Chapter Text
Jotaro peeked his head into Jolyne’s room, intending to ask her if she wanted any of the tea Kakyoin was making, but instead found two unusual sights. The first, Jolyne’s room was immaculately clean; the second, Jolyne herself looked downright panicked.
He knocked at the door cautiously to get her attention. “Jojo? You ok?”
Jolyne’s head whipped around to look at her father. “Jesus, Dad, you scared me!”
Jotaro shrugged. He was used to it. “You look stressed.”
Jolyne frowned. “Gee, thanks. Girls love it when you tell them they look like shit.”
Jotaro had no idea what girls loved, except for making eyes at him. “...I wouldn’t know. Seriously, what’s up?”
Jolyne rolled her eyes. “ Nothing , Dad. Just… cleaning a little. Since Hermés is coming over later.”
“You’ve done a lot,” he said simply, raising a single eyebrow. “Why all the effort? She’s been here before, hasn’t she?” He locked eyes with her, making a face Jolyne privately referred to simply as “the Dad Glare.”
“Ugh, don’t make that face at me, Dad!”
Jotaro blinked. “This is just my face.”
“No, it’s not! You’re doing the Dad Glare!” Jolyne huffed, twirling a stray lock of dyed-green hair around one finger. “Fine. I dunno. I’m just nervous. Because. She’s been here before, but it was… different? There were other people there too. Plus she’s just... ”
“Just what?”
Jolyne shot him a glare of her own. “You know! Ugh. I don’t know. I just want her to think I’m cool?”
Jotaro had the distinct, familiar feeling he was missing something. He leaned out towards the hallway. “Noriaki, can you come here?”
Jolyne’s protests (“ugh, no, don’t bother Nori, it’s fine, why are you being so weird?”) were drowned out by the shuffling sounds of Hierophant supporting Kakyoin’s slightly unsteady steps. He appeared in the doorway, hair pulled back, in a worn-out t-shirt.
“Everything ok? Do you want any tea – oh, wow, Jolyne, look at your room!”
Jolyne mumbled a thanks.
Kakyoin took in the scene in front of him. “Jotaro, you’re doing the Dad Glare. What’s going on?”
“This is just my face, Noriaki... Anyway, she’s acting weird,” Jotaro explained.
“I am not! I’m just. I cleaned up so Hermés doesn’t think I live in squalor. That’s all.” She steadfastly refused to make eye contact with Kakyoin; Jotaro could be a little slow on the uptake, but she knew Kakyoin could read her like a book.
“You’re not making eye contact, love. Why do you want to impress her so badly… Oh, Jolyne!” The moment Jolyne saw the grin spreading across his face, she knew she was fucked. “You have a crush on her! You fell for your best friend!”
“I do not, ” Jolyne pouted, but it was all over.
“You do! Classic gay behavior, Jojo! Oh, we know all about that!” Kakyoin looked absolutely delighted at this new development. Weird guy.
“See, I knew I was missing something,” Jotaro commented. “You could have just told me, Jojo.”
Jolyne looked petrified, but also… devastatingly embarrassed. “Ugh, no, I couldn’t have! It would’ve been weird, like, now it’s gonna be awkward, and I didn’t know if you were going to be, I don’t know, like, she’s a girl and maybe that would’ve been weird…”
Jotaro looked at his daughter, the barest hint of a smirk visible on his face. “Jolyne, we’re gay. You know Nori and I are gay, right?” Kakyoin snorted.
“Ugh, come on, you know what I mean! Like maybe you. I don’t know. Maybe you wanted me to just be normal? Whatever, it doesn’t matter!” Jolyne was blushing bright red, pointedly avoiding eye contact. “And she’s not into me like that anyway, so it doesn’t matter, and let’s never talk about this again!”
Kakyoin sat down on Jolyne’s bed next to her. She wasn’t going to get away that easily. “Jolyne, you know we love you no matter what. You never have to be scared of telling us the truth.”
Jolyne looked a little nervous, still, and a lot relieved. “Is it still… Is it still ok if Hermés stays the night here?”
“Sure,” shrugged Jotaro, as Kakyoin replied with an “absolutely not” at the same time. The two looked at each other for a moment – Jotaro could practically see Kakyoin’s brain running calculations and possible responses. He decided to preempt the argument.
“Nori, she’s sixteen. You ran away from home at seventeen. Compared to Egypt, what kind of trouble can she possibly get into?” Jotaro knew his parenting style could lean a little lax – he didn’t like to set hard rules with Jolyne unless he had to, preferring to trust her judgement and show his care in other ways. He was fiercely protective of her, of course, but in a way that manifested mostly when she was out of earshot. He knew trying to hold on to her too tightly would only result in the same kind of distance he had felt between himself and his mother, before she fell sick. Of the two of them, it was usually Kakyoin who set hard boundaries; he wasn’t ever unfair by any means, but he liked Jolyne to know he was looking out for her.
Kakyoin sighed. “I know, you’re right. Besides, it wouldn’t make sense to punish her for telling us the truth…” He rested a hand on Jolyne’s shoulder. “Just, be safe, ok, darling? And if you need anything, er, safety-wise, condoms or dental dams or whatever, just let us know. And remember, you don’t have to do anything you aren’t comfortable with.” Kakyoin was remaining remarkably even-tempered for someone who’d been thrown into a surprise safe-sex talk. Jotaro, on the other hand, wished only for death.
Jolyne buried her face in her hands. “Oh my God, Noriiiii! No one even uses dental dams, what the fuck!!”
“Well, I wouldn’t know, love, would I?” Now over his momentary embarrassment, Kakyoin seemed to be revelling in the awkwardness in the way only he could. Jotaro would never understand this. “I’m just saying, better safe than sorry!”
“Oh my God, can we please move on and never have this conversation again! I promise I won’t get teen pregnant, okay?” She stood up to usher the two out of her room. “Hermés is coming at 5, please don’t be weird about it, time for both dads to leave my room!”
Jotaro and Kakyoin left Jolyne alone, laughing to themselves as the door slammed shut behind them.
“They grow up so fast,” Jotaro joked, laying a hand over his chest in fake-wistfulness.
“Jotaro, she called us both her dads… I’m her dad!”
Jotaro smiled. “You’ve been her dad for over a decade, Nori.”
“Sure, but she never said it like that.” Kakyoin rested his head on Jotaro’s chest, grinning.
“You’ve done good. With her. You always do.” Jotaro kissed the top of his head. “I couldn’t do this without you.”
Kakyoin smiled. “I know, you goof. You never could’ve gotten through that conversation alone,” he joked.
Jotaro elbowed him gently in the chest as the two settled onto their couch, Jotaro’s head in Kakyoin’s lap, his long legs thrown over the arm of the couch. Kakyoin scratched Jotaro’s head gently. “I think we did alright, don’t you, love?”
“...like, in life?”
Kakyoin smiled. “Well, with Jolyne, but yes, in life. I mean, as a kid, I never would have expected to get to… have a family. You know, a house, a kid, a cat, stable job, handsome partner. It’s nice.”
Jotaro closed his eyes, enjoying the feeling of gentle fingers on his scalp, relaxing into the touch. “Yeah. This is good.”