paulie could understand.
Giogio, at some point, had jumped onto the refrigerator and looked down at Paulie, probably still protesting the few tufts of fur missing from his tail.
Paulie and Giogio locked eyes, and Paulie then curled up, whimpering in fear, clutching Haruno's shirt tightly.
In such a standoff, it wouldn't be good if Paulie got bitten again. Haruno took Giogio's favorite cat treats from the box under the coffee table and sat on the sofa, holding Paulie.
"Don't you want a snack, kitty?" The moment Haruno tore open the packaging, Giogio jumped from the refrigerator to the sofa armrest. However, when he saw the cat treat was in Paulie's hand, the greedy little cat hesitated.
"Come on." Haruno gently shook Paulie's little hand, leading Giogio toward the treat.
As Giogio gingerly approached to eat, Paulie remained still, now quiet out of fear.
"Kitties won't bite you," Haruno reassured, holding Paulie's other hand and gently patting Giogio's back. Giogio's fur gradually smoothed down, and Paulie started babbling baby talk again.
Desensitization went smoothly.
When Jolyne emerged from the bathroom, she saw a peaceful scene. The washing machine hummed with the fresh scent of soap, the table of baby supplies had vanished, and on the sofa, Haruno was amusing Paulie with a laser pointer while Giogio watched.
It was a truly wonderful feeling to not have to worry about anything because her older brother was there.
Having let the shower wash away her earlier annoyance, Jolyne smiled and silently took her camera and, as her brother happened to turn his head to look at her, pressed the shutter.
"Bro, you're so good with babies! Look, they both really like you."
Haruno shook his head in disagreement. "They like my service, not me."
"Isn't that the same thing? They like you, so they enjoy being taken care of by you. Calling it a service sounds so cold. Doesn't it feel great to be relied upon?"
"Well, they like me for my willingness to help them," Haruno said. It was perfectly normal to prefer to establish selfish social connections. When he no longer had altruistic attributes, the dependency would gradually disappear.
"That sounds kind of weird..." Jolyne furrowed her brows in confusion but soon gave up on nitpicking. "Whatever you say. They definitely like you. I can tell. Don't question me."
"Yeah, yeah," Haruno agreed.
Jolyne let out a sigh and posted the recent photo on her Instagram feed. The online space that day was filled with the festive cheer of the holiday. Jolyne scrolled up, liking her friends' nearly identical Thanksgiving captions and similarly staged photos. Just as she was about to get bored, an out-of-place post caught her eye. "Hope to find people I know" said the caption, with an overhead photo of a banquet hall; it was posted by Giorno at seven in the morning.
Oh no! She completely forgot about her promise to be Giorno's Thanksgiving date.
A private message popped up, coincidentally from Giorno.
"Happy Thanksgiving! Shiobana looks so happy, I'm jealous. Are you all having a Thanksgiving feast together tonight?"