Chapter Text
There’s a bang. He hears someone shout: “Some idiot put tin in our microwave!”
Jotaro looks over to Josuke, who. The teen’s glassy eyes are wide, afraid. It shakes him, as he has never seen Josuke like that before.
It had been the cake. Someone had put something in the damn cake- some sort of drug, probably- and now Josuke is in this… disoriented, unusual state.
He wonders why Josuke is so afraid. He wonders what exactly the teen is thinking.
He had brought Josuke inside to have a drink, yet he wonders if it had been the right thing to do, or whether he should’ve taken the teen straight home.
Although he had made some form of noise, which Jotaro hoped was an improvement.
He looks at Josuke again. The teen’s breath comes out in harsh, rapid pants, and yet he doesn’t seem to be looking anywhere at all. He had guided Josuke to the corner of the cafe interior, so as to not draw attention to him, and he wonders about that as well. Maybe Josuke is feeling cramped in this corner.
“Josuke.” He tries, he tries to speak, or to get Josuke’s attention in any way, But Josuke’s eyes stay unfocused, yet terrified, almost stuck looking forward.
Jotaro has no sense of time passing before he sees Josuke’s lip twitch again, and he breaks out of his uneven rhythm of sharp inhales and exhales, and begins to murmur under his breath. Jotaro has to lean forward to hear him.
“Kira…”Josuke’s slurred voice is barely above a whisper.
But why is he thinking about Kira, in a cafe of all places? Why is Jotaro and everything else that is real suddenly invisible to the teen?
“Oi, Josuke,” he tries again,“Kira isn’t here.”
Josuke whimpered, coughing on his own breath.
“...Can you hear me?”
Between his coughs and panicked breaths, Josuke nods. However it is slow, sluggish, almost cautious. As if he were waiting for something terrible to happen. And Josuke is clearly tired beyond measure. Almost minutes away from simply passing out.
“Can you try breathing?” Jotaro starts slow; he wants to make sure that Josuke can actually breathe properly first.
Josuke inhales— but it is too fast, too rushed. However, his coughs begin to become less frequent, which Jotaro assumes is a good thing.
“Try again.”
It takes four tries for Josuke to actually breathe again, in which his eyes almost completely close, and remain unfocused. He would probably just pass out at this rate.
“Kira…”Josuke mumbles.
“Not here.”
Josuke nods, as if he finds solace in this fact, and Jotaro supposes it is something to find comfort in (Kira had been a major threat to their lives and their families’ lives after all), before the teen’s eyes roll back up into his head, the remaining cracks between his eyelids close, and he falls forward, nearly hitting his head on the table but being caught in Jotaro’s outstretched arms.
Now his breaths are slow, relaxed in an almost eerie way, considering how frantic they had been earlier. Jotaro remembers that whatever drug Josuke had been given had probably gone fully into effect, and that Josuke may not wake for a short while.
There is a silence, hanging low over the room, and Jotaro realsies that the crowd inside the cafe are staring at him with unreadable expressions on their faces. He stares right back, and slowly but surely they begin to look away awkwardly, returning to their old conversations. His attention goes back to Josuke, who still looks as peaceful as ever. He gently adjusts his hold so that he is carrying his uncle, bridal style (Josuke is lighter than he expected) and walks out of the cafe as quickly as possible, the teen’s head buried into his chest.. He would have probably said something to the owners about how they should be experienced enough to know not to blow up microwaves, but Josuke’s condition is more important to him at the moment.
He blinks repeatedly, his eyes adjusting to the sunlight as he steps outside.
Jotaro didn’t know exactly where to go— the hospital was probably pointless, and he didn’t know what exactly he would tell Josuke’s mother if he just turned up at the Higashikata household’s front door with an unconscious Josuke in his arms. So he turns right— the way to the hotel— and begins to make his way there. Jotaro is well aware of people giving him strange glances as he walks, but he pretends not to notice. After all, they had no clue of what had just happened. He contemplates calling Koichi for a moment, as he would probably be concerned about Josuke (Koichi was supposed to meet with him later, as far as Jotaro knew) but he decided to leave it for later, as he doesn’t know how exactly he is supposed to call someone with a payphone while holding a very tall, limp teenager.
He is convinced that Josuke will be fine: after all, the teen is showing no discomfort in his sleep, nor does he seem to be in any pain.
What concerns Jotaro the most was who exactly had done that to the cake, and more importantly, why.
Was it meant for the marine biologist himself, maybe? Was Josuke just the way to pass it from one person to another? Jotaro feels as if that would make more sense, as in the world of stand users, he’s the ‘unbeatable’ Kujo Jotaro. It’s like having a target on his back. He finds that it can be annoying, and in situations like this, deadly.
He feels the mass in his arms begin to stir. Josuke groans, blinking, yet evidently half-asleep.
“Hgnnn...Jota...ro...san…?” His speech is more drawn out and slow than before, and theres an emotion in his voice that Jotaro can’t quite place.
“Josuke.”
There is a long pause, before Jotaro recognises the fact that Josuke is speaking, just too incoherently and quietly for him to hear exactly what.
He sounds...scared. Vulnerable.It makes Jotaro shudder, and Josuke stiffens, instantly stopping his confused mumblings.
“It’s nothing. I’ve got you.” He is almost reassuring himself, more than his uncle.
“Mmmm…”Josuke closes his eyes again.
“Try...try not to pass out. I’m taking you to the hotel, where you can rest.”
Josuke is silent, but Jotaro can tell that he had heard.
Upon reaching his hotel room, he lays Josuke carefully on the bed, takes a seat by the coffee table, and waits. Josuke drifts in and out of consciousness, but eventually falls asleep and doesn’t wake up for a while. Jotaro sighs. He knows that the drug will have probably worn off in a few hours.
He doesn’t know how long he himself is asleep for, or that he had fallen asleep in the first place, but when he opens his eyes he sees Josuke sitting up in the bed, looking slightly troubled. He also looks as if he may have been there for a while. Josuke turns to his nephew, and asks:
“How...what happened?”
“What do you remember?”
“There was...a cake? I ate a cake and I don’t remember anything after that?”
Jotaro explains to Josuke about how the cake had been spiked with something. He decides to omit the panic attack, however. Josuke doesn’t need to know. All he needs to know is that he is fine now, which in the end is all that matters.